Yes – it’s that time of year where there’s an insane amount of food events. I went to the Toronto Food and Wine show on Friday, took a rest on Saturday and went to two food shows on Sunday. (Toronto Garlic Festival and the Canadian Health Food Association Trade Show).

Todays blog post is going to be dedicated to the CHFA Trade Show as I want to share with you some of the trends I noticed. I walked around the show for almost 3 hours but needed more in order to walk thru the 800 exhibitors that are at this show.

Naturally I picked up some samples to take home plus I sampled plenty while I was walking thru the show. No need for breakfast or lunch.

1. DRINKS – I spotted: cold pressed watermelon , blueberry juice, water infused with a variety of flavours and fruit, and more. This category seems to be exploding!!

2. TUMERIC – There was tumeric tea and a tumeric drink that caught my eye. Something tells me that we are going to see more and more products that contain this spice.

3. PUFFED QUINOA  – I’m guessing that this is going to be the new “granola”. I can see myself sprinkling this on top of my yogurt with fruit or integrating it into fruit crisp recipes.

4. BARS – Cricket bars, and sprouted bars and more!! I actually first got introduced to Cricket Bars on a trip to San Francisco last year so I’m delighted to see that they are now in Canada.

5. COCONUT – Not exactly a new trend but it’s certainly continuing to grow. I sampled the Wasabi Coconut Chips and can’t wait to try them in a salad or crushed on top of a piece of salmon.

Hopefully you will see many of these products in local health food stores, and even in the health section of major grocery stores in the near future.

For more information:

Please visit the Canadian Health Food Association Website: www.chfa.ca

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I received an invitation to attend a  Future Food Salon that would include music, art and CRICKETS. I hit the reply button in a nano second.

As you know….I  love adventure and any type of food event. Therefore this event appealed to me on so many levels, that I made sure I could attend!

Hosted by Alimentary Initiatives and the Culture of Cities Centre, this salon was the first in the 2013 series of four that will take place in Toronto, Waterloo, Manhattan and Montreal.

The evening was located in a very cool space that was perfect for the event. Specifically, 345 Gallery at 345 Sorauren!

When I walked in, I wondered thru a variety of art exhibits.

Then I reached the main attraction:  THE CRICKETS.

Please don’t judge me, but I ate seconds of EVERYTHING that was offered that evening. There was even raw and vegan creations by Earth and City that did not include crickets!

Special mention to Cookies Martinez who created wicked tasting “Chocolate Covered Cricket Cookies”. The other hors d’oeuvres that I enjoyed that evening were from Urban Acorn Catering. Congratulations to all the food suppliers that evening as they did an amazing job in terms of creativity, execution and presentation!

I didn’t have the chance to stay for the music or for the “Cricket” presentation. However I am confident that I would have been fascinated to listen to Jakub Dzamba, who is an architecture PHD candidate as well as an expert on crickets.

What amazed me about this event was that the tickets were only $25 and $18 for students. This was great value for a once-in-a-blue-moon opportunity to eat crickets, listen to some music. explore a variety of art exhibits and learn about crickets too.

Please take a peek at these websites for more information:

Alimentary Initiatives is a Toronto-based company that works to enhance food culture through initiatives that celebrate real food.

Culture of Cities Centre The culture of cities centre is devoted to new ways of representing, shaping and defining urban culture.

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