31st Vegetarian Food Festival: Part I

This past weekend was the Toronto Vegetarian Food Festival. Rich and I look forward to going each year. We decided to check it out on the first day, which ended up fitting into our schedule perfectly as we had passes to a movie screening later on that evening in the downtown area. It also didn't down pour, which was a huge bonus.
I took a lot of pictures, so take a look!

Cookie sandwiches from Apiecalypse Now. They had a large variety of baked goods and they all looked delicious.

Vegan protein powder from BodyLogix. I'm usually super grossed out by protein drinks, but this one was pretty good. The rep we spoke to gave us both a reusable tote & shake cup and because I wasn't vegan, she grabbed eight sample packs of whey protein for me. 

Wheat grass juice from Evergreen. The grass is grown outdoors and it comes juiced and frozen. It had a very light flavour similar to green tea and wasn't at all as robust or concentrated as I thought it would be. It was good!

Rich loves the cakes from Sweets from The Earth. Their carrot cakes are so yummy.

We made a mental note to buy something from Bunner's Bakeshop.

Vegan meatless skewers.

We spotted the Gardein tent and ran. Okay not really, but we had to check it out. They make the most amazing meatless foods, ever. If I were to become vegetarian, these would be on the menu all the time.

Check out these ginormous bags! I think we were all wishing we could buy a bag that size. The Mandarin Orange Crispy Chick'n is major yums.

This was a product I've never hear or seen before. I thought they were sampling it since it was new, but they weren't.We'll be looking for it in stores!

They were, however giving out samples of their Beefless Ground. I didn't miss eating ground beef at all. It had a nice flavour, good texture and is apparently super easy to prepare. It's also got 18g of protein, only 120 calories and 2g of fat in 3/4 cup. Compared to 3/4 cup of lean ground beef which has 23.5g of protein, 248 calories and 16g of fat. 

The Corn Guy! They make amazing roasted corn and corn soup. I can't wait for the weather to really cool down, so I can make the recipe.

Saw this huge banner and got kind of excited. Real bacon grease is pretty magical, but vegan bacon grease? Sounds promising.

The stand had samples of their new "Eat Me" dark chocolate, which is powder by Magic Vegan Bacon Grease. I had a piece and it was the most vile, most orally abusive flavour I've ever tasted. I gagged and couldn't muster up the courage to scarf the rest down. 

I was super excited to see Veganaise, because I love real mayo. Hellmann's to be exact. While the original flavour was okay, the chipotle flavour was the best! I'd buy it.

I've been making my own vegan cheese out of cashews and oats, so trying some commercially available versions is always inspiring. These were good, not memorable. I wonder how they melt.

There was Pleasentville "better than ice cream". We didn't try these, but the flavours sounded good. I like the containers.

Cupcakes with a huge swirl of vegan buttercream from Tori's Bakeshop.

More goodies from Sweets from The Earth.

The wonderful Larabar people where there serving up four flavours for us to try. Exciteeeee.

Rich and I had to try them all. We really liked the apple pie flavour and I really enjoyed the one with coconut. Check out the sample sizes; four pieces equalled a whole bar, which means we pigged out! They were so yummy. Definitely fuelled our day.

Tofurky Artisan Sausages- full of flavour and had a good texture. Not rubbery and well seasoned. We liked these.

The Tofurky stand also had some of their Slow Roasted Chick'n out for us to taste. 

We tried the lightly seasoned variety and the first thing that hit me was the sodium. There was SO much of it! I wonder what their regular seasoned chick'n tastes like... 

Whoopie Pies and other pasteries from Bunner's Bakeshope. Everything looked so tasty!

Click for Part II