Although we knew we weren’t going to be writing about the show itself for TasteTO, we still headed off to the Canadian Food and Restaurant Trade Show this past weekend to check stuff out and look for story ideas.
This is the largest food and restaurant trade show in Canada, with exhibitors promoting pretty much anything you would need if you ran a restaurant or food service operation. All the things people never even think about when they dream about opening a restaurant; from cutlery to chairs to dishwashers, computer systems and take out containers. The food section is full of packaged and processed foods, from frozen French fry vendors to bakeries offering bread and cakes. and of course things like condiments, coffee, or ingredients like baking chocolate… It’s a cornucopia of delights, with most of the food vendors handing out plentiful samples. We ate bite-sized versions of pizza, chicken wings, ice cream, cheesecake on a stick, prosciutto, dried fruit, yogurt, single-origin chocolate, pate, vegetarian caviar, panko-fried pickles, fruit cups, and Campbell’s high-end line of soups. Plus beer, fancy water, kool-aid slushies, coffee, tea, fancy soda… Then we came home and downed half a bottle of Pepto Bismol.
Dessert vendors were a good percentage of the exhibitors. This one looked especially yummy.
These handrolls were probably plastic, but they looked awesome anyway.
Somehow I took photos of mushrooms but not the huge basket of truffles. I am teh dumb.
There are plenty of vending machine companies at the CFRA show, but this miso soup dispenser rocked our world.
This wheel o’ dried fruit was very impressive.
Knowing how fragile sugar work can be, we’re not sure if Snoopy’s sopwith camel is meant to be crashed or if it just didn’t transport well, but it’s still an impressive piece.
The most colourful of the many take-out container displays.
Baguettes – with stuff in ’em!
More sugar work from the display of work by culinary students. Those roses are made from sugar and are like hard candies. Check out the string detail in the piping.