{Event} Delicious Food Show was a must attend event for foodies! #DFS14

Website: http://www.deliciousfoodshow.com/
Address: Direct Energy Centre, Hall A, 100 Princes’ Blvd, Toronto ON
When I went: Fri. Oct 17th, 2014

It was the first year that I attended the Delicious Food Show and it was memorable! Before the show was opened to the public, a group of elite media members and I were given a tour by Chef Chuck Hughes in the kitchen who showed us where the “exclusive Chef series” would take place.

Next, we were given a tour of the event ground where we were treated to samples by many generous vendors like Von Doughnuts.  Before I digged into my breakfast sandwich, I already had a beer from Ted Reader’s Firetruck, a coffee from Parachute coffee, a campfire s’mores ice cream bar from Home of the Brave and hot sauce samples from No7 Mexican hot sauce. The breakfast of champions!

Before the press conference, we were treated to a delicious breakfast from Buca. I wish the plates were a tad bigger since I was only able to grab a few items. Everything looked amazing…I wanted to eat everything!

Abbey Sharp from Abbey’s Kitchen was on hand to explain her elaborate “Abbey’s Kitchen Stadium” pavilion. Inside the pavilion, top 8 Toronto chefs showcased 2 food items for $5 each. Attendees got to vote on their favourite dish, where the top 4 chefs got to battle live on stage on Sun. Oct. 19th. I was not there to see the live battle but heard that Chef Robbie Hojilla from Hudson Kitchen took the championship title. Congratulations!

To end off the exciting morning, we had a press conference with celebrity chefs Tyler Florence (Tyler’s Ultimate, The Great Food Truck Race), Mario Batali (Iron Chef America, The Chew), Chuck Hughes (Chuck’s Day Off, Garde Manger) and Rob Gentile (Buca). The big announcement was that Food and Wine is coming to Toronto in 2015! I can’t wait for that big show.

I stuck around for most of the day to experience what the show had to offer and was impressed. Here are some highlights and why I recommend the Delicious Food Show for all food lovers!

• There were over 200 exhibitors, so there was a LOT of food, products to buy and some drink booths…because you need some wine with all that good food.

• The favourite food items I tried were the mussels and duck heart escabeche from Parts and Labour, balls from Menu Food Truck and lamb chops from the Peru booth.
• There was free food! There were many vendors including Foodland Ontario, VG Farms and Tabule giving out samples!
• The cooking demonstrations were amazing! The celebrity chefs including our very own talented Chefs, Mark McEwan and Chef Chuck Hughes cooked up a storm, with recipes and tricks you would want to try at home.
• You get to meet your favourite celebrity chefs! I had the opportunity to meet Mario Batali and Tyler Florence during the book signing. What an honour!

Tyler Florence completely blew me away with his responses to questions, about his crowd sourced cookbook “Test Kitchen” (which I lucked out with a copy before it was released in Canada) and intellect. “Tyler’s Ultimate” cookbook is one of my favourites and I can’t wait to try out his new cookbook. He was able to figure out a way to cook a 16 pound turkey in 1.5 hours and still make the skin crispy and the meat moist. That’s what I call brilliant!

Friday was a great day! I would have liked to see Chef Roger Mooking again who was at the show on Sunday but hopefully there will be an opportunity soon.

There’s no doubt that I will return to the show. If you went to the show, how was your experience? What were your favourite things to see or eat?