On Wednesday night, we took a quick little jaunt over to Metro Hall’s Rotunda to check out the launch and semi-preview of the Pan American Food Festival… which is, not surprisingly, a celebration of Pan American “flavour and fun.”
If you aren’t a consistent nosher of Pan American foods, there’s something potentially wrong with your horizons. Go forth, and broaden, young eaters! Pan America comprises 41 countries (hence the need for you to broaden your horizons), and spans North America (Canada, USA, Mexico), 19 Caribbean countries (Aruba to Bahamas to Trinidad and Tobago), seven central American countries (Panama to Belize and all in between), and 12 South American countries (from Argentina to Venezuela).
The festival will shimmy over the Harbourfront Centre September 20th through 22nd, 2013, and will bring the cuisine, culture, and crafts of this diverse region to your senses. We’re obviously most excited about the food, some of which got to preview last week.
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I adore that in a lot Pan American cuisine, you’ll often find fresh flavours stuffed into rich dough pockets. I get off not having to use a fork and knife. For reals. Stand outs were the empanadas from Arepa Cafe (all crispy and gooey with just a hint of sweet and spice from the salsa), the mini pork tacos from Frida Restaurant, these veal and Swiss chard empanadas which unfortunately I grabbed in haste and cannot for the life of me remember who was serving them (Mary Luz can you let us know in the comments below?), and the paella from Babaluu.
Though there’s about a year to wait until the Pan American Food Festival – a nice prelude to the PanAm Games we’ll be hosting in 2015 – our city has a myriad of examples of the cuisine found in this 41-country region. So… the point is… get off your lazy arses and set for to explore…