EAT! Vancouver

Credit: Flickr / Roland

Chef Wan at EAT! Vancouver 09

EAT! Vancouver at BC Place feels more like a trade show than a celebration of local food

Once again EAT! Vancouver is in town, and yet again I ask myself, “What do pest control and foreign consulates have to do with the Vancouver food scene?”

Vancouver cuisine is renowned for its freshness and the way it borrows from myriad cultures. It’s a grassroots experience that reflects the close relationship that we in Canada share with nature. Yet, the commercial slickness of EAT! Is more akin to an infomercial for the latest must-have gadget.

Among the used-car-salesmen-in-chefs’-clothing are a handful of passionate people with great food to offer. So make sure you wade through the plastic-wrapped, preservative-rich, hyper-marketed food, and past the travel agents to root out the real finds.
 

Live demonstrations at EAT!

The big draw cards for EAT! are the live demonstrations. Local experts and chefs, like Rob Feenie of Lumiere fame and Brenda Cortes-Castrejon from Dona Cata, share tips and recipes, and CityTV’s Master Chef competition runs throughout the weekend.

If you head down to the new Vancouver Convention Centre for this year’s EAT!, be sure to:
> Have a good look at the schedule in advance (most events are on several times)
> Don’t be shy about taking freebies
> Bring cash (to buy tokens to trade for food)