Taste Toronto's BEST: 26-Minute Food Festival Adventure

Okay, it's Saturday. Saturday morning. Hello. Good morning. Saturday morning. We are going to check out the delicious food.

Where are we going?

We're going to take the stairs.

Ready with my heels?

You got heels on?

Yeah.

Okay, we'll take the elevator. I'm going to be with you. We're going to the Toronto Food Festival. No, Toronto Delicious— Delicious Food Festival in Toronto to try some food. What do you want to try?

I don't know.

What are you hoping is there? I'm hoping for some fudge.

How about you? That's dessert.

Maybe we'll get some recipe ideas for Nina's next creation. Okay, before though, before we can go to Delicious Food Festival, that is about a half an hour drive or something, we need to get some coffee. Okay, here we go. Whoa, there is a bee. Jeez. What is happening? What's happening? Okay, okay, let's— before the world blows up. Ice cap and coffee. Cheers! Okay, off to the food show. So we made it here in record time. Look at my drink. I thought I'd be done sitting in traffic and it's full almost because we used a different way. We used Nina's Waze app. Let's see.

What's the Waze app?

See, being a typical man, I felt like, hey, I know how to get there for sure. And then Nina pulls out her app and we get there in like half the time. So we're here and we're not going to be able to taste any of the food because I've got this crazy sugary drink, but we're going to have some fun. Here we go. Nina doesn't like listening to directions. It says entrance to Hall A and he said Hall A is there. We're going this way. Before we go in, I've got to give props to Tim Hortons. They changed their straw on their Ice Caps. It's this red thing now, but it's way stronger. So when you mix the drink, it's, it's a lot easier and the straw doesn't bend. So Nina will demonstrate because I have a hand.

Look, you have a hand.

See, the straw doesn't bend. Props to you, Tim Hortons. Amazing work. These are the kinds of things you learn on the Evan Carmichael channel. So we are here at the Delicious Food Festival with all these famous people. Enjoy the show. Thank you. So Roger Mukane, we saw a lot of on the cruise ship. He's got this show where he and this other guy, I don't remember the guy's name, they have this show where they taste the world's hottest foods and they're in this kind of competition to see who can last longer eating these really super spicy foods. So he's here.

Maybe we'll find him.

Here's his autograph. Holy cannoli.com! What are we doing here?

We do fresh authentic Italian cannoli.

All right, very cool.

And we package it in various ways. Okay, we do the fresh filled, which is a lot of fun. Yeah, we do the fill your own. Okay, you can bring the cream home and make them fresh. And we do chip and dip products.

Oh, perfect.

No soggy cannoli at Holy Cannoli. And then my favorite, favorite product is the cannoli cream pie.

Okay, cool.

You won't find it anywhere else.

Cannoli cream pie, I like it. That's cool.

It's a cannoli shell base.

Let's try one.

Chocolate cannoli cream and 35% whipped cream.

Very good. Cheers. That's yummy. Okay, we're here at elrinconmexicano.ca and they've got tacos and taco sauce. Let's try some. Extra hot, smoky hot. Where's the mild stuff? Where's the mild stuff? Is the green stuff? Okay, salsa macho is our pitcher salsa, and we have the extra hot, which is the Azteca salsa. Give it a try. Okay, let's try that. Go for it. We have some samples of our traditional food. We got tostadas, we got flautas as well. Very cool, looking yummy.

You want one?

Yeah, yeah, yeah. Here, cheers. Get one out. Cheers it up. Oh, I like it.

Yeah, it's good.

That's not— that's actually very mild. The mild is mild. I feel like I can go up a level. It helps to have the milk from the ice cap to, uh, cover it after. Yeah, let's try the mild. No, this is medium. Here we go. Cheers it up. What do you think, guys? It's good. Good. I like the mild better. Oh, there's a little— there's a kick at the end there, right? Yeah, it's good. It's yummy. Yeah, there's a thank you banana, thank you raspberry that I'm saying Nina's got to get in on. What do you think, babe?

I think you should.

I got to get in there?

You get into raspberry.

Come on, the raspberry, that's so good.

Raspberry. No, no, no, raspberry.

You want me to do the raspberry?

Yes, yes, do it, man, do it.

You got the heels on. Yeah, let's look at those heels. Huh? Mm-hmm. Uh-huh. You guys want to try a free yogurt sample? Yeah, let's do it. Alright, so I have two Mediterranean flavors, caramel and black cherry, and we have two Greek styles, lemon or coconut. I'm going caramel for sure. Excellent choice. What about you, darling? Oh, that's a full-on sample, man. Look at that. We do it right. Nice. Oh, I ate it upside down. It's good. Never had caramel yogurt before.

Try the lemon.

I don't want lemon.

Try it.

I don't want the lemon.

Try it. I don't want the lemon. Try it. It's good.

Lemony. I want my caramel. We're here watching somebody from the Martha Stewart channel who's on with her son doing a demo. And here's Nina reading a magazine.

Turkey sandwiches.

You want to make a turkey sandwich? All right, I'm good for that. I'm down for a Nina turkey sandwich. So she's starting with a smoothie recipe and Nina had a great smoothie video that people seem to like, so let's see what she does with her smoothies.

Always, whatever kind of smoothie I'm making, I use a banana.

Oh, she's got a banana! Oh, my banana!

I'm sorry to hear that.

Nina's soaking in the education. Baby, I like your smoothie recipe better. It was way more interesting than this. OK, what did you learn, Nina?

I don't remember, I'm tired.

Nina got tired and bored, so we're leaving. We're going to keep exploring. PEI mussels. Is it really? No, it's only in North America. We supply 85% of the mussels in North America. In North America, wow. A sample. It smells really good. What's the sauce on this? This is sweet Thai chili, I believe. Sweet Thai chili, okay. Nice. I recommend trying this out. It's fine. Oh yeah, that's great. Sweet Thai chili. Where can people learn more about this? Discoverpeimussels.com. All right, cool. One of my favorite Snacks. Huh?

Triscuit.

The Triscuit! I know all these ones. So we've tried all these ones.

Yeah.

These ones are good. The red bean is good, the sour cream is good. Sweet potato is good, but the one— what's the one that I always get?

You get the sour with the sour cream, is it?

No, no, no.

Tomato? It has the tomato on it?

What's the other one? The fourth flavor? Uh, there's a sea salt and black pepper? No. Is it basil? Yes, basil and sweet. Yeah, okay, okay. You don't have that here though? No, no, no. Okay, okay, continue on. And?

I like the sauce.

Oh, not the meat? Hold this for a second. The meat is delicious too. Sauce is good. Yeah, yummy. Anyway, chefmark.ca, good job. We're gonna sample some Ontario food. What? Local Ontario food. This is a big lineup here. We're gonna go stage by stage and see what we can eat. What are we learning? What are we learning?

Feast On is an Ontario certification program. Everything you see in front of you was born, raised, and cultivated in Ontario.

Okay.

And our Bears are all focused on the tastes of Ontario. So the jellies and the preserves you see are from Jamie Kennedy's Kitchen. The meats are from BG Meats. Those are 100% grass-fed and no hormones. And the crackers are from The Bread Bar in Hamilton.

Cool.

These are a wonton with a soy and a honey glaze.

Okay.

And these are thyme infused.

Let's try the meat. You take one too. It's good. It's yummy. Enjoy. Mm-hmm.

Mm, it's really good.

Yeah, it's good. Jamie Kennedy's Kitchen.

What is it? Pear cider.

Pear cider.

So we have two different types of cider here today. We're doing, uh, featuring our sparkling sweet pear as well as our sparkling apple. We also do carry our hard cider. That's our main focus at Spirit Tree. So this is available at our store, which is located in Cowan just off of Highway 10.

Let's try. We try pear. I'll do apple then. It's yummy. Yeah, cheers. Oh, you already finished yours?

It's only halfway through. Oh, that's good.

Yeah, it's really—

I like it.

Oh yeah. I like the apple. Mmm. Oh, I like the pear better. You want me to get another pear for you?

No, no, no.

I got too excited. The apple is good too though. Okay, continue on. What's next? Ooh, maple syrup. How you doing? Good, how are you? Good. What are we doing here? Syrup.

Yeah, maple syrup.

You like syrup? I do. Where do you buy your syrup? Where do we buy our syrup?

We actually don't have to. We don't eat pancakes at home. Yeah, but you can put syrup on most Mornin' Pancakes. There's a package of recipes.

Tell us where we're going. Where are we going to buy syrup? You can buy syrup any place in Ontario. Okay. At least all across Ontario. Are you with a specific company or you represent all the— I'm with Gibson's Maple Syrup. I'm a producer of my own syrup. Oh, cool. We're Chatham. Chatham, cool. Is this your stuff here? No. No, but related. Maple syrup. Let's try it out. Here, here, pick one.

I just want a sip.

It's okay, I got you a little one. Cheers.

Mm-hmm.

New York, New York.

Oh, that's good.

Mm-hmm. What's your favorite thing to put syrup on? Ice cream. Oh, nice. Very cool. Popcorn. We got some creative answers. I was expecting waffles or something. That's good. So many recipes. What's your favorite thing to put maple syrup on?

I love to make butter tarts.

Butter tarts? Butter tarts. These are all his favorites. That's awesome. See, now you got to make a butter tart with maple syrup. Mmm, yum. Thanks guys, that was great. What are you guys doing?

Uh, today we're serving up some kung pao pork tacos.

Kung pao pork, nice.

And we represent Ontario Pork.

Okay. All the farmers in Ontario. Okay.

And we're just asking that people buy local and try to buy more local products.

Very cool. All good, thank you.

There you go.

Enjoy. And? It's good? Yeah? Imagine it with cilantro. Yeah, that's what I'm talking about. What's this? Is this kimchi? Yeah. Oh my god. So good. Alright, so what are we doing here?

We have apple squash soup.

Wow. Made with Ontario-grown Empire apples.

Wow.

Very cool.

We have the recipe here, lots of other recipes. All Ontario apples.

And you represent Ontario apple growers? Apple squash. Yummy, huh? That's a cool recipe. What do we need to know about Ontario apple growers?

Ontario apple growers? They're amazing, amazing people growing some of the best food there is around.

Is it a big export?

We do export some, yeah.

Yeah?

We do. We export to the Caribbean, the UK.

So we're opening up some new markets.

It's actually in India.

Wow.

Yeah, but of course we sell most here in Ontario.

Yeah, okay, cool. Very yummy. Thank you. Great. This is the best ever turkey chili. I want to talk to them about turkey, but they're all busy working away. Okay, well, here's one for you, babe. Oh, okay, I'll do it myself.

I don't need to.

How is it? It's good. Is it turkey chili? So what do we need to know about Ontario Turkey. This is all— they're all Ontario birds. Yeah. This is our chili recipe. This is more fat than ground beef, very high in protein. Oh, cool. What's that?

It's a small cutting board.

Oh, it's a cutting board. Yeah. Oh, that's cool. Nina knew what it was. I had no idea. I thought it was a mouse pad. Or a big coaster or something. That's cool. Small cutting board. Did you know it was a cutting board? You knew, right? You knew. I had no idea. Now we're gonna learn about goat cheese. There's a contest. Win a gift basket. Okay, we don't need to do that. Let's move on. What are we trying here?

This is a cranberry orange, and this one is green peppercorn. They're both made by Crosswind Farms.

Okay.

And you can buy it in Whole Foods stores.

Oh, okay. We have a Whole Foods close to us.

Oh, actually, I like goat cheese.

Crosswind Farms. Okay. You like it? Which one did you try?

This one.

The peppercorn? Mm-hmm. And this one is— Cranberry. It's fruit? Cranberry. Oh, I'm not a big cranberry fan. Let's try the peppercorn. No, no, no.

Try this one.

Okay, okay, okay. You try that one.

Goat cheese, it go with red wine.

With what? Red wine?

Mm-hmm.

Oh, this is pretty good actually.

Oh no, this is good.

Is that better? Switch back. It's good? Oh yeah, this is sweet. Oh, it's really good. So quick lesson learned from the past two booths that we talked to. Number 1, have somebody who you can talk to, right? The turkey place, all 3 of them were so busy working and putting out the samples that they didn't have anybody to talk to. And number 2, the goat cheese place, if you're gonna have somebody at the front, right? The whole point of this is to promote your product. You gotta have somebody who's willing to be on camera, right? You're gonna get some exposure. I wanna promote Ontario goat cheese. Give me somebody who's willing to talk to me about Ontario goat cheese. Okay, we're gonna continue on. What do we need to know about Ontario veal? This is an Ontario veal meatball. Yeah. So it's served in a rustic tomato sauce. Yep. We also have that recipe in here. Okay. It's actually stuffed in this recipe. These ones right here are just plain. Okay. And yummy? Oh yeah. Oh, it's really good. Wow, I like the sauce. What is this? Cinnamon honey butter. Cinnamon honey butter? Yes. Cinnamon— yeah, I can't speak. And who are you with? Oh, the Honeys. Dickie Bee Honey. Is that a company? A specific company? Yes, we're based out of Kirkstall. DickieBeeHoney.com. Alright, cool. Do you mix that yourself? Is that a product you sell? This is our family recipe. Do you sell the jars of that? Yeah, we have the majority of our products here with us. Very cool. Ontario Beekeepers Association. We had one, it's amazing. We've got it all here. Where's your store? Cookstown. All right, we're having our open house in December. Okay, where are we at? Oh, we're an hour from here. This is the place. Cool. Hey, what— you're holding an award or something there. What did you— what's that for? Yeah, we got the Grand Champion, I got the Premier, and I got the Canadian Honey Council Award. What's the Grand Champion of what? Beekeeping competition for taste. Taste, moisture content, flavor, color, all kinds of things. All right, Dickey's Bee Honey. Yeah, exciting. Honey barbecue.

Honey mustard.

Honey mustard. Try the honey mustard.

Yeah, let's try. Oh, I ate the whole thing.

Oh no, oh sorry, I didn't understand that I was only supposed to have a part of it. What's this?

Uh, everything here is organic. We're the Organic Council of Ontario.

Ah, okay, cool.

We have red kale salad.

Oh, nice. Raw food dressing.

We have a yogurt-based sauce for— or dip for veggies. And we have Fieldgate organic sausage right there.

Sausage? Sausage. Cool. Love the forks. Nina likes the forks. Okay, try it out. Kale. Kale chips are awesome. We just made them the other night and they just like— I don't even take them out of the oven fast enough and they're gone. Do you put oil on it? You bake it?

Very, very little.

Yeah, and then just some salt or what kind of seasoning?

Yeah, and then just bake it.

Amazing. So do you Do you advocate for organic businesses or what's your role?

We're a member-based not-for-profit, Organic Council Ontario.

Okay.

So if you're throughout the entire food chain in Ontario, if you have a really strong connection to Ontario and you're focused on organics, you can join us.

Yeah.

And then our job is to promote organics in Ontario and really advocate for programs and policy reforms to—

To governments. —under the organic movement in Ontario. Very cool. I want to try this one. Huh? Let's try this one. This is the sausage. She said it was sausage. Cheers. Oh yeah, good. Needs a little like sauce or something, but yummy. Some awesome Ontario local products. Feeling it. Okay, we're here at Sweet Pop Gourmet Popcorn. Let's try it out. What do we have?

We have gourmet dessert popcorn bites. Okay.

It's got a little bit empty where we can put it. That's okay, cool. What flavors do you have here? This is s'mores, this is cinnamon bun, and we also have a cookies and cream and fudge brownie. Okay, cool. So what we do is we take popular dessert flavors and we turn them into what are called decadent popcorn bites. Okay. So I think we'll try the s'mores. Yeah. Notice the stuff is super brand new. Real marshmallow, rich Belgian chocolate. Okay. Yeah, something a little different.

Okay, cool. Which one are you gonna go for?

Let's try the s'mores. What do you think? Chocolate, right? Let's try it out. Oh, wow. Did you start the business? Yeah, there were two of us. Why popcorn? Um, you know, we noticed both loved popcorn. She's the baker, this is something I've made. And you know, we both sat down and said, "Let's do it." So we're in our third month. I've met 3 of you. We're just starting out.

Cool. Sure, that's why we're here.

I want to go camping now. Is that chocolate? Yeah, it's really good. Very cool. Thank you. What do we have? Olivia's Cake Pops. Olivia's Cake Pops. Go for it, Nina. What kind is that? Vanilla. Vanilla. And? Good job! Nice, yummy. Oh, I'm gonna have it. All right. Oh, these are great. Yeah, we tried it there. Yummy, thank you. What's fumi ice? It's a Japanese-inspired ice dessert. Okay, okay. And we have 4 different flavors that you can enjoy from here today. Wow, okay. We import directly from Japan.

Okay, we have the roasted white sesame.

Okay. Old sesame as well. Okay. And the mango, we use two kinds of mango infused here, so when you bite it, you can taste the real mango in it. Okay. And the strawberry mint. Okay. The little aftertaste of the mint. Okay. It's on the palate, giving a refreshing after sensation. Okay. Uh, which one would you like to try today? What's your favorite? My favorite is the green tea. Okay. It's very bitter but very strong, very deep flavor. Hit me, I'm up for green tea. Try it. Yeah, it is huge. Try it, go for it. Wait, that's mine. Isn't that mine? What did you get? Sesame. Oh, sesame. Sesame is good too. So a couple shops, they use the sesame with pumpkin pie, not maple syrup, with a little bit of cinnamon powder. Okay, okay. Try the sesame. Wait, it's not ice cream, right? It's soy. Soy, right, okay. Okay. Did you start the company? He started the company. All right, very cool. What motivated you to start this business? Well, I think we We saw that there's a space in the market for it because a lot of the soy or coconut frozen desserts that we have, right, they didn't really have the flavor profile that we're looking for. Okay. So even though we're gluten-free, lactose-free, dairy-free, we do believe that flavors are both right there. What do you think? Very cool. It's good. You're liking it? Alright, cool. And you sell mostly to consumers or to the restaurant business or? Mostly retail right now. Okay. Yes. And where can we find you? You can find us at TNT Supermarkets right now.

Okay.

Expanding into the more mainstream. Okay, very cool. Thank you. It's a very dark— Oh yeah, it's really good. Yeah, that's what it should taste like. That's what it should taste like. Very good. I'm loving it. Thank you, guys. Okay, we're done. We are, we are full. Yeah, we're gonna go home.

That was great.

I love meeting all the local entrepreneurs, trying all the local food. We have a belly full of food and we're going to continue on with our day.

So if you guys— favorite most, you have to tell what's your favorite food here.

Oh, that's a good idea. What was your favorite?

I like the, uh, the mussel, the mussels, the PEI mussels. They're great.

The PEI mussels were pretty special.

And, um, the local stuff, um, what was it like, the pepperoni thing?

Oh, the Jamie Oliver's Kitchen, his pepperoni. Yeah, that was good.

Cheese. The goat cheese was good.

Goat cheese was okay. The mussels were fantastic. The mussels were probably the best. The mussels were the best. It was shocking. It was just shocking. You weren't expecting that kind of flavor and taste to come out, right? Let's get together in here. I like the popcorn. It was good. The popcorn was yummy. And I like the ice cream. Yeah, it's good. I like the ice cream. We're still finishing up, but— and I felt that guy's passion, right? Like, this is how the real— this is what it really should taste like.

That's what it should taste like. Yeah. Oh.

Oh yeah, the honey, the honey was really good. It's yummy. That's funny, cuz I didn't even know what was happening. The guy— oh, let me put that in there. This guy just threw these, uh, snacks in front of us. Like, what's happening? What is this? Where are we? But they were good. Yeah, that was really good. Maybe, maybe we should go to that opening. Yeah, yeah. Anyway, okay, that's it. Wraps up a fun day. Um, you guys like this video? Let us know what you think. Leave a comment, leave a comment for Nina, and, uh, subscribe to the channel. Believe We'll see you soon. Don't forget to click here to subscribe to my newsletter to get actionable, inspiring, motivational, believe advice every single week to your inbox. Hi, I'm Jason J. Rosfonsica of RiseOnline.com, and I want to say Evan Carmichael's newsletter is consistent, fun, inspiring, and it's the only newsletter I prioritize and look forward to, period.