Good Food and Drink Festival

Saturday saw us at the Good Food and Drink Festival and despite the fact that the Little Monkey was in a whinny mood, we had a great time. The wide array of offerings is sure to please everyone, from food to condiments and beer to cocktails there’s everything in between. Line ups weren’t too bad but they were there, along with some pushing and elbowing. All part of the norm and didn’t bother us … much. If you have a little one with you ensure you keep the tiny sampling spoons and cups because they serve as entertainment for them! We lost quite a few but I was always ready to sample so it wasn’t an issue!

The event was well organized and layout simple enough that we were able to peruse aisle by aisle, nosh away and be done in two hours. Not bad eh? We took our cheap mini stroller which made things easy in terms of manouevering the aisles and not be the cause of traffic. Though I will admit that we missed the storage capabilities of our main UPPA. Would have been nice to store the hoards of sauces we bought!

Highlights for us include the vast array of hot sauces. That just stole the show for me. We sampled every single hot sauce on offer (there were over 40 varieties easily) with the exception of the ones from Belize…that was the last stall and my mouth and belly were on FIRE! Our favourite was the Mango hot sauce from Cool Runnings. Their chicken wing sauce also came home with us. Another fab find was a Wasabi Sandwhich Sauce  from Beanos. Clearly we have a hankering for the spicy! Dees hotsauce gets a notable mention but the bags were heavy by that point. Next hotsauce run for sure!

Foodtrucks were another highlight for us. There were quite a few I’d been meaning to try out but sadly we only got a chance to try out Gourmet Gringos’ awesome Fish Tacos and the Eggplant sandwhich from the Rome N’ Chariot. Really wish my belly wasn’t on fire and I was able to try out a few of the others on site! The place smelled divine and there were tables and chairs for friends and families to chill, catch up and enjoy the great eats.

There were quite a few breweries on site and the hubs had a great time exploring craft brews. Beers were reasonably priced but if you were looking to explore wines, it can get a bit steep. Most of the wines were not available at the LCBO though you could get them in on consignment. Great way to discover new wines, provided you had a lot of tickets on you!

Overall a great day exploring food, drink and travel options, which let’s admit, is our family’s passion! Expect to spend about $30 per person (easily) on tickets if you really want to explore the various food and drink options available. There are quite a lot of freebies but there’s some awesome stuff that call for some tickets!

The Good Food and Drink Festival seems to be getting bigger and better with each year, so I can’t wait for next year! Hopefully I’ll have my act together so I can attend some of the many seminars and shows on offer. This year it was a laisez-faire exploration, which is exactly what was prescribed!