Upcoming Events
There are always an unbelievable amount of events happening around town, and these events only seem to be coming up with greater frequency than ever. I will endeavour to maintain a list of events that I’m excited about, since twitter blasts are often missed or lost. If you have an event you’d like to publicize, please contact me directly. I am very happy to publicize and attend free events, but cannot guarantee that I will post events that involve admission fees or tickets (but I will respond to you!).
last updated 2015-09-28
October 2015
Kensington Market Pedestrian Sunday
http://www.pskensington.ca/
Date: Sunday October 25th, 2015
Time: 12pm to 7pm
Past Events
September 2015
Hot & Spicy Food Festival
http://www.harbourfrontcentre.com/hotandspicy/2015/index.cfm?ref=home
Dates: Friday September 4th to Sunday September 6th, 2015
Time: TBD
Location: Harbourfront Centre, Downtown Toronto Harbourfront
Taste Of The Kingsway
http://www.kingswaybia.ca/taste-of-the-kingsway
Dates: Friday September 11th to Sunday September 13th, 2015
Time: Fri 6pm-10pm // Sat 11am-10pm // Sun 11am-6pm
Toronto Ukrainian Festival
http://www.ukrainianfestival.com/
Dates: Friday September 18th to Sunday September 20th, 2015
Time: Fri 5am-11pm // Sat 9am-11pm // Sun 11am-7pm
Location: Bloor West Village (Bloor St W b/w Jane & Runnymede)
Blog Post: https://torontofoodies.wordpress.com/2013/09/17/toronto-ukrainian-festival-2013/
Roncesvalles Polish Festival
http://polishfestival.ca/
Dates: Saturday September 19th and Sunday September 20th 2015
Time: Sat 11am-11pm // Sun 11am-7pm
Location: Roncesvalles Village (Roncesvalles b/w Queen & Dundas)
Soupalicious
http://www.soupalicious.ca/
Date: Sunday September 27th, 2015
Time: 11am-4pm
Location: Artscape Wychwood Barns (St Clair & Bathurst)
Admission: $15 in advance, $22 at door (HST incl) for 10 soup samples.
Kensington Market Pedestrian Sunday
http://www.pskensington.ca/
Date: Sunday September 27th, 2015
Time: 12pm to 7pm
Location: Kensington Market (West of Spadina & Dundas)
Blog Post: https://torontofoodies.wordpress.com/2015/08/28/kensington-pedestrian-sundays-2015/
August 2015
Taste of the Danforth
http://tasteofthedanforth.com/
Dates: Friday August 7th to Sunday August 9th, 2015
Time: Fri 6pm-Midnight // Sat 12pm-Midnight // Sun 12pm-8pm
T&T Waterfront Night Market
http://waterfrontnightmarket.com/
Dates: Friday August 14th to Sunday August 16th, 2015
Time: Fri 6pm-Midnight // Sat 4pm-Midnight // Sun 4pm-10pm
Location: Cherry Street, Downtown Toronto Port Lands
Festival of South Asia
http://www.festivalofsouthasia.com/
Dates: Saturday August 15th and Sunday August 16th, 2015
Time: Both days 12pm-11pm
Location: Gerrard India Bazaar, Gerrard x Coxwell
Sweetery Toronto Food Festival
http://www.sweeterytoronto.com/
Dates: Saturday August 15th and Sunday August 16th, 2015
Time: Sat 11am-11pm // Sun 11am-9pm
Location: Downtown, Front x Portland (W of Spadina)
Toronto Chinatown Festival
http://www.chinatownbia.com/chinatown-events-68-15th-Annual-Toronto-Chinatown-Festival
Dates: Saturday August 22nd and Sunday, August 23rd, 2015
Time: Sat 12pm–11pm // Sun 11am–8pm
Taiwan Fest
http://www.taiwanfest.ca/toronto/ // http://www.harbourfrontcentre.com/taiwanfest/2015/events/index.cfm?festival_id=197
Dates: Friday August 28th to Sunday August 30th, 2015
Time: Fri 6pm-10pm // Sat 11am-10pm // Sun 11am-6:15pm
Location: Harbourfront Centre, Downtown Toronto Harbourfront
Kensington Pedestrian Sunday
http://www.pskensington.ca/
Date: Sunday August 30th, 2015
Time: 12pm to 7pm
July 2015
Taste of Lawrence Festival
http://www.wexfordbia.ca/events/taste-of-lawrence
Dates: Friday July 3rd to Sunday July 5th, 2015
Time: Fri. 6pm-11pm // Sat 11am-11pm // Sun 11am-7pm
Location: Lawrence Ave East, b/w Warden & Birchmount
The Taste of Lawrence Festival has attracted huge crowds the past 2-3 years, being the first major street-closure food festival of the summer (aside from Kensington Pedestrian Sundays). It often serves as a trial run for many vendors who will be attending other festivals in the summer — when they show up at the Night Market events, you’ll be able to say you saw them here first. There is an eclectic mix of food, past years featuring murtabak (Indonesian stuffed pancake stretched & tossed to order), shaved flavoured ice from Cha.me.Cha, jerk chicken, along with crowd favourites like tornado fries. Notable gem Diana Seafood is located on this stretch of Lawrence.
Junction Night Market 2015
http://junctionmarket.ca/night-market/
Date: Saturday,July 11th, 2015
Time: 7pm to 11pm
Location: Junction, Toronto (Keele/Dundas)
Beer/Food tickets ($5 each) will be sold on site.
T.O. Food Fest
http://tofoodfest.com/
Date: Sunday July 12th, 2015
Time: 1pm – 6pm
Location: Chinese Cultural Centre of Greater Toronto, Scarborough (Markham/Sheppard)
Cultura Festival
http://culturafestival.ca/
Dates: Fridays July 3rd, 10th, 17th & 24th, 2015
Time: 6pm to 11pm
Location: Mel Lastman Square, North York
Friday nights at Mel Lastman Square plays host to the Cultura Festival, featuring live music and food vendors. I haven’t seen this year’s food line-up yet, but murtabak vendor Malaysian Kitchen was a regular in past years.
Beaches Jazz Festival – Street Fest
http://beachesjazz.com/street-fest/
Dates: Thursday July 23rd to Saturday July 25th, 2015
Time: All Days 7pm – 11pm
Night It Up! Markham Night Market
http://nightitup.com/
Dates: Friday July 24 to Sunday July 26, 2015
Times: Fri 7pm-12am // Sat 2pm-12am // Sun 2pm–8pm
Location: Markham Civic Centre, Markham
Kensington Pedestrian Sunday
http://www.pskensington.ca/
Date: Sunday July 26th, 2015
Time: 12pm to 7pm
Scarborough RibFest
http://www.scarboroughribfest.com/
Date: Friday, July 31st to Monday, Aug 3rd, 2015
Time: Fri 11am-11pm // Sat 11am-11pm // Sun 11am-11pm // Mon 11am-8pm
Location: Thomson Memorial Park, Scarborough
June 2015
CIBC Taste of Asia at Pacific Mall & Market Village
http://www.taste-of-asia.ca/
Date: Saturday June 27th and Sunday June 28th, 2015
Time: Sat 12pm to 12am // Sun 12pm to 6pm
Kensington Pedestrian Sunday
http://www.pskensington.ca/
Date: Sunday June 28th, 2015
Time: 12pm to 7pm
Markham Ribfest & Music Festival
http://www.markhamribfest.com/
Date: Friday June 26th to Sunday, June 28th, 2015
Time: Fri 5pm-11pm // Sat 11am-11pm // Sun 11am-7pm
Location: Markham Civic Centre, Markham
Toronto Ribfest Food & Music Festival
http://torontoribfest.com/
Date: Saturday June 27th to Wednesday, July 1st, 2015 (Closed Sunday June 28th due to weather)
Time: 11am to 11pm
Location: Centennial Park, Etobicoke
Toronto Christmas Market 2013 (Fri Nov 29, 2013 ~ Sun Dec 15, 2013, Free)
Distillery District, Toronto
Last year’s trip to the Distillery Christmas Market was a wonderful evening of lights and aromas, with outstanding Belgian Waffles from Le Petit Dejeuner, and melt-in-your-mouth deep fried apple slices from the Apple Fritter Factory (they also have deep fried Mars bars, which I found far too sweet). I also ducked in to the Ontario Sake Brewery for a tasting flight — and if you’re not afraid of the cold, their soy bean ice cream is pretty good too. Don’t forget to wear your Santa’s hats and reindeer antlers!
Toronto Garlic Festival 2013 (Sunday Sept 22, 2013, 9am-5pm, $5)
Evergreen Brickworks, Bayview extension x DVP
After hosting a two-day event last year at $10 admission, it sounds like the folks behind the Toronto Garlic Festival have taken a lot of the crowd suggestions to heart, condensing it to a single day event this year, and dropping admission to $5.
Vendor listing includes Market 707’s Gushi and NomNomNom, TUM veteran Babi & Co, Jamie Kennedy . Greg’s Ice Cream will be bringing back their Chocolate Garlic ice cream this year. I’m excited about the free “Garlic Shot” station, where you can get a boost of garlic to whatever food you bring. A black garlic brownie from Morgan’s On The Danforth also has my attention
Unfortunately, it looks like The Spice Chef won’t have my favourite item from last year, the ridiculously good Salted Caramel Roasted Garlic Truffle. I’m also not seeing Buzy Liz on the vendor list — I nibbled and savoured on her garlic brittle and garlic fudge for a good 3 weeks, whenever I was feeling peckish for sweets.
Soupalicious 2013 (Sunday Sept 29, 2013. 12pm-4pm, $12+tax)
Wychwood Barns, St. Clair x Bathurst
Soup nuts, this event is an absolute -must-. I showed up at last year’s Soupalicious event, and was blown away by the quality of the soups being served. Aria was my personal favourite with a thick hearty mushroom truffle soup with creme fraishe and crostini, while Southern Accent absolutely killed it with a jambalaya gumbo and a chipotle corn chowder. Globe had a very interesting White Chocolate and Parsnip soup.
$13.50 (for advance tickets; $20 at the door) gets you 10 soup tickets. They call them “samples”, but finishing 10 soups last year was really pushing the limit. My souping buddy was only able to finish around 6 soups.
This year’s vendor list and menu are online, and include the aforementioned Aria and Southern Accent, in additional to Toronto soup king Ravi Soups.
Take a look around Wychwood Barns afterwards — a stroll around the venue uncovered a beer garden in the back, along with a community farming co-op with a greenhouse full of herbs and vegetables.
Kensington Market Pedestrian Sunday (Sunday October 27th, 2013. 12pm-7pm, Free)
Kensington Market, near Spadina x College
Every last Sunday of the month between May ~ October, Kensington Market blocks off all vehicular traffic, for a lively Sunday afternoon filled with musicians, games, and food. Lots and lots of food. Many of the stores and restaurants will prepare and serve food on street stalls. Great food options include buck-a-shuck oysters from the seafood store (I don’t recall the name at the moment), pupusas/tamales from Emporio Latino, Columbian deep fried plantain fritters w/ cheese at the Columbian restaurant (I really need to find out names of these places).
There’s also chalk for sidewalk/street drawing, double dutch jump roping, megasized Jenga and Scrabble, and frequent live music (KC Roberts & the Live Revolution was here last month!).
Pingback: Coverage 2013 | Toronto Garlic Festival
The 3rd annual Scarborough Afro-Caribbean Festival on Saturday August 23 and Sunday August 24 with support of the Heritage Skills Development Centre. The festival hours will span from 12-8 pm on the respective days. The event aims to celebrate the Afro-Caribbean culture expressed through artistic mediums and offers the community an opportunity to experience Canadian diversity. The fun filled family event will be enriched through live performances by local and international artists, visual art exhibitions, Afro-Caribbean cuisine and dance competitions for adults and children. Your children will love the Kids Zone which includes games, face painting and more! 40 vendors featuring food, crafts, local businesses, Non profit organizations will be present to showcase their products and services. Join us in celebrating our diversity at the Scarborough Afro-Caribbean Festival. This event is free for all ages!
It will be held at Albert Campbell Square, 150 Borough Drive
Check this out! October 2015.
http://eatablefilms.com/
The first food film festival in Toronto, Eatable features immersive screening events that engage Toronto’s culinary stars (and upstarts) to create consumable content inspired by the films. Bringing provocative content to the screen and to the table, Eatable is about providing film audiences and diners a new way to get excited about food. This year, Eatable offers three nights of food, films, and drinks – each with its own theme, tone and taste. Eatable satiates the hungry viewer and inspires the food-obsessed mind.