Smorgasburg Toronto Food Festival

 My blog has had a bit of a hiatus due to Covid 19 restrictions and the fact that there really wasn't anything going on and I was just tired.  Tired of working from home and being limited to what I could do compared to what I used to do.  I was also growing tired of going to festivals before the pandemic because the TTC made it challenging to get around.  So I took a longer than planned break.   In May I finally went to a big Food Event with the Restaurant Canada Show at the Enercare centre.  That was a big deal to see friends, meet new people and eat food at an event again.  

On Saturday I returned to my heart of events.  The Outdoor food festival.  I have been following Smorgasburg in New York on social media for a while and drooling over all the amazing looking food.  So when I found out that Toronto was going to get a Smorgasburg too I got really excited.  What makes Smorgasburg amazing is the unique food you can get in one place.  I then found out that Toronto Food writer Suresh Doss was going to be curating it and I thought it wasn't going to be like all the other Toronto food festivals that usually have the same vendors.  I actually got really excited to go on saturday morning to the 2nd day of 8 consecutive Saturdays until September 10th.  I was so determined to go that I was even going to go by myself and then my friend sent me info about it and I told her I was already planning on going and she said she was able to join me.  Normally I don't ask because she has a young child but the stars aligned for a glorious saturday.  The weather was perfect, a slightly breezy 27 degrees and the Festival is located at 7 Queens Quay East just by the lake in a parking lot just beside where you would get on a ferry boat and the Harbour Castle hotel.  The reason I didn't go to week one was because most weekends the Line 1 of the Subway is closed because of the Eglinton crosstown but I noticed it never closes on long weekends so this was the perfect weekend to go.  It was Caribana weekend so there were lots of people all around all ready to play Mas and the locals had headed to the cottages.  

full video on Instagram Reels @lindamatarasso

I haven't been excited about much in a long time but this made me feel like the old me.  Excited to see what new foods I could try and hang out by the lake with my friend too.

I was not disappointed.  The skies were blue with puffy clouds that said enjoy the day.  The festival is located in a parking lot and it's only about a 5 minute walk from the Queens Quay streetcar stop.  Really easy to find.  First you see a line of food trucks, not part of the festival and I don't know if they are usually there but ok you got options.  It was so great to see such diverse foods from all over Toronto and not the usually downtown restaurants that normally do a lot of festivals.  I love them but I wanted to try a lot of things I haven't tried all in one place.  

I am not sure how adventurous I was but I enjoyed everything I ate.   My friend Joanne and I tried to share as many things as we could so we could try more.  I can't eat as much as I used to.

First we landed on a booth that was showing a permanent planned space for this type of event.  You had to toss a ball in a bucket and you got a freezie.  Great way to start.

The first thing we tried was from Alma and Gil.  I never heard of them before but apparantly they are on Dupont Street.  Joanne had the Elote corn and I got the Chicken Tamale.  I chose it because it's not something I can find in my area or make.  I made Elote a few weeks ago.   It was delicious.  Great food start.

Then we had the Skewered beef and fish spring rolls with peanut sauce from Babi & Co an Indonesian vendor.  I have been wanting Indonesian for a while.  The Beef was amazing.  They need to bottle the marinade.  While the fish in the spring rolls was very plain the peanut dipping sauce was excellent.

Moving on.  I wanted an iced coffee and there were a few different ones around but I stopped at Kiss My pans booth.  I have been following them on Instagram.  They are from Singapore and the iced coffee is called Koppi or something like that.  The vendor explained it's a similar method as Vietnamese coffee and they use condensed milk and evaporated milk.   It was so good I went back for another one.  They sold out of their food a couple of hours into the festival.

When we first got there I said lets just walk around and see what there is and then decide.  I first walked by a Sushi taco and at first I wasn't sure I wanted one but after walking around I really wanted one so we split the Salmon and Tuna Nori Sushi Taco.  I had the Tuna and Joanne had the torched Salmon.  The tuna one was excellent and the crunch on the Tempura batter dipped Nori was amazing.   I had sushi tacos near me but this was how they were supposed to be.  It was from Albi Sushi.  they are at the 401 and Kennedy Rd in Scarborough.

So as you can see the vendors really did come from all over the city and not the usual downtown hot spots.  That's what made it different.  These little independent vendors showcased their own food that was so diverse and excellent.

The bonus of the day was running into 3 foodie friends.  Yashy (pictured), Annie and Amanda.  All Toronto bloggers too.  I got a chance to chat with Suresh before we left who was with his family.  He told me that they do a refresh with different vendors in week 5 so I am praying that the TTC lets me go another time to see a whole new group of vendors.

I told Suresh (Doss) (CBC food writer) that the festivals was the only thing I missed during the pandemic closures and I realized it really was the only thing.  I thought it would be film festivals but streaming has made that easier but there is nothing like meeting the people who make your food and thanking them and smelling all the delicious food and trying all kinds of things you have never tried or can't make yourself.

Yes I love a great food festival and this one was small but mighty and the lineups weren't as crazy as some festivals I have been to.  Maybe it's foodie hidden secret so far..  me and my foodie friends may have let the secret out of the bag but hard not to share a great new thing.

Give some new vendors some love and attention.  It's great for the city and for their businesses.  I am hoping they are able to build a permanent spot for this like they have in some US cities and like the Smorgasburg in New York that this came from.

Don't forget to go early because food sells out fast.

Covid 19 cancels events in Toronto until July

Today the Mayor of Toronto announced that all events and Parade permits are now cancelled until July 2020. 

Will the Food, Events and Entertainment and Travel Industries survive the effects of this COVID 19 pandemic?

The last large event that I attended was the Restaurant Canada Show  it is one of my favourite annual shows and I haven't gotten to my blog post yet because there were so many things that I want to write about and need to have the time to do it.   But I mention it now because I had no idea that it was to be the last big event that I would be able to go to at the time and how it would affect all the people that attended that show.  It was only a couple of weeks later that so many Restaurants in the city had to shut down because Toronto is now in a state of emergency and people are told to stay home.  Restaurants had to let their staff go and either convert to pick up or delivery or shut their doors.

With Bloggers Mary Tang (Marys Happy Belly) Jenny Roger (Ice cream and Knishes) and restauranteur Trevor Lui

I worked at Sunnybrook Hospital when Sars hit in 2003 and it affected the Restaurant industry and many restaurants lost money and some closed but not to the extent that it has hit the industry in such a short time frame.  Restaurants workers work long hours for minimum wage or less in some cases and don't have a lot of the benefits some people enjoy. 

I have gotten to know many people in the food, events and entertainment industry over the past 10 years while writing this blog and my heart breaks for them now.

If you have been reading my blog you know that I volunteer for the Toronto Film Festival who's building on King Street has now shuttered until an undetermined time and the next festival could be up in the air at this time.

I also have an events management background and know how hard it is to organize events in this city and how long it takes to organize a festival or even a small event.  It requires many people getting together to plan and execute which is not possible at this time.

For the first time in my life I am working from home.  I am lucky that I can do that at this time but I can't do all of the tasks of my job so I don't know what it will be like when everything is back on track.

The Mayor has cancelled the Pride Parade,  the Hot Docs Film Festival, Comicon, the Juno Awards, the Green Living Show, The Canadian Screen Awards and too many more to mention have been either cancelled for this year or have been pushed to a much later date.

This will affect my blog but it won't silence it because I have been writing about events for almost 10 years but it's not the only thing I write about luckily.   I had already reduced my attendance at events and had less restaurant invites.  I have been spending more time at home cooking my own food and trying to reduce my waste.

But here is the thing that I am concerned about.  What will happen when this Social distancing and State of Emergency has lifted?  Will people go back to life as normal?  Will we lose a lot of great things for good?

While I love the fact that people are now having to embrace cooking at home and you see loads of people making bread on Instagram I also miss meeting up with friends at restaurants or going to food events and meeting the chefs and vendors making the food.

Will they persevere or give up and be forced to do something else to survive?

After Sars lifted there was a huge Concert at Downsview Park.  What will we do this time?

I wish I had unlimited funds to be able to order food from all the places that have been able to adapt and stay open during this time to keep them going.  If you have the means I would urge you to order food every other day maybe.  Build your cooking skills and appreciate the people that cook the food for you.  They may not always be there to make your favourite foods.

Bye Bye Sea Hi restaurant

What's changed in Toronto that it has caused so many long running institutions to start disappearing?


Today is the last day of the decades long running restaurant Sea-Hi Tavern on Bathurst Street just south of Wilson Ave in Toronto.

It seems odd now that this dated Chinese Food restaurant would sit in a predominantly Jewish area.  It's also hard to believe how long it's been in existence compared to the flash in the pan restaurants that have been popping up over the past 5 years.

There really wasn't anything special about this place other than the fact that it was in a dessert of nothing else like it and it was consistent.

Sea-Hi was opened by Edna Chan in 1955, just in time for the birth of my older brother.  Yes this place has been around longer than I have.

My parents probably went there when they needed a break from cooking and dealing with kids as parents do.  It was rare for my parents to go out for dinner so going to eat Chinese Food was a special occasion usually with their friends. 

It is a fact that a lot of non religious Jewish people would go to Chinese Food Restaurants over the holidays like Christmas because they were the only restaurants open and if you didn't want to cook for a big family that's just what you did.

I haven't really been there in years even though one of my friends lives down the street.  I think the last time I went was maybe 6 months before I sold my car and only to get some of their popular bacon wrapped chicken skewers.

But in the past couple of weeks I have gone there twice.  The first time to get take out with a friend that doesn't live too far from there.  Even though we ordered before 5 it was a bit of a wait and the poor counter guy was going crazy trying to keep up with orders.  One after another every Jewish person in the area came in to the tiny take out area to order or pick up food.  The wait kept getting longer as we were waiting for our pick up and some people just couldn't wait.

One guy waiting said he tried to get some people together to buy their recipes but I guess that didn't work out so well.

Someone else said that they think it's going to be either a Dollarama or a Synagogue.  I think the Synagogue may be more appropriate for that area but I guess we will have to see.

By the time we got to my friends place and started unwrapping the food some of it was already cold though.  You can't really be upset considering all the people now surging to get their last fix in like we did.  It's not exactly the same as I remembered it but I wasn't a food blogger when I used to eat there so I didn't have as much to compare it to.

The following week I went with different friends.  The one that lives nearby and another one who lives downtown and had never been there.  He wasn't too sure if he wanted to go but then after the meal he said he wanted to bring another friend there but too late because even after they extended the closing today is the last day.

The 3 of us sat in the very dated and in serious need of a makeover dining room this one last time.  The service was excellent but the restaurant wasn't totally full.  The tables were covered in Dollarama tablecloths, I know them well because we use them at work for our social events.

We didn't order that much.  We ordered the bacon wrapped chicken which has clearly been made way in advanced and lacked that fresh out of the fryer taste.  We also ordered shrimp fried rice, eggplant with black bean sauce and orange beef.  I might have chosen other things but we each picked something we wanted.

The food was ok, nothing spectacular but it was more important to show up and show support to a business that has been around for decades as a thank you for their service to the community.

Although it's not somewhere I think of going to eat I am still going to miss it being there.  It was kind of the same thing when Honest Ed's closed down.  It was part of my childhood and a place that my parents counted on.  I wish my parents had Instagram back then because I don't have any photos of them going there now.
Times change but sometimes it's nice to see things last for generations to share.

Sial Canada 2019 - Food innovation

SIAL CANADA 2019

https://sialcanada.com/en/article/sial-toronto-kick-off-2019-edition/

I had the privilege of attending this year's Sial Canada Show at the Enercare Centre in Toronto.  I attended the 3 day Food Industry trade show on May 2nd, 2019.  Sorry for taking so long to get to this post but there was so much there that I took loads of pics and have lots to write about here.

Samples,  there are so many samples that I have to strategically choose what I want to try because I can't possibly try it all.  I learned after the 1st year when I stuffed my face on the massive quantities of cheese available from mostly the Quebec region and after the cheese indulgence I had no room to try anything else.  So now I try and look for things I haven't tried before or things I can't resist.  The 2 items above fall into the things I couldn't resist category.  The spinach Spanokopita were so light and flaky if there weren't a thousand other things to try I would have ate a whole lot more of the.  The arancini on the right were gooey cheesy rice goodness.  These 2 things are the kind of things I would buy myself to keep in my freezer for guests and for myself for time saving snacks.  Both Spanokopita and Arancini are labour and time intensive and these were as good as homemade.

And here's Chuck...... Chuck Hughes is now a Brand.  He has a new line of products like Antipasto's, oils,  and a few other products.  I have tried the oil before and it's great, it's from Greece I believe.  I tried the antipasto at the show before having a great chat with Chuck about his new APTN show about Indigenous cooking traditions.  Looking forward to seeing that soon.

After chatting with Chuck we went over to the Chef Demo stage where we sat through 3 demos which familiar Chefs like Chuck who was with his sidekick Tracy Winkworth who does most of the prep work while Chuck does his stand up routine in front of her then he adds the finishing touches and everyone claps.  Yes Chuck is the fun but Tracy brings the food.

Brad Long is the owner of Cafe Belong at the Brickworks and he has also spent many years cooking for Elite Chefs for MLSE organization.  Now he has a new book about butter so of course he was making a dish that featured butter so we caught most of the demo and my friend Jenny was chatting up the woman next to her and it turns out she was the maker of the butter that was featured by Brad.  After the demo she gave my friend, myself and our other blogger friend Carol some of her Thornloe butter.  We were all very excited about that because it's great butter and really expensive too.

It was also good to see Emily Richards who made an Onion soup and a crostini dish.

The unique thing about this show is the Sial Innovation Award for the best new products.  One of the ones that I loved was the ICE coffee which won one of the awards.  I also took home a container of the tofu spread.  It does not taste like tofu.  I didn't try all of the Innovation Award nominees,  just too many things but I tried a bunch of them.  The other interesting one was the Yummy doh.  Pre mixed cookie dough. 

I also enjoyed this Pear hazelnut spread,  definitely an elevated dessert spread. I think I remember them saying they were from Quebec as well.

I didn't try this but this Cauliflower quick meal looked kind of interesting.

I tried this Iceberg water.  I admit that packaging gets my attention and I liked the bottle and of course the Water was very good too.

There was LOTS of meats this year,  With Keto going strong Meat is back.  There were lots of cured hams,  massive steaks and more.

I also had to stop and take a photo of this guy from Bad Dad Tea.  He gave me a nice little sample pack and I told him I loved the branding.  It stands out from most of the tea brands.

I don't know what this thing is called but it was pan fried kind of like shreds of phyllo with pistacio's on top.  I think it's a Persian dish kind of like a Baklava type of thing.  Because I was in a hurry I just blew by as much as I could and didn't take the time to find out more about it unfortunately.

Chef Stefano Failto also entered the product market with his line of sauces.  I wanted to try these but by this time I just didn't have time to wait for a sample and was really full but I hope to get a chance to try these in the stores soon.

The one product that had myself and fellow blogger Carol Nelson Brown stop dead in our tracks were these flavour spheres.  The grapefruit one on the left was a game changer.  I took home a honey one.  These things have the texture of fish roe and just burst with fruit flavour or honey when they hit your tongue.  This would make your appetizers literally POP.

I missed so much because I was only able to go to 1 day of the 3 day massive show and would have loved to have more time to explore more.  I found out later that my friend Vicky was representing another Sial Innovation product the UnBun.  I passed the booth but didn't see her and didn't stop to check it out because it was the end of the show.

You really have to have time and a strategy at this show.  If you are in the food industry you focus on making connections and sales.  For myself and my blogger friends we try and see as much new food and chef demos as we can.   It's also great to run into people we know at the show after going a few times you become familiar with some of the people who do the show often.

It's not open to the public but I hope that I gave you a peek at what's coming to specialty food stores, grocery stores and restaurants in the future.  I hope to have more time next time to showcase a lot more products.

If you are a Food Industry Professional and would like to find out more about the show or would like to find out more about the products check out the website for more information:

https://sialcanada.com/en/article/sial-toronto-kick-off-2019-edition/

Green Living Show 2019

#GLS19

@greenlivingshow

March 22-24

Metro Convention Centre Toronto

I have been going to the Green Living Show for a few years now and I am always on the look out for new and smart products that will sustain us in the future.

This show really is the one show that is for everyone.  It covers products for moms, kids, families, people with busy lives and busy business people.

The show is very interactive and not only is it about purchasing sustainable products it's about learning about ways you can make choices in your every day life that will have a global impact.

This year there was a large presence of Sustainable clothing made from everything from rubber to water bottles and accessories from leaves even.

 

 There was the Eco Car of the year once again in an eye catching bright green color.

There is an age restricted Canabis section where I got a free 10 minute chair massage event.  There were lots of canabis related products including books.

The thing I am always striving for is to reduce my waste and save money so I was happy to see a store based in Scarborough with a booth at the show that you could purchase recycled jars that you could fill up with things like shampoo and dish soap and they had a bunch of other really cool products that I plan on going back to pick up today.

There are interactive booths like the Electric Car simulator to tai chi and kids play areas.

Green Peace was on hand with this thought provoking display and it's clear that a lot of booths were concerned about plastic in our Oceans.

Don't forget about the food.  That's what I was there for after all.

Besides the Local Sustainable foods that are flavours from around the world and also the attached beverage area there are also lots of products to sample and purchase.

Some things I liked included the Keto coffee and there is great vegan cheese and the La Dee Da ladies created snack products in compostable packages and great sauces.

There are loads of products in Mason Jars which I love because it goes back to the time before plastic products took over the world and our oceans.

This product got my attention because I don't think I have seen it before and because I am an Ox the label got me curious.  I tried the Strawberry Mint flavour.  It would be a fast way to make a great salad dressing for a spinach salad even though this stuff is made for cocktails it's also great for other things.

So that's my quick overview of the show.   I got a bunch of stuff like cleaning products, snacks and a bunch of other things in a swag back but I picked up these 3 things and I plan on going back today for a couple of other things like some bamboo sheets I can't stop thinking about.

Why I picked up these three things.   The Cupanion water bottle is about the size of a regular water bottle with a wide lid easy to clean and everytime you fill it up and scan a card water is provided to someone somewhere else in the world.  That's smart.   The Keto Coffee is a delicious way to get an easy and healthy coffee wherever you can boil water.  I also liked this pumpkin spread that I picked up at the Organic Garage booth, always my favourite place to stop by and get samples.  I am thinking it will make a great chicken dish or spread for bagels.

Well that's it for me... I am planning on gong back for a couple of hours today to pick up a few more things.  Hope to see you there...and look out for these things in stores soon.

www.greenlivingshow.ca