Eat & Drink
Vegetarian Food Fair Makes Me Rethink My 3am Greasy Cheesburger Hangover Habit
The 25th annual Vegetarian Food Fair took place this weekend at Toronto's Harbourfront Centre. Despite having excluded one of the major food groups, the festival was bursting at the seams with booths displaying delectable meat alternatives and, my favourite, abundant samples.
In the past, I have made mild attempts at becoming vegetarian that never lasted longer than two weeks. This is mainly due to my lack of culinary competence, and the fact that greasy cheeseburgers are my ideal hangover food.
However, the fair had numerous cooking demonstrations and talks geared towards the less vegetably-inclined wannabes similar to myself. These demonstrations highlighted easy-to-make recipes that fulfill all the nutritional requirements while still managing to taste good.
The fair also focused on locally grown, organic, and fair trade options available to the vegetarian consumer. One of the more popular booths at the fair was Sweets from the Earth Desserts, which boasted delicious vegan fudge, cheesecake, and other pastries made without using eggs or dairy products.
Those with a sweet tooth could also find delight by visiting GoBio, which displayed an array of gummy bears, licorice, and other candies. Any guilt I felt while feasting on these tantalizing sweets could be slightly drowned out by the mantra "Hey, at least it's organic" running through my head.
While walking around to the humble acoustic set being played on the Redpath Stage, I was more than a little envious of the tired fair-goers decompressing at Shiatsu by Sher's while others lined up outside another booth offering massages nearby.
With the fair's diverse lineup of exhibitors, it was clear that it had a little of something for everyone. Even those who are not vegetarian could pick up a few tips and tricks on making those vegetables that much tastier and meals that much healthier.
This year's Vegetarian Food Fair was definitely one of the most appetizing vegetarian experiences I've had yet. Who knows, maybe by the time the 26th fair rolls around I'll be a successful vegetarian, and greasy veggie burgers will be the cure my hangovers.
Photos by Sydney Helland
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I love the Veggie Food Fair. Highlight of my September every year for sure. Beyond the samples and the new products, the tips and info on vegetarianism, animal activism and healthy living are fantastic.
This was my first year attending the Fair and also happened to be my first year as a vegan so I was pretty excited about the event. While there were some great vendors, lots of informative demos (with great food and recipes) and talks, the food really left something to be desired. There is so much more to vegetarian/vegan cuisine than deep fried items and tofu morphed into chicken, lamb, duck or turkey!
Non-vegetarians are always so concerned with protein sources for vegetarians and I think the Food Fair is an amazing time to share the joys of beans, quinoa and lentils with the masses rather than focus on 10,000 ways to manipulate soy. Perhaps I'm wrong and at the end of the day people are just looking for a vegetarian replacement for their greasy cheeseburger. While there were some healthier options (raw goodies at Live, fruit cups & thai coconuts and spicy corn soup) I think that too many of the food options at the Fair really missed an opportunity to share the joy of healthy, well-balanced vegetarian cuisine with the masses.
I totally agree with you. I go to the food fair every year and am always surprised that most vegetarian restaurants in Toronto are never there. I had more luck in the dining tent, though. There were lots of lentil and bean curries to choose from, salads and pizza.
I find that quite a few Toronto vegetarian restaurants lean too heavily on the fake-meat soy product, but I thought that there were plenty of vendors at the food fair showcasing real foods, rather than soy fake meat. I always love the hemp seed, hemp oil and hemp butter samples and the Sha-Sha Bread Co. had some great stuff. Sunflower was there with their hummus, baba ganoush and spreads and one of the interesting new products I found was a drink (original, vanilla and chocolate) made entirely from quinoa. Naturally there are going to be fake meat products aplenty and I think it's a fine way to transition from an omnivore to vegetarian/vegan diet, but I found that there were far more vendors offering honest-to-goodness food, like granola mixes and all-natural vegan sweets, than beige soy in a duck-shaped mould. I can only think of about four such product vendors at the entire fest (not counting the restaurants that were there).
One fake meat product I do honestly love is soy jerky. They haven't had a table at the fair in a few years and I haven't found the stuff in Toronto.
I'm pretty sure you can get soy jerky at Essence of Life in Kensington Market.
Went to this even if I am not a vegetarian. Blah. Just buy some fruits, vegetables and meats and you'll eat way healthier than these granola nutbars. Being vegan/vegetarian has nothing to do with being healthier - it's a religious movement. Done that - vegetarian - gone very bad - almost died! Never again.
Some of the products are ok - nut butters, various nut/seed beverages, but most of what was displayed on the show is heavily processed food. Worse for you than eating a local naturally raised steak.
almost died from being a vegetarian! why how can that be, i'm a cat5 cyclist and i work 50 hours a week at a manual labourer position, and i haven't come close to dying! you suck!
perhaps you should educate yourself on proper nutrition....maybe then you won't 'almost' die
that being said.. not very impressed with the fair. i felt it was a wide variety of fairly generic vegetarian foods and sterotypes. i'm glad that this is around nonetheless. I would have preferred to see some more creative foods and ideas floating around.
Just to nitpick: Meat isn't actually a food group, as stated in the story - only part of the proteins group. Which is why a vegetarian diet is healthy and sustainable, as opposed to, say, carb-free diets.
Good for you for doing manual labour and cycling and so on. Not every body is the same or it has the same requirements. Some people can't go on a vegetarian diet (as I learned myself). And I did educate myself. Perhaps people need to be told that there are serious risks associated with this diet. I won't go into details about myself here... I like vegetables and fruits - I just don't think that diet is suitable for everyone and it is NOT the healthiest diet for everyone. You suck!
You can get soy jerky at Whole Foods.
I agree that there are risks with any diet and education can make the difference. I'm impressed with the info that TVA and others made available at the fair for people interested in learning more and the emails I get from the veggie challenge (I signed up for the 25 day challenge this year, having successfully completed the 7 day challenge last year) are very useful.
I found Michael Pollan's "In Defense of Food" to be a great resource for seeing a side of the food industry and culture that I was a part of, but not completely aware of. Pollan himself does not push a completely veggie diet, he just says eat less meat and more greens.
I'm glad to see such events in this city, and movies like Food Inc. being screened at Bloor Cinema, because it shows that people are thinking about the choices they make and the impacts that those choices ultimately make on themselves and to others, and the planet. I'm all for events that raise awareness, offering alternative perspectives, and allowing people to arrive at their own conclusions on how they want to live their lives.
J
I couldn't agree with you more about the breath-taking lack of creativity at the show.
But then, I remember, " Toronto is not exactly known for its originality or creativity. "
It's basically one big bank,
one real estate company,
10 million lawyers and accountants
and
a deeply unionized vampire-like government which nervously hovers over the city, anxious to collect its share of the spoils at every possible opportunity. ( Talk about a run on sentence! Can someone call Editorial now! )
In this kind of environment, it's no wonder the Vegetarian Food Show was creatively bankrupt.
Perhaps because creativity and originality are murky, and unscientific by nature, many Torontonians shun them like troublesome in-laws, greedy co-workers or cheating spouses.
Take, for example, a look at the new Corus Entertainment Building in the harbor. It's a level of mediocrity which goes beyond language. I hope no one got paid for designing this monstrosity.
If a major building as bad as this can actually be fully approved and then manufactured, why should the Vegetarian Food Fare be any different.
Though I enjoyed the time I spent at the Fair this weekend, I agree with Ashley. For a Vegetarian Food Fair, there were shockingly few vegetables to be found in the booths. Maybe I was just hanging out in the wrong area. But this is kind of a symptom of a greater problem in the city. I find there really aren't a whole lot of true vegetarian restaurants in Toronto that offer original options that are both healthy and tasty. Not to single out Toronto--this is really the case in many cities I've been to.
Many vegan meat analogs can be found at: http://www.MeatAlternatives.org
Choose your country and region and see what's available in store.
Thanks Colleen and Lee. I'm looking for a specific brand, as the types of soy jerky I've found in my local health food shops just don't compare. I'll check out the options at Essence and Whole Foods
I somewhat disagree with the folks that have said that the fair was all processed fake-meat products. I found a lot of new and interesting stuff that had nothing to do with soy or food-colouring infused wheat protein "salmon steaks".
But I agree there weren't as many booths focusing on fruits and veggies as I would have hoped. There was the coconut guy at the one fruit booth and there was the Mama Earth organic fruit and veg delivery booth and then the booth selling a juicer marketed heavily for fruit and veg smoothies and such. Would have been nice to have some vendors talking about fruit and veg nutrition and different edible plants. I'm sure there are tons that I don't know about. Also, I'd like to see more booths talking about nuts, seeds and legumes. They're delicious, nutritious and versatile.
This year the event was okay, but previous years had more variety and activism. It seems the event has fewer exhibitors each year. It would be nice to see more stores, restuarants, etc. Whole foods was present last year, but not this year.
Too bad you missed Living Sweets. Their dairy free, gluten free, vegan, raw 'cheesecakes' put other vegetarian desserts to shame.
I don't like this idea that vegetarians are only about being healthy and eating nutritious foods. This is the lifestyle that I grew up on, it's all I know. For me it has absolutely nothing to do with animal activism or trying to be healthy. I ate the chow mien at one of the booths. Yes it's greasy food, but still vegetarian. Even vegetarians want greasy food, it's not all about being nutritious.
to everyone mentioning the lack of real vegetables at a veggie food fair, I suspect this is due to the venue choice. I believe the Harbourfront center bars any drinks except their cola sponsor (Pepsi?) and aside from fried food (not really a good choice for anyone..) I only ever noticed the fruit and corn vendors, selling the same cut fruit and roasted corn year after year (event after event?).
More than anything this event is a vendor showcase with a few repetitive lectures for anyone who has wanted to know a bit about nutrition. Don't expect anything different next year :)
Steve, how does a contract with Pepsi prevent Harbourfront from hosting vendors selling fruits and veggies, or offering info on local, organic fruit and veg options?
There were several vendors selling beverages that were most certainly not owned by Pepsi.
Great post but just noticed the typo in the headline ("Cheesburger"). Was yoinking the headline to link to from my blog after flagging that as a "to do" all week.
I totally agree with those who say that "fake meat" is too heavily relied on. I guess that if you're going to ease people into vegetarianism it's a good place to start.
I always enjoy this event.