{Charity Event} 7th Annual Recipe for Change at the St. Lawrence Market

Website: http://foodshare.net/recipeforchange/
Address: St. Lawrence Market South – Toronto 125 The Esplanade, Tor., ON
Event type: Charity
Event date: Feb. 25th, 2016 from 6-9 pm

I can’t emphasize this enough but if you missed out this year, YOU NEED TO GO next year! This is my second year attending the #RecipeforChange event (read about the 2015 experience), and it was incredible! Why?

• The fundraising event supported Food Share (@foodshareTO), a non-profit organization that works with communities and schools to deliver healthy food and food education.
• The event was inside a well lit tent. The event space was spacious and had a vibrant atmosphere! I enjoyed this space over last year’s.
• The event was well organized with short lines, coat check and plenty of tables.
• It was all-you-can-eat and drink! Even with a large attendance, the food did not run out.
• There were 30 Chefs who represented…and I ate at almost 30 stations! I was beyond stuffed!!
• The quality and taste of the dishes were outstanding.
• I had a fair share visiting the brewmasters and winemakers.
• My blogger friends and I made use of the photobooth presented by Tangerine (one of the partners of the event).

The gastronomical event was a “party for the Future of Food”! Overall, I had a blast!!

About Food Share:

Food Share was established in 1985 and has created a food system that is both accessible and sustainable to everyone. Examples of their programs include Good Food Cafe, a healthy school cafeteria for students; Field To Table Schools, Food Share’s food education program; and Student Nutrition, where Foodshare works in partnership through the Toronto Partners for Student Nutrition (TPSN) to create meal programs that have reached 149,000 students everyday.

Check out the Foodshare website to read more about their programs, their impact in our communities and how you can contribute to their mission.

This was tough task to do, but I narrowed down my top 10 savoury dishes of the evening (in no particular order):

1. Hooked (Chef Kristin Donovan)-Fresh shucked East and West Coast oysters. Oysters are one of my favourite things to eat in this world, so it had to make the list.

2. Lamesa Filipino Kitchen (Chef Daniel Cancino)- Coconut Pork Adobo, coconut guacamole, and pickled vegetables on a shrimp chip.

3. Karelia Kitchen (Chef Donna Ashley)-Smoked Seafood Stew with smoked shrimp, smoked eel, mussels and clams in a light fish broth with julienne heirloom carrots and watermelon radish. The broth was to-die-for!

4.Palais Royale (Chef Steffan Howard)-Great Lakes Whitefish Quenelle with smoked oyster aioli and Balsam Fir fumey caviar.

5. Mnandi Pies (Chef Evis Chirowamhangu)-Zimbabwean Style Pies. I had the steak & Onion with a spicy Baobab mayo and loved the flaky pastry.

6. Dailo (Nick Liu and Jen Grant)- Big Mac Baos. I had these before and can’t get enough of them.

7. The Good Earth Food and Wine Company (Chef Therese De Grace)-Smoked Boneless Beef Shortrib Tostadas ancho & lime tempeh.

8. Mata Petisco Bar (Chef Steve Fernandes)-Coxinha (Brazilian chicken croquettes). These cute bites were filling!

9. My Little Dumplings (Chef Bashir Munye)- Fresh Harissa and Za’atar dumplings.

10. Pork Ninjas (Chef Jason Rees and Andrea Toole)- Smokey Taco Bar. I am a BBQ fanatic and their tender 24 hour hickory smoked beef brisket was fantastic. It was really nice to see Andrea, who is also a fellow food writer, serve the dishes with her Chef partner.

I don’t know how it was possible, but I made room for dessert. Here were the stand outs:

• The Tempered Chef (Bertrand Alepee)-Assorted Choux A La Creme.

• Soma Chocolatemaker (Cynthia Leung and David Castellan)-Dark chocolate.

• Sanober Motiwala’s ‘Sweet Sammies’ with chestnut milk chocolate profiteroles with chestnut ice cream, warm milk chocolate sauce and candied chestnut tiramisu affogato, collaboration with Propeller Coffee Co.

• Succulent Chocolates and Sweets (Sandra Abballe)- Award winning Artisan Chocolates.

I would have loved to list all the dishes and drinks, but this post would be pages. Check out the FoodShare website for the list of Chefs and what they served http://foodshare.net/recipeforchange/.

The list of beverage vendors included Love of Tea, Propeller Coffee Co., Beau’s All Natural beer, Black Oak Brewery, Chateau Des Charmes, Frogpond Vineyards, The Grange of Prince Edward, Great Makes Brewery and Southbrook Vineyards.

Follow @FoodShareTO on Twitter and join the food conversations (#recipeforchange). Don’t even contemplate, get your tickets for Recipe for Change 2017!

*Disclosure: The ticket was complimentary but the opinions in the post are my own. I am very thankful for the invitation!