Highlights from the Toronto Food & Wine Festival

The first-ever Toronto Food & Wine Festival was held at Evergreen Brickworks between Friday, September 18 and Sunday, September 20. I have to admit that the event was a bit more fun when it was known as the “Delicious Food Show.” It felt a little smaller this year, without many of the vendors from last year (I loved Home of the Brave and infused oil/vinegar brand, Olive That!). There weren’t that many food trucks, either. However, I did find some interesting items which I ended up purchasing or trying.

Pasta sauces from Damiani Fine Foods

Apple sushi

I have to admit that I really loved booth featuring Ontario-grown items. One neat item I tried were the apple maki rolls. I’ve had non-fish sushi before, but never with apples! This is definitely something restaurants should attempt. I would, however, NOT recommend eating it with soya sauce. Apples and soya sauce would be, well, kind of weird. I’m not much of a wasabi girl, but it SHOULD be okay if you like that sort of thing. I was also able to try pasta sauces from Damiani Fine Foods, which, unfortunately, is not available in Ontario stores just yet (though you can purchase online) as well as whey butter from Churn 84/Stirling. Whey butter is creamier than “standard” butter as it is made from the whey left over from cheese making.

Dips and spread samples from Tabule

Butter from Stirling/Churn84

Some familiar faces were back, including Tabule, the middle eastern restaurant with locations in the Yonge and Davisville and Leslieville areas. There were also restaurants such as Cluny from the Distillery District as well as Reds Wine Bar and its sister restaurants like FOUR. I hope that more old favourites will be back next year, making it bigger and better.

The Miele demo kitchen

Deep fried pizza from Pizzeria Libretto

As for the venue, I’m not really a big fan of being semi-outdoors. At least the weather was nice on Friday. I feel badly for those who attended the event on Saturday, when there were heavy downpours! I also wish that I had the chance to speak with and attend demonstrations by celebrity chefs.

About Cynthia Cheng Mintz

Cynthia Cheng Mintz is the founder and webitor-in-chief of this site and the petite-focused site, Shorty Stories. She has also written for other publications including the Toronto Star and has blogged for The Huffington Post. Her first novel, Aspirations, was published in 2007. Outside of writing, Cynthia researches and advises philanthropic ideas for family funds and foundations and also volunteers.