3 Themed Food Festivals to check out in August in TO

There is no shortage of food festivals happening in Toronto this summer and here are 3 that aren't general festivals to fit everyone they are more targeted to people that are interested in specific things, foods or cultures.   Last year I attended the Coconut Festival and was pleasantly surprised at how easy it was to see and try lot's of things and there was some really good food there to sample too.
I also attended Kultura a Filipino Arts Festival which was held at Yonge and Dundas square last year and I can tell you that they needed more space for the long lines for the food vendors so this year they have moved to Nathan Philips Square.  I think it's a much better location for this event.  You can read about my experience at these festivals in previous posts from last year but new to my festival to do list is the Sweetery Festival.  It started last year but I wasn't able to check it out then but I hope to be able to attend this year and take pics of all the sweets from local Bakers.   I am planning on attending all three of these festivals so I will be writing follow up posts on them all.  Here are some more details in case you are interested in attending.  All three of these have easy to get to locations and are free to attend which is why I can recommend them for people that aren't sure if they want to attend,  you have nothing to lose but you may see or try some interesting things.

Coconut Festival

Toronto hosts Canada’s 3rd Annual Coconut Festival & Marketplace

Date:           Saturday, August 27, 2016, 10a.m. – 8pm

Location:    David Pecaut Square, 215 King St Toronto, M5V 3G2

Coconut Festival Canada produces the event to connect all communities to learn about the coconuts’ various health benefits & diverse addictive delicious culinary and lifestyle uses ​with the addition of a Book Drive for an orphanage partner in the Philippines.

 It’s a Free General Admission event featuring ​70 vendors dealing with​ ​coconut in your food choices, wellness program, cleaning, cosmetics, fashion and more from Asia & Pan America.  You can taste and shop for various coconut products including those from local artisans: vegan coconut cakes,​ coconut pancakes, spreads, oils, energy snacks, chips, dips 

Some of the Featured speakers are:

• Sunita Mohan, (Host of Kitty Talk on Omni2 on Saturday) speaking to Good Fats and the Bad Fats because good fats protect your heart, support overall health and help you lose weight. In fact, good fats such as omega-3 fats are essential to physical and emotional health."
• ​​​Kalayaan De Vera;​RHN,​​ will speak about using DIY coconut beauty and home products.
• Kennedy Lodato,​Co-Founder of the Canadian Fitness Education Alliance-​Recovery and Foam Rolling after exercise th​a​t can help flush out lactic acid and reduce soreness.

   Interactive Content:

• ​Edane Padme:​ will be conducting free children’s grass yoga and tea ceremony​                              
• Kelani Dance-a Polynesian dance that is a way of thinking and living.

The festival also provides family entertainment such as; children’s games, coconut bowling contests, hula contests, free yoga, acro yoga, and Polynesian & New Zealand dancers.

What’s new this year is an Eco Fashion Show featuring local designers and artist showcasing their work with the coconut theme in place. ​  

The first 500 attendees receive a complimentary swag bag.

There is a book drive and that partial proceeds from donations and sales of fresh coconuts will go to build a library in an orphanage ​partner ​in the Philippines ages 1-21.

 

Social:

info@coconutfestival.ca    

http://www.coconutfestival.ca  

@cocofestcanada                                                   

#coconutfestTO   

https://www.facebook.com/cocofestcanada.

Kultura Filipino Arts Festival

Canada's only multi-disciplinary Filipino arts festival Kultura Filipino Arts Festival returns to Toronto but it has moved to Nathan Phillips Square this year. 
Date: August 5-7, 2016
It's an incredible celebration of Canada's largest diaspora, featuring a bad-ass food competition. 

Headlining the festival is HATAW Performing Arts dance troupe. Performing on the third and final day of the festival at Nathan Phillips Square (100 Queen St. W.), the world-renowned troupe brings together dance, costume and culture in a display of mesmerizing talent. HATAW joins a lineup on the third day that also includes a live performance stage, a marketplace of Filipino artists and entrepreneurs, and an art battle.
 
Back by popular demand is Kultura’s culinary battle, Kain Kalye: Filipino Street Eats Competition. Guests will have the chance to tour the traditional and nouveau cuisine of the Philippines on the final day of the festival when they sample foods from the participating vendors and vote for their favourite. Participating restaurants include last year’s winner, Diona Joyce of Toronto’s Kanto & Tita Flips, and Chef Daniel Cancino of Lamesa. Kultura will be selling a limited number of Kain Kalye Passports online in the lead-up to the festival with discounted prices for all the participating food vendors.  

Social:
http://www.kultura.ca/
@KulturaTO
Facebook

Sweetery Food Festival Sweetery is a not-for-profit organization that will be hosting a sweets food festival in collaboration with George Brown College Chef School  Date: Saturday August 20 and Sunday August 21  Location: David Pecaut Square (King St and John St). This festival is dedicated solely to all things confectionery to create a local event that will promote and showcase the whimsical world of confectionery and culinary arts in the Greater Toronto Area.  Follow Sweetery Food Festival: Facebook @sweeterytoronto Instatgram @sweeterytoronto Hashtag #SweeteryToronto www.sweeterytoronto.com

Pop Up Festival City in TO

I am writing this post a little differently today.  My computer seems to have given up trying to keep up with all the pop ups and festivals that I have been trying to go to lately and it won't even start up, just like a stubborn child.  Yeah I know computers don't last long anymore but I think I just overloaded it with way too many festival images.  Anyway, for this post I am typing with one finger on my IPad while lying in bed.  Why?  Well because my body is tired but my blogger brain won't shut off.

I don't want to fall too far behind and leave out posts I wanted to write so will see how this goes for now until I figure out how to solve my computer issues.

This past weekend I attended 2 festivals.  One was a community street festival that seemed more like a flea market on a Main Street.  That festival was Big on Bloor.  Spanning from Dufferin to Landsdowne on Bloor Street it closed down the streets for 2 days.  I decided to check it out because I was close to the area looking for a new computer and on a crazy hot day I get the. Bright idea to walk on Bloor in the sun and sweat my face off.  There wasn't much food vendors but there were activities and a lot of jewellery vendors.  I basically just walked from Dufferin to Landsdowne and took some pics and hopped back on the subway.  Not much there for me.

On Friday after work I went to the Toronto Festival of Beer with my blogger friend Shuang.  It was insanely hot and you had to walk from the Princess Gates to past the Better living building.  I don't think it was the best day for us to go. We were tired and sweaty but once again I went to check it out for you.  Beer festivals are not my thing because I don't drink beer and not interested in getting drunk to the point of the next day being a write off.  This was that kind of festival with more beer vendors than food vendors in a close proximity with loads of 20-30 somethings looking for a good time.

Yeah I'm probably too old for these things but Shuang isn't and she just turned into an old lady too.

I walked around to check everything out but since I don't drink beer it kind of felt a bit useless for me to be there.  I will leave the beer description up to some of my fellow bloggers and beer lovers that I know attended the festival.  I will just tell you what else was there.  There was a Le Grille grilling tent where a few of Toronto's popular chefs were doing demos.  Some notable like Ted Reader and the Chefs from Antler, camagnolo, Raca Cafe, and Pizzeria Libretto and many more.

Other food vendors included the energetic Matt Basile with his Fidel Gastros food truck.

There was hand pie from the Pie commission and Poutine from Smokes Poutinerie and even some Swedish food to go with Swedish Beer.

There were even games to play and some big music artists there like Maestro Fresh Wes and many more.

I didn't eat or drink anything and we didn't stay long because it was just too hot to wander around.

I know lots of people with less clothing on had a really great time there but I went from work and was wearing black pants so that should explain why I didn't stay long.

A couple of weeks ago I went to the TO Food Fest at the Chinese Cultural centre in Scarborough.  What I like about this festival is that it has an indoor and outside setup.  With washrooms available inside. It's only $2 or a food bank donation to get in which I think is a good idea.  They had an area for kids to play and there is a small lot with free parking if you get there early.

It's pretty much all food but the diversity is amazing.  There was Filipino, Japanese, Brazilian, Cambodian, Jamaican and a whole lot of other ethnic and new trend foods.  From the Sushi Burritos to the Ice Cream Rolls to the Raindrop cakes.

I have seen a lot of these things before but it's a good place to try all kinds of food in one convenient location with less walking than the CNE and you will see stuff here before it hits the CNE usually.

I have said it before, there is a festival r popup for everyone and everything in Toronto.

Have we reached the limit yet or is Toronto's appetite for new foods and festivals not going to end anytime soon?

There are a few more food festivals I will be writing about soon so stay tuned,  there's more to come.