2018 Toronto Veg Food Fest

Zygote Nation was there! ... At the 2018 Toronto Veg Food Fest on Sept. 8, 2018, at the city's Harbourfront Centre on the shore of Lake Ontario.

Despite chilly temperatures, I estimate several thousand people turned out on the Saturday of the three-day, weekend fest. There was a nice, friendly vibe, with families enjoying live music and numerous food options. In a nutshell: it was a worthwhile event.

Here is the my list of the fest's notable vendors and products:

All Yum

All Yum of Toronto sells onion chips. I have tried numerous types of onion chips over the years, but most had an overly strong onion taste, or the chips were greasy. Not these. Indeed, All Yum’s chips were a pleasant surprise. They tasted quite fresh without an overpowering onion taste, and they were not at all heavy. Turns out, the company dries the onions it uses for its chips and does not fry them, according to its website. All Yum offers chips in three varieties: Sea Salt, Ranch, and Maple Smoke. All varieties are vegan, gluten-free, and contain no added oil or refined sugar, according to the company. For example, the Ranch chips’s ingredients are: onion, sunflower seeds, nutritional yeast, maple syrup, chives, dill, parsley, and sea salt. I liked all three variants, but am partial to the Sea Salt.

Athletic Energy3

A new company at the time of the fest, Athletic Energy3 (AE3) of Toronto offers energy “pucks” for athletes. The dense pucks, which are several inches in diameter, are available in three varieties: Energize, Perform, and Recover. Each variety comes in a pack of two pucks. The Energize pucks (with featured ingredients spirulina and apricot) are optimized for pre-training, while Perform pucks (maca and raisin) support the mid-training stage. Recover pucks (matcha and banana) are formulated, as the name implies, to support post-workout recovery, like helping to reduce muscle soreness, according to the company. The pucks are raw, vegan, and 100 percent organic, states the company. They contain no added preservatives or artificial colors or flavors. I tried all three varieties and liked them all, but the Recover pucks were my favorite, taste-wise.

Ecoideas

Headquartered in Markham, northeast of Toronto, Ecoideas sells organic foods, raw foods, and dietary supplements, along with cleaning products and natural body-care products. The company’s selection of organic products at the show impressed me. For example, Ecoideas offers the best selection of USDA-certified organic tiger nuts I have seen, including whole, skinned, sliced, and ground. The skinned tiger nuts I purchased were delicious. Similarly, the USDA-certified organic dried sweat potato snacks and dried beet snacks were equally tasty.

The Edge

The Edge of Hillsdale, Ontario, northwest of Toronto, offers a blue-green algae called aphanizomenon flos-aquae (AFA), both in capsule and powder form. This wild-harvested algae comes from Klamath Lake, Oregon, and is certified organic, according to the company. AFA is “the world’s most nutrient-dense blue-green algae” and is “virtually a complete food containing protein, carbohydrates, lipids, vitamins, minerals, enzymes, and phytonutrients,” states the company’s website. The AFA has more than 65 “perfectly balanced nutrients, including every B-vitamin, every amino acid, every trace mineral, omega-3, omega-6, and [is] the highest source of protein, chlorophyll, and organic micronutrients of any plant,” states the website. The Edge also offers the algae in powder form for dogs and for horses.

Cathy’s Kombucha

Cathy’s Kombucha of Oakville, Ontario, offers small-batch, raw kombucha drinks based on a recipe from a monastery in Quebec. The company does not pasteurize its kombucha, so its blends are less acidic, a company representative told Zygote Nation at the fest. Further, the company does not use plastics or metals in the fermentation process, said this rep. I drank the Vinnie’s Choice variety, the Cathy Kombucha’s best seller that the company’s founder named after her father. Along with pure cane sugar and the live bacteria culture, Vinnie’s Choice features a steeped tea extract (black, green, and rooibos teas; wild blackberry, black currant, blueberry, boysenberry, raisin, and apple pieces; cornflower, hibiscus, mallow, and sunflower petals; blackberry and lime leaves; and rosehip pieces). Vinnie’s Choice was quite tasty and I would gladly buy it again. Cathy’s Kombucha also sells Boysenberry, Ginger Peach, Lemon Ginger, Mango, and Raspberry varieties, all in glass bottles.

Whole Hemp Organics

Whole Hemp Organics of Mississauga, Ontario, sells a line of organic hemp products, including protein powder, hemp seed hearts, hemp seed oil, and hemp seed oil capsules. It is also developing a new line of artisanal cannabidiol (CBD) products based on Canadian-grown organic hemp; the first two of these offerings will be a Cannabis CBD Oil and Organic Whole-Plant Hemp CBD Capsules. Whole Hemp Organics has been in the hemp business since 1995, according to the company's website. In addition to bringing consumer products to market, it has developed strains of hemp that Canadian farmers have adopted, states the website.

Sep 8 2018 Toronto Veg Food Fest