There’s nothing like spending a lazy Sunday than with a bunch of friends at EAT! Vancouver Food + Cooking Festival. EAT! Vancouver is all about food that’s local and international as well as organic and fresh. You can’t visit and leave without either feeling full or satisfied.

While this delicious event runs Friday through Sunday, we decided to hit up BC Place early today to get started on our late breakfast, lunch and early dinner. We had settled on arriving at BC Place for around 10 am to beat the crowds and to maximize our time at the festival. EAT! Vancouver isn’t something to be rushed — especially if you’re someone like myself who wants to try everything (well, almost everything).

Our descent from street-level to field level finished with something unusual. Previously, we would be greeted with a goodie bag before being unleashed on the booths. This time, however, we would receive our goodie bags upon exiting. The volunteers said this way we wouldn’t have to carry the the juice carton, barbeque sauce and coupons around the field. An excellent decision.

First up: a sampling of mustard. Maille staked out a sweet spot near the entrance to showcase their savory condiments. Armed with pretzels or cherry tomatoes, I dived into spicy, grainy and classic dijon mustards. One side of the field held the Canadian Cheese Counter with a line-up for a selection of Canadian-made cheeses. While my friends waited for that, I wandered over to Danone’s Oikos truck parked opposite for some Greek yogurt instead. With four flavours available – Key Lime, Raspberry-Pomegranate, Strawberry and Coconut – I asked for a container of Key Lime. Light, sweet and creamy, this really hit the spot.

The next few booths we checked out were selling machines that created pasta and frozen fruit concoctions. The pasta was interesting with flour and egg mixture being poured into a portable counter-top mixing machine that churned out a huge ball of dough. The noodles, once cooked, were smooth and buttery. The frozen fruit machine was even more curious: chunks of fruit, in this case banana, blueberries and mangos, were pushed through the top and extruded as an ice cream-like consistency into a bowl. No cream, no sugar were added, but it tasted like ice cream. The vendor said that using bananas gives the end result its creaminess, whereas just using other fruit would produce a more sorbet-like treat. Interesting.

We found there to be a lot of sweets this year — a variety of chocolate creations, macarons, fudge, candies and drinks. I love sweet things, so I caved and bought a couple of bottles of Boylan’s Black Cherry soda and a bag of Crunchy Raspberry Almonds from Chef Kev.

My friends and I discovered a delightful blueberry iced tea from Onnink’s Blueberry Farm. Made with pure blueberry juice, decaffeinated black tea and honey, I found it to be refreshing and without the sickly sweet taste from most blueberry-based drinks. We were glad we bought the bottles when we did; they sold out fairly quickly!

In my attempt to try something new, I saw that the Hills Foods booth offered ostrich sliders. I parted with the four tickets for a small burger which looked oddly like beef, but was assured it was definitely that of the flightless bird. It was juicy and tasted a bit like beef, but with a mix of chicken. It was delicious, though.

Over at the Mexico tourist booth, there was a plate with a small mound of burnt-looking grasshoppers. Being brave, I picked one up using the wooden spork provided, placed it on my napkin, took some photos and then popped it into my mouth. The little critter was crunchy with a bit of a spicy kick. I managed to coerce my friends into eating one each. Success!

I am a bit disappointed in the selection of restaurants for the Bite of Vancouver area. The number of booths has dropped over the last few years, and a few of them are repeats from past years, so I didn’t really check them out. Dunn’s, BeaverTails, Gramercy Grill have been there before (not that there’s anything wrong with that). I did grab a pulled pork slider from Gramercy Grill, however. Can’t say no to pork! A dollop of coleslaw countered the soft pork with a firm bite. Very juicy and yummy.

Our group’s final stop was the beer, wine and spirit tasting area. Limiting myself to one drink, I opted to try something new. Since I have never had sake before, I stopped at the table that was lined with wide array of sake bottles. After the helpful volunteer quizzed me on the type of drinks I like before she singled out a sweeter-tasting sake for me to try. I sipped on a glass of Born Gold sake and found it to be light, fruity and not too strong. I enjoyed my first taste of

Before leaving, I made a quick stop at the Urban Fare booth and picked up a container of local strawberries. They looked so red and juicy and since I love strawberries, I didn’t mind dropping $4.99 for them.

This year, EAT! Vancouver Food + Cooking Festival was a lot of fun and I got to try new food and drinks that I’ve never had before. I hope for 2015 they bring in more local restaurants for the Bite of Vancouver. I really miss the variety from past years. Photos from Sunday are available on Gallery.

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