RC Canada Show- Apr 7-9
This past month, I went to 2 large Food Industry Shows in Toronto. This time, I decided to post about both of them together to compare the differences.
First up was the RC Show, which I attended twice. Held at the Enercare Centre from April 7-9 this year. The first day with 2 of my friends, and then I went back by myself for a couple of hours on Wednesday to see my friend Irene at her new cookbook panel talk and see stuff I had rushed through.
The RC Show was jam-packed on the first day. It took us an hour to pick up our pass. I have never seen that before at this show. It's a very lively show with food trucks, many different demos, panels, competitions, and a whole Bar area. It felt like it was more open to the public this year from the turnout.
It focuses on the whole food industry. They have things like all the machines you can use in a restaurant, including robots and software. It also has lots of samples from suppliers and chefs. It felt like there were fewer samples this year, but we ran through so fast on the first day that I may have missed stuff. There was a panel of 4 new cookbook authors, Irene Matys, who is a friend, and Gabby Peyton a fellow blogger; Andrea Buckets, who is now a regular on the Good Stuff, and Ozoz Sokoh, who I hadn't heard of. Fun panel with yummy samples. And my friend Matt Dean Pettit there running the Chef's Table.
The highlight of the show for me was the ticketed talk with Chef Jose Andres, who talked about his new book, his new show with Martha Stewart that he shot in Toronto, and the places he went to eat when he lived here. He's also in the new Chef's Table series on Netflix. He spoke about a lot of things, including life advice to chefs to take care of themselves and their money first. He spoke a little bit about World Central Kitchen's mission and experience. It was very entertaining and informative.
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| with Irene Matys |
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| Chef Jose Andres |
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| Cookbook authors and Matt Dean Pettit |
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| Oysters |
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| Lobster Ravioli |
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| Delicious Lobster Bisque |
SIAL Canada in numbers:
- 1000+ exhibitors and brands from 44 countries
- A traffic of 21,000 professionals from 77 countries
- All Canadian provinces represented
The SIAL Canada show is all about Food Innovation and is more geared to suppliers networking with distributors and restaurants.
I attended this show on the last day, which is generally the slowest, quietest day of a 3-day show. I had to work, so I had to wait until Wednesday. I took a cab from Union Station because the streetcar route was all diverted, and it was raining and cold.
The Country they spotlighted this year was Canada, as it should be. This show is all about showcasing new or unique products to buyers.
I like to go to this show to find new products, like Stir Joy, which didn't even have a photo on their Instagram page. They make an instant Risotto with 3 different flavour profiles.
There was also an interesting dried cheese curd that had the texture of a cheese-flavoured puffed cracker.
There was some machinery, but mostly packaged products. Less about the chefs, but Chef Dario Tommasini was there cooking Pasta for the Fruit and Veg and Olive Oil from Europe section. My second time in a week having his food.
There were Chef products from Chuck Hughes and Matty Matheson with booths side by side, but unfortunately, they weren't there. I miss seeing Chuck at these shows, but he's too busy these days, so I am told.
The competitions are about the products, like the Innovation Award, Start-up Pitch competition, Best Cheese Monger, and International Cheese.
This isn't the show for excitement unless you have a passion for cheese because there is so much there and finding that weird product you fall in love with.
Some of my favourite things at the show:
- Matty Matheson's Sauces
- Limonata Italian Sodas
- Marisol Paella
- A ready to bake or mix scones
- Ready to eat Creme Brule that I found out was at Costco.. let's go.
- Hummus from Mezete, they also have sauces like Tehini and hot sauce
- Enercheez crunchy cheese snacks
- Low carb crackers - light and crunchy with seeds
- Panettone Dacasto- mmm orange scent and moist
- Tea for guys had great packaging that drew the men into check out the booth. I'm saving one for my colleague.
The thing that both shows have in common is that it's impossible to see and try everything in one day.
The other thing they have in common is a passion for food and the food industry.
More of my foodie sample searching friends go to the RC Show because of the Bar area, all the pizza competitions, the Coffee competitions, and lots of chef-prepared food.
I find that the Sial Canada show more of a serious professional looking to sell products, but I always get something out of going to both shows for different reasons.
This is why I decided to combine both into one post. Also, it's after both shows, and I didn't want to confuse anyone reading this. There are video posts of each show on my Instagram pages if you want to see more.
