I meant to write a recap of a couple of food events I attended on the weekend and it’s already Wednesday.
The Vegetarian Food Fair (my interview with the Executive Director can be found on the September 8th issue of Gremolata) was bigger than ever and sadly, less interesting than previous years. They’ve segregated all of the political groups to one area so there are no rabid Peta volunteers glaring at the folks from the happy dairy farm booth beside them. And maybe we’ve just run the gamut of new and exciting soy-based products to try, but there wasn’t much of anything there that I hadn’t had before.
What there was a lot of was protein/energy bars. Six different booths that we counted, all of them touting various health benefits and all of them vegan. I’m assuming the regular ones are not vegan? I don’t know for sure, as I have very little interest in the things - they all taste like plastic and cardboard to me. The other thing there was a lot of was tea. Tea and energy bars. One of the sponsors of Harbourfront Centre (where the fair was held) used to be Lipton and there was a weird clause that vendors at the various events that took place over the summer couldn’t sell tea. Looks like that sponsorship is done because you couldn’t move without hitting a table of tea samples. Or protein bars.
We ate dinner in the makeshift vegetarian food court tent and I made the mistake of getting the combo plate from Vegetarian Haven instead of the wiser decision of a dosa. Greg said it best with the comment “This is exactly the kind of food that gives vegetarianism a bad name.” He wisely headed to the Hare Krishna booth, which made me recall my punk-rock days in Halifax when we’d all go to the dinners at the Krishna temple for the free food.
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On Sunday we hit the Taste of Toronto event at Metro Hall. Besides the fact that it was fucking cold (the park at Metro Hall is surrounded by tall buildings on three sides and it was shady and windy), much of the food was dubious. Originally dubbed “Taste of the Entertainment District”, the event features food from local restaurants. Problem is, most of the restaurants in the entertainment district are less than stellar to begin with. Take that less than stellar food and slap in on a steam tray and you’ve got well… not very good food getting cold and soggy.
We found oysters for a buck a pop - New Brunswick oysters as opposed to the $2 each, 6/$10 PEI Malpeques at the other oyster place. Then I had a passable vegetarian combo from Southern Accent, a cajun/creole place. The blackened tofu was mediocre, but the coleslaw and corn bread were pretty decent. Greg hit a booth of Chinese food and was quickly disgusted as soon as he started eating. It was gawdawful. Torontonians - avoid Bright Pearl - if that was any indication of their regular menu, it was terrible. He tried again with fish and chips from Elephant and Castle - a pub-themed chain that we usually avoid because the ambience is just awful.
After that we hit the bar and Greg had a beer. Having recently discovered that I am able to drink Merlot in small quantities without my head exploding (fewer tannins, apparently) I experimented by branching out and having a glass of Cabernet. Which I quickly returned. Despite the chilly weather, the bottle had been sitting in the sun and my wine was actually hot. A bit of sugar and a cinnamon stick and I could have mulled the stuff.
That night we went out for dinner to celebrate my birthday the following day. As is usual with my birthday celebrations,it was a giant fuck-up, possibly caused by the stupid Toronto International Film Festival filling up every decent restaurant and bar in the city. In any case, we had planned on dinner at Terroni a decent southern Italian place, but they don’t take reservations and there was a line down the block when we arrived. A phone call to Fressen, a local vegan place was not fruitful, and we so started walking. We hit a new Mexican place that had room for us, but it was loud and tighly packed and not conducive to conversation. So we ended up at Epicure, which seems to be our fallback for situations like this, but which should really be our first and only choice. It’s one of the best French bistros in town and they’ve expanded their menu to include pizzas and wraps, alongside the French bistro fare and stellar burgers (regular, chicken, veggie and soy!). Something for everyone, decently priced and a big quiet table at the back with room for all of us.
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In my last bit of food news, this is my last week at the WellFed Network - both in terms of writing and editing. I want to concentrate on other stuff (like that damned novel!) and the administrative aspects of the gig were beginning to frustrate me. Not a people person, me, and the chasing after writers for their work really started to get to me, making me even more of a curmudgeon than usual. In any case, you can check out my final fire and brimstone posts on Growers and Grocers and FitFare.
