Back in Business
Today is the last day of the three-day Vegetarian Food Fair at Harbourfront Centre. I was there for 5 hours yesterday and in that time saw cooking demos by Meghan Telpner, Marni Wasserman and Jae Steele.
Today’s events include a cooking demo by Ricki Heller (noon), a presentation called “Becoming Raw… separating fact from fiction” (3 pm), a presentation by Jae called “Ripe from around Here: local and sustainable choices for a plant-based diet.” (4:30), and Cruelty-Free Baking Basics – A panel with Marni Wasserman, Lesia Kohut and Ricki Heller (6:30 pm). See the schedule for descriptions of these and other events.
You could eat your way through these events. Cooking demos end with food samples. There are plenty of places selling food. Aside from the regular corn and coconut kiosks that are permanent Harbourfront Centre fixtures, enjoy restaurants such as King’s Cafe and Loving Hut. Buy fresh baked goods from LPK’s Culinary Groove (find them inside the Lakeside Terrace Tent), fresh and packaged baked goods from New Moon Kitchen and Sweets From the Earth. Enjoy samples of soy foods, hemp foods and other vegetarian friendly edibles.
See the full list of participating restaurants and other exhibitors.
I certainly ate a lot, beginning with samples from Meghan’s demo, eating a number of samples inside the Brigantine Room. Near the end of my visit I got LPK’s last vegan, gluten-free sandwich cookie ($2.50). She’d baked what she thought was enough for 2 days and was nearly sold out by around 4:30. I bought a young coconut that was hacked to open a hole that would fit a straw ($5), drank the water, and brought the shell home. My raw food book is full of recipes that use young coconut. If I’m buying a young coconut I’m going to use as much of it as I can rather than drink the $5 water and waste the shell. Seeing all the empty shells in the garbage – I don’t know if they were designated to compost – was slightly disappointing. Someone could rescue those!
There is a “farmer’s market” table if you’re looking for fresh, local produce. Inside the Brigantine Room I bought a couple of big bags of Manitoba Harvest Hemp Foods hemp seeds for $8 each.
The Vegetarian Food Fair is not just about the food or the lectures. I bought a number of things that I can’t eat but will help me eat. Meghan is selling nut milk bags at her booth ($13.50) and I’d been wanting one for awhile. Now I can make nut and seed milk without messily fumbling with a strainer and spoon. I could blend up water with fruits and vegetables – almost like a smoothie – and make a pseudo juice.
I’d been wanting to buy Jae Steele’s latest cookbook since the evening I attended its launch without cash, and so I bought both of her books and she signed them when I went to say hi and re-introduce myself. My copies of Get it Ripe and Ripe From Around Here are extra special now. Jae made a good impression on me at her book launch. She’s friendly, quirky, and endearing and reminds me of myself. She made me laugh and renewed my desire to buy an ice cream maker.
My mom and sister bought apparatus for sprouting. Marni is selling GlassDharma straws and Sun Warrior protein powder at her booth. You could buy a Vita-mix inside the Brigantine Room. The range of product is pretty good, though not complete. On my way home a woman on the streetcar pointed out that they didn’t have many kitchen gadgets. She was looking for a mandolin (I told her where to get one). My sister thought she might find coconut oil but didn’t.
It was a beautiful day for the festival yesterday and it looks like the weather has cleared up for a sunny day today. Get down there. It opens at 11 and the first cooking demo is at noon.
I didn’t take many photos but here are some of those I did take. I regret not photographing Meghan while she was using her nut milk bag but I was focused on the demo. Her dad took lots of shots from the front row.
My sister, mom and I all ran into people we know. I enjoyed seeing the entire Telpner family. Meghan’s dad was the only one I hadn’t yet met, although this year his ad agency created the logo for the organization that I helped establish. I knew Meg’s brother long before I knew her. I met one of her childhood best friends while in line to go into the demo. My one year old (in 2 days) nephew “met” her six month old niece when he awoke from a nap. There were tons of children and babies at the food fair. It’s encouraging to see so many parents into healthy eating.
If you don’t catch the fair this year, there’s always next year. It’s always the second weekend of September at Harbourfront Centre. Bookmark the Toronto Vegetarian Society website for future reference.
Eat well, be well.
