Vanccouver Event: EAT Vancouver Food + Cooking Festival

EAT! Vancouver is the popular annual food and cooking festival.  Three years ago I organized a small group and we volunteered at the event so we could get free admission to the festival.  At that time it was at BC Stadium.  And since that time, EAT! Vancouver has grown and is now Canada's largest consumer food, beverage, and cooking festival.  This year it is located at the new Vancouver Convention Center.  I didn't volunteer this year but instead tweeted.  I won 2 tickets from Mochikas Peruvian Cafe through their twitter contest.  Lucky me!

I went with my Saskatchewan friend (luckily not a die hard Canucks fan) on Canucks game night.  EAT! Vancouver did have the game playing on the big screen so we could enjoy food, wine, and learning and still stay in touch with the game.  The greatest benefit of this was that it was empty and we could freely walk around to the booths, attend the seminars, and get our samples right away.
When you go there, the first thing you should do is buy your tickets.  $10 for 20 tickets per person is plenty.  We did that and had lots leftover to have a Margarita to end of the evening and bring home 4 bottles of Boylans Soda.  

Wine and Cheese Pairing seminar was great!  Actually I love any of the wine education seminars with the Wine Diva.  It was a bonus though because the seminar we attended was free (no tickets)!

 
Mochikas Peruvian Cafe was at the Bite of Vancouver area where different restaurants provide sample plates for reasonable prices.  We had the yummy pulled pork sandwich and I threw my business card in their bowl for a draw for a free lunch for 2. 

Dairy Farmers Cheese Seminar was educational for me.  I love learning new things and got to learn and taste 7 different cheeses.  I never knew that blue cheese tastes so good especially with sweet challa bread.  The new thing I learned is that the inside of the cheese is called curd.

We walked around the booths and sampled Boylans soda, iced tea, smoked candied salmon, bread, chocolate, cheese and crackers, truffle tapenade, mocha for free.  We had tickets left so decided to end our evening with a nightcap back at the Wine & Beer Pavilion.

Margaritas were the perfect ending to a great evening!


There is so much more that you can do at EAT! Vancouver that you have to go and experience it for yourself.  Buy your tickets online to save $2.  EAT! Vancouver is from Friday, June 10th to Sunday, June 12th.