Posted by Sheryl Kirby in events, events upcoming on August 15, 2008 at 3:26 pm
Things heat up at Harbourfront this weekend with the 11th annual Hot and Spicy Food Festival.
This year the event expands beyond hot and spicy on the palate to include hot performances, films and dance.
A mainstay of the festival is the Red Hot Marketplace, featuring purveyors of hot and spicy products such as hot sauces and chutneys. Look for Chetty's Hot Sauce, Himalaya Gourmet, Hot Mama's Food Inc and Edna's Pickles to name just a few.
The World Café is always a great place to check out local restaurants serving up food with a kick, and visitors can enjoy lunch or dinner from Thai Bangkok Restaurant, Jerk Vibe, La Fiesta Catering, Viv's Catering Company or Simmos Original Smoke Grill among others.
New this year, visitors can also buy a Food Booklet that will allow them to sample dishes from all over the site. $20 entitles you to 12 samples, $10 will get you 6 samples, and individual samples are $2 each.
Also new this year is the “10 Tastes to try before you die!” series that will take place in the Lakeside Terrace throughout the festival and features local chefs cooking up some must-try hot and spicy dishes.
Undoubtedly, the hi-light of the event for many of the 50,000 people who will visit the festival over its three days is the Iron Chef competition which this year goes international in scope with battles featuring New Mexico vs. Canada and Jamaica vs. Mexico. Semi-finals take place on Saturday August 16th at 1:30pm and 4:30pm and the semi-final winners will advance to the finale on Sunday August 17th at 2:00pm. Canada will be represented by Chris Brown of Perigee.
Other demos through the weekend will be hosted by local chefs including Greg Couillard, Chris Klugman and Stuart Cameron.
And for those whose idea of hot emanates from somewhere other than the palate, the Toronto Firefighter Calendar Models will be offering cooking demos in the Brigantine Tent, and will be autographing 2009 calendars which will be available for sale.
For the kids, The Cookerydoo and Rising Chefs will be on hand both days with fun food activities.
The weekend wouldn’t be complete without hot music, and there’s a selection of jazz, afrobeat, latin and soul, as well as ballroom dance performances such as mambo, salsa and tango that are sure to sizzle.
For everyone who loves the burn, the Hot and Spicy Food Festival is a summertime must, but even those who like to keep the Scoville units on the low side will find something fun and exciting at Harbourfront this weekend.
The Hot and Spicy Food Festival runs today from 6pm until midnight, tomorrow from noon until midnight and Sunday from noon until 6pm. Admission is free.
Photos by Gordon Hawkins for Harbourfront Centre. used with permission.
