When I go to a food event with a lot of samples, my mission is to stuff myself as much as possible. #noShame! During the last weekend, I attended Eat Vancouver, a food and cooking festival that was held at BC place. I went last year as well, but I found that this year was more enjoyable; or also maybe because I also wasn’t sick with throat infection like in 2013.
There is and admission fee to Eat Vancouver and then when you’re inside, you buy “food tickets” to buy small bites to eat ($0.50/ticket). Bf and I bought $20 worth of tickets and we were stuffed before even finishing them! Many vendors also offer free samples (I’ve drank at least 20 cups of medicine-sized cups of organic soda, ginger ale….) Some vendors also take cash too.
We were absolutely starving when we got to Eat Vancouver and the first thing we got is an onigri and ramen combo for 4 tickets ($2). Such a good deal! There were chunks of pork in the ramen. We shared this, but I wish we each got one to eat. 😛
Ran into some of my old engineering classmates and we all snacked on ramen! (Thank you to Mark for taking the picture!!)
Afterwards, we munched on some sample pistachios from A Good Portion. I’ve loved pistachios since I was a kid and I remember that all the supermarkets had a giant tub of pistachios for people to scoop and buy; and I know I have taken one to eat when my mom wasn’t looking. Glad I matured 😀
And then I was at The Extreme Bean vendor eating pickled beans non stop… My tastebuds has a weakness for pickled foods…I’m the one who asks people for their pickle if they pick it out of a burger. There were also some (alcohol-less) ceasers with the beans in them. I loved that seasoning on the rim!! I convinced myself that this is a healthy snack.
I also snacked on some butter chicken samples, Sun Rype juice..and then I had this salted caramel chocolate cake from Urban Fare and I wished I could just buy a whole cake for myself to eat. I am someone who does not like chocolate cake, but this blew my mind! Perfect balance of salt and caramel!
Hawker’s Market had these big macarons; and being the macaron lover I am I had to try it! There were two flavours: P49 Ale Caramel macarons and Strawberry Rhubarb macarons. I liked the P49 Ale Caramel; the Strawberry Rhubarb was a bit too sweet. The shells could’ve used a little less crunch too.
After these little munchies, it was time for some serious savoury food to fill us up. This oyster (5 tickets for two) was mouthwatering. I am a bit wary when it comes to eating seafood since I don’t like things too raw, but this was such a refreshing, flavourful oyster. I could have had more. I wished I bought more.
At the Gramercy Grill vendor, Mark and I had a pulled pork sandwich (6 tickets) and grilled cheese sandwiches (6 tickets). These two sandwiches hit the spot! I haven’t had a good grilled cheese for so long! Grilled cheese sandwiches are the epitome of childhood lunches and snacks.
And I wrote and crossed off ” eating ostrich” on my bucket list that day. Voila, an ostrich burger!
After eating, we were so thirsty. Luckily, at a food festival, there’s free samples of drinks at all corners of the building. I also had the best ginger ale; Bruce Cost Ginger Ale made with 100% fresh ginger. I love that spicy kick that goes down my throat. There was even floating ginger bits in the drink. Ginger ale is my favourite soda.
Another drink I found refreshing (whereas Mark did not,) is hint water, that has no preservatives, sugar, or calories. It is flavoured with natural fruit essence. Mark wanted the sugar, but he has an unhealthy addiction to all drinks made of sugar anyway.
However, I do like sweet, fizzy drinks too (but I have my limit!) and my favourite drink of the day was from Boylan Bottling Co. We sampled the Shirley Temple, Black Cherry, Ginger Ale, and Creme soda. We were so full from all the snacks and food, we still had many remaining tickets and spent it 4 bottles of these! Ever since I had cherry coke, I have a preference for cherry based drinks, and this black cherry soda does not disappoint! There’s no cherry medicine taste at all.
To end this post, I am sharing these cute minion cookies that were too adorable to not take a second look, and I couldn’t buy these because I may never eat them! These are made by Designer Cookies, and they had Spiderman and other cutesy cookies. Wish I could give all you readers a minion cookie! 😀
I will be back again, Eat Vancouver 2015!!
Disclaimer:I received complimentary media access into the convention, but all food was purchased by me!
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