We attended a festival that was new to us, called Taste of Edmonton. We also attended one that we've visited every year, called the Heritage Festival. Taste of Edmonton is a street festival featuring vendors of restaurants in the city and surrounding areas, showcasing several food items each. Heritage Festival is part of a nationwide celebration of cultural diversity in Canada, called Heritage Days (it's an official holiday!). Dozens upon dozens of tents representing almost all of the cultural populations in Canada have food offerings.
Many of the popular restaurants in Edmonton had a tent at Taste of Edmonton. Including the successful eateries such as: Zinc, Padmanadi, Mikado, New Asian Village, Three Bananas Cafe, Select, Guru, and Naan-o-licious! We spent about two-and-a-half hours there, first scoping out all of the food offerings, and then purchasing tickets and lining up for each booth we wanted dishes from. I was most impressed by the Cauliflower 65 from Guru, which was unique and mouthwatering! My husband most loved the Avocado Roll with Honey Cilantro Pesto, certainly a creative and tasty dish. We do try to eat a varied diet at home, since my husband and I both appreciate a wide scope of ethnic eats, and we were happy that this habit from home definitely carried out for this event, too. Baby E happily gobbled down pieces from every tent we visited. I think my own personal passion for Indian cuisine was passed down to him, because he inhaled the food items we got from Khazana and Guru more than anything else!
Taste of Edmonton was a wonderful event to attend, although I would have preferred smaller crowds! That only got worse at the Heritage Festival, however!
Heritage Festival is a very large and popular Edmonton event. Our favorite tents to visit every year to enjoy their tasty food morsels are the Ukraine, Korea, Hungary, Thailand, Pakistan, India, Greece, and Japan. This year was the busiest year yet! Thousands more people than ever before attended, making Heritage Festival 2013 a smashing success. Lines with waits as long as an hour could be found on Sunday when we went, a shocking contrast to last year where the longest line we had seen couldn't have been more than a 30-minute wait. We were quite lucky, and attended mid-day on Sunday, where clouds rolled in half an hour after we got there, which was preferably over the blaring heat that can be expected every year. A few of the food items we usually get turned out to be a disappointment, since the quality wasn't on par with previous years, but some of our favorites, such as the Korean honey pancakes, Pakistan's papri chat, and Thailand's mango and sticky rice lived up to our memories of them.
My husband always starts to complain once Heritage Festival is around the corner, since it makes him all too aware of the fact that autumn is on its way. There is really only one festival left this year that we always attend, the Fringe Theater Festival. After that, autumn will be welcome. I can do without the strong heat and swarms of mosquitoes! But, I will miss all of these delicious foods, which I was hooked on after one bite!
What have you and your family been enjoying this year? Do you ever attend festivals or other events? Do you have any annual traditions, such as a vacation?
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