Categories
2007 Food Taste of the Danforth

Taste of the Danforth

Taste of the Danforth is an annual event held on Danforth Avenue in Toronto that celebrates Greek culture and food. AM640 had been promoting the event pretty aggressively so we decided to participate.

Danforth avenue was closed down and like I said before, I love it when the streets get shut down and the public is allowed to wander freely on the asphalt.

An expected 1 million people from all over Ontario and even the United States visited the event last year. This year was supposed to be bigger than before. There was a lot of food there and not only Greek food. We visited Demetre for some light ice-cream snacks, had corn-on-the-cob, calamari, and finally gyros. Not bad but not that exciting either. I liked the atmosphere more than the actual event.

Oh and there was a belly dancing show too! That was quite a surprise. By chance lunato and I had front-row seats… well not seats but we were in the first row. I was incredibly confused about where my eyes should be. It is a belly dancing event so presumably the bellies are the main attraction. However, looking at dancing bellies of unknown women for an extended period of time can become uncomfortable very fast. Try it some day if you haven’t had the chance yet.

My solution was to take pictures and make videos of the dance and just stare at the camera screen instead of the actual dancers. I uploaded two videos on youtube: 1, 2.

Good show, will visit again next year.. but wouldn’t buy the calamari again.. ugh!

Update: I was browsing Flickr and found this picture by prof46ca of the belly dance audience. Lunato was on my right so she’s hidden from the view but you can easily spot me in the crowd with a stupid smile on my face.

Categories
2007 Food

Toronto Street Food

After hearing talk about the City Council exploring the options to legitimize street food other than hot dogs in Toronto, lunato and I decided to go downtown for the sole purpose of eating a hot dog while it remained the king of Toronto street food. For $2.50 a piece with a $1 soft drink, it wasn’t bad at all and can easily be a fulfilling lunch. Personally, I’m looking forward to buying baleela on the streets!

Categories
2007 Food

The Food Cycle

I will never be a herbivore. I appreciate and applaud vegetarians who have selflessly given up meat and thus left more of it for me. I like seafood too. Crab meat and Fish cakes are my favourite in that category. Lobster meat is quite tasty as well but I can’t get rid myself of the unease I feel at the prospect of eating an organism after having seen it alive. It seems…. barbaric.

This is hypocrisy, right ? Package the insides of a chicken, cow, lamb, lobster, etc. into small plastic wrapped styrofoam containers and I have no problem devouring it. But show me the animal I will be eating and I find it difficult and uncomfortable biting into it. I’ve pondered about it often but can’t arrive at any conclusion about why I feel this way.

Harry had no trouble eating the lobster, even though he is allegedly allergic to seafood. Lunato and Harry enjoyed it thoroughly while Dooh screamed like a little girl and I politely declined and tried to enjoy the baked apple pie.

Later on Dooh practiced on the piano for a bit and managed to create a tune for himself. Good job!

We completely forgot about the KICK YO ASS HOT! HABANERO POPCORN and Harry and Dooh left Toronto via GreyHound without trying it. Lunato and I had bought it a few days ago for Harry from Vaughn Mills Mall when we visited it with Lunato’s parents. I’ll mail it to Harry.. he likes challenging his massive digestive system with the spiciest food available on the planet.

Harry on the laptop checking Greyhound bus departure schedule Dooh sporting his new shades Mmmm lobster Bon apetit! Dooh practicing Piano Uhhh..... hello? Harry waiting to get on the bus to Ottawa Dooh's turn to get on the bus Nice dress KICK YO ASS HOT! HABANERO POPCORN