On Sunday, June 8th, Toronto Taste brought together the city's top chefs and beverage purveyors for an evening of delicious food and refreshing drinks in support of Second Harvest's food rescue program. Presented by The Daniels Corporation, Sunday's Toronto Taste celebrated its 24th year as one of Toronto's premier culinary events where guests were able to give back to Second Harvest (Twitter: @2ndHarvestTO, Facebook: Second Harvest) while indulging in dishes prepared by top chefs. At a cost of $250 per ticket with a $125 tax receipt, every ticket purchased allows Second Harvest to rescue and deliver enough food to provide 500 meals for adults and children in Toronto.
*$1 FEEDS 2 PEOPLE IN NEED*
Second Harvest finds good, surplus food that would otherwise end up in landfills & delivers it to those in need. A large number of these folks are people who simply can’t afford groceries after paying their bills. Second Harvest serves 200 agencies and is the largest food rescue program in Canada and one of the most efficient and impactful - including gas, storage and all the good people at Second Harvest who help make it all happen, a healthy meal costs a mere 50 cents to find and deliver. 20,000 meals a day to people in need.
As a member of Toronto Taste's Social Media team, I made my way to Corus Quay several hours before doors open to familiarize myself with the site (for the past three years that I've been involved with Toronto Taste it was held at the Royal Ontario Museum). When I arrived at 2:30pm some chefs had already begun setting up their stations. By the way, Corus Quay is a gorgeous venue! Just look at that beautiful lakeside backdrop (this photos doesn't do it justice).
Here's a shot of some the wines in Toronto Taste's Fine Wine Auction, which includes a global selection of wines sourced from private collections. There's also a Live Auction with various big-ticket prizes, such as culinary-themed trips, as well as a Silent Auction.
This is the main stage where the Live Auction and the Chef Challenge will take place later on. And in case you're wondering, yes that is a slide.
From station to station, my job was to tweet about what each chef is going to serve - a preview of "what's to come" so to speak. With 70 food and beverage purveyors this was no easy task, and of course I couldn't have done it alone. A big thanks to Andrea (@TOfoodie) and Mark & Stacey (@TastingToronto), my trusty social media team colleagues, as well as Anna (@flozer) and Amanda (@amandalaird) for leading the entire "operation" :) Anyway, time flew by and before long, guests started arriving and the event was well underway.
You know how this goes, right? This post basically chronicles my eating and drinking whirlwind at Toronto Taste. I'm confident that I have been by, and ate at all (if not 95%) of the food stations at the event. No judging, k?
Time to take a breather! I went inside and caught the Chef Challenge taking place on stage. New this year to Toronto Taste, three chefs were given a box of mystery ingredients with 30 minutes to see what they can come up with. Each chef's dish is presented to a panel of judges for evaluation. The mystery box ingredients turned out to be: rabbit, tomato, bacon spice and walnut pesto. Chefs competing (from left to right) were: Matt Kantor of The Secret Pickle, Alex Molitz from Farmhouse Tavern, and Eric Wood from The Beverley Hotel. The chef with the dish that impressed the judges the most was Eric Wood. Congrats and Happy Birthday, Eric!
Okay break time over! Back to the food...
Another very successful and delicious Toronto Taste! A big thanks to everybody who came out to support the cause. Till next year and bye for now :)
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