Late-October Food Events in Vancouver

Credit: flickr / Greg Wagoner

Follow the signs to immerse yourself in Vancouver’s food scene

Don’t miss out on Vancouver’s next great celebration of food

Ah Vancouver, city of my dreams. This West Coast, Pacific Rim, European-rooted, Asian-influenced foodie heaven keeps throwing up new restaurants, retailers, festivals and forums. If you’re into food, it’s a great place to be. But there’s so much going on in Vancouver that sometimes it’s hard to keep track.

For your fine-dining fetish, market mania and general event euphoria, I’m attempting to corral all the upcoming events into one space. Check out the list below. We’ll keep adding to it as events come in, and feel free to let us know of any other food-based treats that we’ve missed.

This week

Oct 12–21 – Game and Wild Mushroom Festival

Oct 12–30 – Taste of Yaletown

Oct 15–Nov 10 – West Coast Chocolate Festival

Oct 23 – Trout Lake Farmers’ Market Cookbook Swap

Oct 23 –  Vij’s at Home cooking demo

Next week

Oct 25 – Farms to Forks: Harvest Kitchen Party

Oct 26 – Women and Food: A Vancouver Historical Perspective

Oct 30 – Deerholme Farm Pine Mushroom & Dungeness Crab Dinner

Oct 12–30 – Taste of Yaletown

Oct 15–Nov 10 – West Coast Chocolate Festival

Game and Wild Mushroom Festival

Tonight and tomorrow (October 20 and 21) are your last chances to enjoy Audrey Durbach’s fifth annual forest fare festival. Menus at Durbach’s restaurant’s, Pied-à-Terre (Cambie), La Buca (McDonald) and Cafeteria (Main) will be highlighting freshly plucked wild mushrooms and hearty cuts of game. The Roast Fillet and Civet of Red Deer served alongside a Pine Mushroom Pommes Dauphine at La Buca certainly has my attention.

West Coast Chocolate Festival

Any chocolate festival that spans a whole month has shifted from festive to orgiastic. The West Coast Chocolate Festival offers tastings, high teas and chocolate meditation and yoga. You’ll find chocolate-covered faces in Vancouver, Harrison Mills, Port Moody and Coquitlam, so check out their events lists [PDF] to plan your attack.

Trout Lake Farmers Market Cookbook Swap

Not only is this weekend (October 23) the final Farmers Market at Trout Lake this season (before they head to their new winter home by Nat Bailey Stadium), it is also time for the mighty cookbook swap. So gather up all those cookbooks that you’ve memorized by heart, or those Raymond Blanc’s that you haven’t dared try, and swap them for some inspiring new recipes.

Deerholme Farm Pine Mushroom & Dungeness Crab Dinner

With pine mushrooms popping up all over BC forests, and the Dungeness Crab season in full swing, the folks at Deerholme Farm think that October 30 is a good day for a fancy feast. I have no doubt their Asia-meets-Cowichan Valley dishes are worth the ferry ride.

Vij’s at Home, cooking demo

Thanks to Alison for this tip: Vikram Vij & Meeru Dhalwala (of Vij’s Restaurant) are doing a cooking demo and tasting from their new cookbook Vij’s at Home at South China Seas (1502 Victoria Drive) on Oct 23 from noon to 2 p.m.

Restaurants opening soon

If you’re constantly on the lookout for the newest place to eat, you can either stalk me or check out Vancouver Foodster’s blackboard of upcoming restaurant openings.

Bakers Market continues

Don’t forget to head down to Kent Avenue every Saturday through December 11, as the Bakers Market continues to offer fresh baked goodies of all varieties.

Check out Vancouver’s food events in November.