Restaurants Canada Show 2018

Restaurants Canada Show - RC Show

Enercare Centre Toronto

Feb 25-27, 2018

www.rcshow.com

#RCShow18

Twitter@RestaurantsCA

Insta/Facebook@RestaurantsCanada

The Restaurants Canada Show has been rebranded to the RC Show since 2017 and I have been attending it for the past few years.  I was excited to attend again this year and wonder around the huge Enercare Centre with my fellow blogger friends and try and check out as many of the booths as we could.  It's a huge trade show that brings over 16,000 Food Industry professionals together under one roof.  It's pretty spectacular how many different moving parts there are to owning and running a business and this show speaks to and shows them all.  From the uniforms to the big industrial machines to the time saving food products, there is a lot to see and learn about at this show.

There are demos, panels, and all kinds of interactive and educational things at the show. And then there are the food samples.  Personally that's my favourite part.  It is a 3 day show and I wish I had time to go everyday and pace myself to be able to try it all but I have found a way to strategically do as much as I can.  Because I have gone to a lot of food related shows I am always looking for new things that I haven't tried before.  The first year I went I got hung up on the first aisle of massive quantities of cheese and was too full to try anything else.  Now I just choose cheeses I haven't seen before to try and only eat things that call my name.  Drool worthy foods that you know are going to make you happy.   

Here are 3 of the things I tried and absolutely loved.  This soft goat cheese, these amazing salami's, and the authentic pizza oven freshly made literally right out of the oven Margherita Pizza.

   

There were also panels of interesting speakers and topics.  I sat in on 2 at the speakers stage.  The morning one was from Kitchen to Print about cookbook publishing.  The moderator was from Figure 1 Publishing and on the panel was Greta Podleski from Looney Spoons, a fellow blogger Isabelle Boucher who is also a recipe developer, Joel McCharles who is ablogger turned cookbook author of the cookbook Batch and there was also a cookbook photographer named Ryan Szulic.  This was a very informative panel from independent publishing to blogging to dealing with a large publisher and what it takes to get a cookbook off the ground.

The last panel of the day had Branding and Buzzing PR's head honcho Sean Beckingham as the moderator.  The topic was Social Media and Sean is very knowledgeable in this area as he speaks about this subject a lot and knows many of the top restaurants owners in Toronto.  On the panel was Overbudget Inc's Meg McNabb, Executive Chef Sean MacDonald and Lisa Richler the editor of Canada's Best 100 restaurants.  An interesting of mixed perspectives from Chef to community manager to publication and all the different needs and practices of each one.

There were plenty of well known Chefs wondering around the show and my friend Jenny (IceCream and Knishes) loves to chat with them and had a great chat with both Chef Brad Long of Cafe Belong on the left and Former Dragon Vikram Vij of Vij's in Vancouver and he is also an entrepreneur and Chopped Canada judge.  He recently went to India with Justin Trudeau to showcase Canadian Food with his Indian heritage but it wasn't seen as a good thing by the Canadian press unfortunately.

 

In the middle of the show literally were all the industry machines and tools like this huge Hobart mixer. Can you imagine how much bread and cakes this thing can mix.  Another cool professional machine was this spinning grill.  It smelled so good with the grilled chicken on it.  Outdoor food indoors, yum.

Some of the trends in the foods we tried included loads of Pizza.  This pizza that dissapeared in about 5 seconds was a General Tao pizza. It was a meal on a pizza and was surprisingly good.  There were so many pizza ovens around the show but we chose probably the 2 best pizzas to taste.

There was spices, mixes, toppings, snacks and sprinkles and all sorts of condiments to try.

      

We really liked this natural peanut butter,  I really liked the hazelnut one and want to see it in stores soon.

     

      

     

Oh the desserts were everywhere but I was good,  I gravitated towards the gelato and tried 2 of them. I really loved the Smores Gelato that I tasted.  Once of the more interesting gelato's was the Unicorn flavour as you can see below.  I didn't try it but I bet kids would flock to that one.

       

This year it didn't seem like there were any mind blowing new things but more of things that are popular done well or with slight twists. 

My favourite thing about this show besides the delicious samples and the amazing talks is running into all the food writers, chefs and industry people that I have come to know over the past few years as a food blogger.  It's really a great place for the Industry to connect with different services and just great ways to learn and collaborate.  If you are looking to start up a restaurant business this is the best place to start at to learn what you will be getting yourself into and be prepared before you start.

I will be back as they say because it's a whole lot of fun and delicious too.

Meet the Makers of your Food

Food Bloggers of Canada organized an event on Sept. 22nd to showcase local food Entrepreneurs at Food Starter, a commercial kitchen where people can go to create their products and get much needed help getting started in their food production journey.  A few Food Bloggers of Canada members and I got all decked out in lab coats and hair nets to check out the space and the vendors.  I always like to give new entrepreneurs a bit of help because it's a tough job getting things out to the market with the thousands of new things coming out all the time and the competitors chomping at the bit to take their share of the market.
Try and support local vendors and give them a chance to grow.

 I have been to a couple of events similar to this where new food producers gather together to showcase their products.  It's an efficient way to get the word out to a lot of people in a short amount of time.  I have never been to Food Starter before and wasn't really aware of what they did until touring the facility and meeting all of the local food vendors.  I guess I am always on the hunt to showcase new producers because I had already seen a few of the vendors at other shows and events and had sampled some of their food before.  There were a few new people to the game and new products.

One of the best things I sampled was actually Bone Broth from Broya which is stored in glass jars, I would say enough for 1 to 2 servings.  This was something I was really interested in because Bone Broth takes a lot of ingredients and a whole lot of cooking time to get it right.  I tried the chicken flavour and it was delicious.  I would totally buy a product like this because it would save a whole lot of time and it's one of the healthiest things you can have quickly.

I was also interested in a food production model from ModGarden that will let you grow food in your home with almost no skills and not much effort.  You just add organic soil and seeds and fill with water and plug it in and it will water when the soil needs it.  Kind of non green thumb idiot proof.  Perfect for me because I always kill my herbs before I get to use them.

Another interesting products was the sauces and spices from Brawta Caribbean Sauces.  They are the healthier version of the sauces and spices that their competition Grace makes.  Gluten free, low sodium, no added sugar and no animal products.  They have a lot of trainers that are on board for their clients to flavour that bland chicken they tell them to eat.

And a delicious sweet bite came from Mary's Brigadeiro,  high quality hand dipped chocolates.  I have seen these at a few festivals.  They make great gifts,  delicious and beautiful.

We sampled a whole bunch of hot sauces, smoothies, cricket sauces, kebeh, blue sparkling apple cider, veal, meatballs and olives even curries and other sauces.  You will see them soon at your local markets but for now to find out more about them and follow them to find out more about their products and see where you can go to sample them too.

THE LIST

(1) The Spread 
Instagram @thatsthespread 
Twitter @thatsthespread
FB thatsthespread 
Website  Thatsthespread.com 
Blog Thatsthespread.wordpress.com 

(2) Cucina Mauro 
Website www.cucinamauro.com 
Twitter @CucinaMauro 
FB: CucinaMauroCatering 
Instagram @cucina_mauro 

(3) Brawta Caribbean 
Website Www.brawtacaribbean.com 
FB: Facebook.com/brawtacaribbean 
Instagram @brawta_caribbean
Twitter @brawtacaribbean 

(4) One Hop Kitchen
Instagram @onehopkitchen 
Twitter @onehopkitchen 
FB: One Hop Kitchen
Website www.onehopkitchen.com 

(5) Broya
Instagram @broyaliving 
FB: www.facebook.com/broyaliving 
Twitter @broyaliving 

(6) Kabkeb
Website coming soon.  http://nhfoodinc.com/

(7) Gryllies
Instagram @gryllies 
Twitter @gryllies 
FB: Gryllies 

(8) Gluten Be Gone Inc.
Website www.glutenbegone.ca 
FB: https://www.facebook.com/Nogluteneaten/ 
Twitter https://twitter.com/NoGlutenEating 

(9) Island Foods 
Website: http://www.island-foods.com/http://www.island-foods.com/

(10) Mary’s Brigadeiro
FB: /MarysBrigadeiro 
Instagram @MarysBrigadeiro 
Twitter @MarysBrigadeiro 
Website www.marysbsweets.com 

(11) Premium Near Beer
Twitter @premiumnearbeer 
FB: Premium Near Beer 

(12) Living Farmacy
Twitter @livingfarmacy 
Instagram @livingfarmacy 

(13) The Duke Brothers Co.
Instagram @thedukebrothers
Website: https://dukebrotherscoffee.com/ 

(14) Saha Cuisine 
Twitter: @sahacuisine 
Instagram: @sahacuisine 
FB: Saha International Cuisine

(15) Jaswant’s Kitchen
Instagram: @jaswantskitchen 
Twitter: @jaswantskitchen 
Website: http://www.jaswantskitchen.com/ 

(16) Mod Garden Twitter @modgarden 
FB: @themodgarden 
Website http://modgarden.com/

Tapas Essentials not just for Tapas

ESPUNAS TAPAS ESSENTIALS

You usually think of Tapas as a something you eat at a party or while restaurant hopping in Spain.
I was given some samples of Espuna Canada's Tapas Essentials and made them in 3 different ways.

I used the Chorizo salami in my Spanish Omellette for what could be a Breakfast, Lunch or even dinner because it really  has everything in it.

I sliced and fried small pieces of the chorizo with diced onions, and green and red peppers and then I added scrambled eggs.  I used smoked paprika for the spice but skipped salt and pepper because of the chorizo. You could make a fold over omelette or a fritatta but this was based on an omellette my mom used to make for my dad who had some Spanish heritage.  My mom would add tomatoes instead of salami but sometimes my dad would make omelettes with salami in them.

I kept everything pretty simple because I didn't have a lot of time to prepare fancy things and it's also a super easy way to have these things on hand in case friends stop by at the last minute.

I used the fantastic salami just the way it is on a piece of sliced baguette and topped it off with some Spanish Manchego cheese and some olives and grape tomatoes on the side.  Some Marcona almonds and grapes would probably be great to have with this if I had some.

The last thing I made were the classic Prosciutto wrapped dates.  I also stuffed them with some more of the Manchego cheese but you could use any kind of cheese that melts well or even put a Marcona almond in the middle too.  These would be great for parties but I just made them for an afternoon snack.

I wanted to use the products to have a Fiesta party with friends but we didn't have the time to pull it together so I just used them in my everyday life and you can use them for appetizers, lunch, a snack or cooked in your dinner.

You could also use the chorizo salami on your favourite pizza or use the prosciutto in a paninni.

If I was having a party I would have used most of these products for a charcuterie board with some great cheeses, and fruits and nuts.

Espuna products were founded in 1947 in Olot, Spain by the Espuna family and have been family fun since then. They export 300 products to 49 countries.

To find out more about their line of products visit their website at http://www.espuna.es.
Twitter https://twitter.com/espunacanada
Facebook:  https://business.facebook.com/EspunaCanada/

President's Choice Holiday PopUp

President's Choice has created something really new and fun for a large grocery retailer.  They created a Holiday Environment Pop Up on King Street West at Blue Jays Way.The really great part is that it runs for a couple of weeks before Christmas and it's totally FREE to check out and to sample bites of their special holiday PC food items.It's closed on mondays but open until 7 most nights and there are also special events there in the evenings that you have to sign up for.  I stopped by after I attended another event to check it out.  When I got there I was immediately drawn to the Nutcracker's in the window display.  It's located on the corner of the block in a pretty large space.  There is a red carpet style entrance and when you walk in you are asked to sit on a large bench while they organize a certain amount of people for the tour.  It takes about 20 to 30 minutes to go through it in groups of about 8 I think.  The entrance is beautifully decorated in holiday decor and then when you walk in you are brought to 4 different rooms.  The first room we entered had a moving train set up that moved through the town space and had places of food samples as the cargo.  It was so cool and impressive.  We sampled the cherry chocolate cake and the waffles with cookie butter and bacon maple syrup. We were then let into the Mingle room where it was decorated in greens and lighted acrylic trees displaying the dishes.  The appetizers where from the Thai appetizer collection and we also sampled some Gochichang chicken wings, butter chicken poutine and 3 of the different Thai appetizers which were all very good.

The next room was the Dinner room where we sampled a beet pasta, a piece of country ham, brussel sprouts and a potato stack.  Then we had the vanilla bean cheesecake with raspberry sauce.  We were pretty full by this time.  The last room was the Gift Room.  I thought this room was really cute with wall to wall colored boxes and were given the choice of their chocolate covered popcorn in a little clear box and another sweet treat but I can't remember what it was unfortunately.

The space is gorgeous and the fact that they sample all of these products at one time to showcase how you can entertain for the season is a great idea.   You can't purchase the foods at the pop up space but they will tell you where you can get them near you if you ask.  

I would totally recommend checking it out while you can just to see how cool the space is even. You can get great decor tips from this space and I would love to see other big retailers do something like this for the holidays.  It's fun and I know it's all marketing and meant to drive sales but it's a fun thing to do.  Be prepared as I heard that there are lineups sometimes and I am sure there will be more as people hear about it being there.  Go hungry and enjoy.

This is not a sponsored post.  I went on my own and the opinions expressed are my own.

Sial Canada Show 2015 - new products

The Sial Canada Show started today in Toronto and I went down to the Direct Energy Centre to check it out.

It's a huge show with loads of things to try.  There is a very large section dedicated to cheese from all over the world.  I got as far as England and Scotland before I had to stop eating cheeses.  There were also lot's of people slicing up Serrano ham and other hams.  Lot's of jams, jellies, spreads and some other interesting things.

I really liked the Activate water product that has vitamins in the cap that gets released when you open it.  The Pistachio praline was also an interesting product.  I also talked to the owners of a new "Craft Soda" as they call it with unique flavour blends. I don't have a photo but one that I enjoyed was a lemongrass lime flavour. There was fudge packaged to look like salami that you just slice up and serve.

In the why didn't anyone do this before category was the mini croutons from Belgium in different flavours.  Croutons are always too hard to stab with a fork and take over salads.  This way they can be spread through salads.

This year the show's country of honour is Indonesia with a section dedicated to Indonesian products.

During the show 17 WINNERS OF THE 2015 OLIVE D'OR CONTEST were announced.

There are also the 10 finalists for the Innovation Award that are being showcased at the show and one will be chosen as the winner during the show.

 Doi Chaang Coffee Co. - Social Medium: Organic and fair trade coffee in 90% biodegradable pod. 12 individually wrapped pods. Innovations: packaging, manufacturing process, marketing positioning. Country: Thailand & Canada/British Columbia. Booth #2245

 Exotico - Sumatra Robusta Green Coffee: Instant green coffee for fitness. Low in calories. Drink hot or cold. Innovations: component – recipe. Country: Indonesia. Booth #418

 Fantino & Mondello - Dry Salami: Gluten free salami bites in a resealable bag. For appetizer. Innovations: component – recipe, packaging. Country: Canada/Québec. Booth #1735

 Fresh Attitude Fraiche - Teriyaki, Stir Fry: Asian inspired vegetables and noodle mix in microwaveable and resealable bowl. Innovations: component –recipe, packaging. Country: Canada/Québec. Booth #2428

 Haskapa - Haskap Juice Drink: Haskap juice in a slim bottle. Made from 187 haskap berries, lightly sweetened. Innovations: component – recipe, packaging. Country: Canada/Nova Scotia. Booth #2307

 Malimousse - Seafood Dip: Specialty dip with Greek yogurt and fish or seafood. Innovation: component – recipe. Country: Canada/Québec. Booth #2209

 Nupasta - Konjac Angel Hair: Gluten free. Ready in 1 minute. Made with konjac root and non-GMO soy. Innovation: component – recipe Country: China & Canada/Ontario. Booth#1745

 Omax - Nutritious and Delicious Bar: Nutrition bar sold in chilled or frozen range. Preservative free. Innovations: component – recipe, marketing positioning Country: Canada/Québec. Booth #2215

 Pure - Infused Maple Syrup: Spice-infused maple syrup in a sophisticated bottle with wooden cap. Innovations: component – recipe, packaging. Country: Canada/Nova Scotia. Booth #2307

 Walter - All-Natural Craft Caesar Mix: Natural handcrafted Bloody Caesar cocktail mix. No monosodium glutamate, isoglucose, colors or artificial flavors. Innovations: component – recipe, manufacturing process. Country: Canada/British Columbia. Booth #2241

This year they will be donating funds to Second Harvest and Celebrity chef Bob Blumer will be there on thursday for the cheque presentation.

Good Food for Good products

I was watching the Marilyn Denis show recently when I saw Richa Gupta promote her Toronto Local sauces GOOD FOOD FOR GOOD which have no preservatives, are vegan and dairy free.  She was on the show to speak with the hosts of MasterChef Canada to get advice about increasing her business.  Since I am in Food Revolution Day event planning I was interested in seeing if her products might fit into something that I could showcase at my event so I contacted Richa and she graciously agreed to do a taste testing with some people that I organized.

I was going to organize a separate blogger tasting but I had already planned to host a TedXManhattan Viewing Party in my home for some Food Revolution Day team members and a few of my friends interested in food and health.  I thought it was a good fit as we were all interested in "Changing the way we Eat" in the world as that was TEDXManhattan's theme for the talks.

photo by Susan Ng

I also got burritos provided by Chipotle thanks to the TedX people but I thought we would do the demo before we ate the burritos.   Well the burritos arrived before Richa did so we had to start eating them because as you might know.... burritos wait for no one.  It worked out because I wanted more people to be there when Richa arrived as everyone was straggling in at various times and Richa had a big charity event the night before so she was quite tired so I told her to take her time.  My party ended up lasting all day and my last friend left at 12:30am so it ended up being an extended 12hr plus drop in party.  I  was glad that I didn't really have to cook.  I had snacks and things I had prepared earlier and just cooked up something quick around dinner time which I will post about later as that was a new product as well.

Anyway..  Richa arrived with her little buggy filled with beautifully marinated chicken skewers to cook up for us to try.  I must note that Richa is a vegetarian so this was a stretch for her as she does not know when chicken is cooked so I helped out to get it cooked to the perfect doneness.  Luckily I had a large grill pan to cook them on but boy did they make a mess on my stovetop.  Use a bbq if you can.   The chicken was coated with her Chili Tomate sauce which is spicy but not overly hot.   She also brought along a packet of a competitors sauce for comparison of what her products taste like without preservatives versus the competitors.   I have to say I am not surprised that there was a noticeable difference.  Her sauces are smooth, creamy and delicous.   The price of the sauce may seem high at about $8.99 for a bottle of it but if you have ever cooked Indian food from scratch you will understand why.  She doesn't take any shortcuts.  All the tomatoes are cooked from scratch and all the layers of spices take time to develop.  In general Indian food uses an array of spices that when layered develop an amazing depth of flavour.


While it may take her hours to make her sauces it will take you minutes to cook up a delicious meal in your home.  Add some vegetables pour over steamed rice and you have an amazing meal that will probably taste a whole lot better than your Indian Take Out.

I really feel happy to support Richa as her story is so interesting.  She worked for General Mills and wasn't happy doing and after trying so called Indian Food in Canada she decided to launch her own brand of sauces from flavours that she had when she lived in Delhi, India where she is from.  You can taste the authenticity in the food.  The best part is that for every bottle of sauce sold she donates .25 cents to serve food programs in India and Africa and that's why it's called Good Food for Good.  Do some good buy some of her sauces at quality Grocery Stores like The Big Carrot and more coming soon.   She is a very lovely woman Entrepreneur with a big heart and I hope that you support her and spread the word.

Kombucha Coffee.. What's that?

 

I have a friend that is obsessed with Kombucha drinks while the rest of my friends have no idea what it is.  I went to a new product launch cocktail party last night for the launch of Tonica Kombucha's Coffee Kombucha Beverage.  I have tried a few different Kombucha drinks because I know that the health properties of Kombucha drinks are really good for you.   This Kombucha is a digestive drink.  This particular brand is 100% Canadian, Organic and Naturally Raw.  It is brewed in small batches and it's filled with living enzymes, healthy bacteria and liver cleansing acids that are fermented.   That might not sound great but what it does is fight the bad stuff in your gut by putting in the good bacteria.

I attended a little cocktail event to launch their new Coffee Kombucha in their North York Warehouse which was set up very nicely with standee tables with candles and tented tables lit with white Christmas lights.   They had a small band playing live music and a bartender set up where they were mixing a Mocktail and a Cocktail using the Coffee Kombucha.   I tried the Mocktail and it was delicious.  It tasted like a pumpkin pie spice cappuccino a bit.  It was very spicy and warming even though it was an iced drink.  It looked like an Iced Cappuccino.  The cocktail had Rum and a few different ingredients added.   I could really see people that are coffee drinkers that want to kick the coffee habit start switching to this drink to get a bit of what they get from coffee.  It's not the same but it is a 100% better for you.  

I recently purchased some Kombucha that was on special.  I took one sip and was not a fan of that particular flavour.   Not true in this case.  I really enjoyed the kicked up drink.  I will have to taste one with out the additions but it didn't have a strong fermented taste that others do.

The food at the event was provided by NUD Fud and Raw Foodz.   NUD fud produce organic, raw, vegan, gluten-free snack foods they had some Apple Crisp treats and some Cocoa flavoured treats as well as Chia Coconut pudding.

Raw Foodz produces Organic, Raw Vegan Cream Cheese Spread and Dip and dressings and their food was served in little cups with crudite, in a Kale Caesar Salad and also a mixed vegetable dish served in a Chinese Take Out Container.

It was a nice event created by a group of women who were obviously set out to change the health of the products we buy in our grocery and convenience stores.  Women on a mission to change the way we eat and drink for our health.