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The last week of food events in November. Your guide to all the fantastic food events around Vancouver.
Fall brings a new season of treats and events to Vancouver
As fall turns to winter we have so many things to look forward to in Vancouver. Aside from the skiing and snowboarding, and the opportunity to wear that winter coat, the winter farmers market kicks off next week, the Baker’s Market is still filling our bellies and November marks a month of celebrating Oceanwise seafood.
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 updating this list accordingly. Feel free to let us know of any other food-based treats that we’ve missed.
Nov 24 — Ocean Wise Chowder ChowDown
Nov 24 — Dec 24 Vancouver Christmas Market
Nov 25 — Food and Beers Series: How Do We Compare to Other Cities?
Nov 25 — Singles in the City: Food Lovers Unite!
Nov 27 — Ingredients. Breakfast and film screening
Nov 27 — Winter Farmers’ Market
Nov 27 — Baker’s Market
Nov 1–31 – Celebrate Oceanwise Month
Nov 17 — Chocolate Show & Tell
Nov 19 — An evening with Meeru Dhalwala
Nov 20 — Winter Farmers’ Market
Nov 20 — Baker’s Market
Oct 15–Nov 10 – West Coast Chocolate Festival
Nov8 – 10 — Gastown’s Eat, Drink Local
Nov 1–31 — Celebrate Oceanwise Month
Nov 10 — Celebrity chef cooking classes
Nov 11 – 14 — Whistler Cornucopia
Nov 12 – 13 — Gingerbread Creations Competition & Marketplace
Nov 13 — Benton Bros Grand Opening
Nov 13 — Winter Farmers’ Market
Nov 13 — Baker’s Market
Nov 6 – First Winter Farmers Market
Nov 6 – Baker’s Market
At the Ocean Wise Chowder ChowDown, 12 of B.C.’s best Ocean Wise chefs be serving up their top chowders in the hope of winning the title of the Best Sustainable Seafood Chowder on the West Coast. November 24 at the Vancouver Aquarium. 7 p.m. to 10 p.m. Tickets $40 Non-members; $32 Members.
The smells of mulled wine and gingerbread take me back to Christmas markets in Europe. The Plaza at the Queen Elizabeth Theatre has been transformed into a traditional German Christmas market. Though not strictly a food event, I predict the Vancouver Christmas Market will be worth the visit.
Join James MacKinnon and Alisa Smith (authors of “the 100-mile diet”) at the Museum of Vancouver on November 25 at 7 p.m. as they share their discoveries of local food projects from their travels around North America. Tickets $15, www.museumofvancouver.ca or 604-736-4431. Includes admission to Home Grown: local sustainable food exhibit.
Love food but tired of cooking for one? The Dirty Apron Cooking School is bringing city singles together in a class designed to help students meet their match in the kitchen. A no-pressure combination of cooking, wining, dining and dating, as you make gourmet dishes, and hopefully a few new love connections. November 25, 5.30 – 9.30 p.m. $145 per person.
INGREDIENTS explores a thriving local food movement as our world becomes a more flavorless, disconnected and dangerous place to eat. Discovering better flavor and nutrition, INGREDIENTS is a journey that reveals the people behind the movement to bring good food back to the table and health back to our communities. November 27, 9 a.m. – Breakfast; 10 a.m. – Movie. Fifth Avenue Cinemas, 2110 Burrard St. TICKETS: $15 Includes film, speakers, breakfast & great prizes. Bring your reusable coffee mug for a chance to win a prize. Watch the trailer.
Meeru Dhalwala, co-owner of Vij’s restaurant and co-author of Vij’s at Home, will demonstrate her family’s butter chicken schnitzel recipe and organic chickpea and date masala recipe. Meeru will share cooking techniques, recipes (meats and vegetarian) and ideas on feeding your family, garnered from her 15 years of experience with food and cooking.
Tickets include tasting samples and wine as well as a copy of Vij’s at Home: Relax, Honey; The Warmth and Ease of Indian Cooking. Friday, 19 November, 7-9 p.m. Proceeds to be donated to Growing Chefs!
Meet artisan chocolatier Edward Suter at Schokolade Cafe. Guests will learn the proper tasting technique, how cocoa beans are transformed to artisan chocolate and how to identify good quality chocolate. Price includes artisan chocolate sampling and a dark chocolate “welcome ” drink. Maximum 12 people per group. Two sessions: 11 a.m.- 12; 2 p.m.- 3 p.m.
Celebrate Oceanwise seafood this month by making a concerted effort to ask if the fish on the menu or at the deli counter is Oceanwise before you buy it. Check out the Oceanwise cookbook for cooking tips and come to the Chowder Chowdown on November 24 at the Vancouver Aquarium to see for yourself which of Vancouver’s chef has the best sustainable seafood chowder.
Come and check out the Winter Farmers Markets; on every week by Nat Bailey Stadium [map].
The Baker’s Market has moved to the Creekside Community Centre in the Olympic Village. So you’ll find them there offering fresh baked goodies of all varieties on Saturdays from November 20 until December 11.
You have two days left to revel in Chocolate-mania, then I’m cutting you off. 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.
If you’re planning on making this weekend a long one, head up to the Whistler Cornucopia, Whistler’s 13th annual Wine and Food Festival. The festival runs from Thursday to Sunday with seminars, tastings and parties.
Eat Drink Local week promotes five Gastown eateries. $20 will buy you an entrée and a cocktail (or glass of wine) at 2 Chefs and a Table, Au Petit Chavignol, Boneta, Cork & Fin, and Diamond. The sad news is that you only have three nights left and there are five restaurants.
The Arts Club Theatre Company will host cooking classes by renowned Vancouver chefs at private homes around the city. During the three-hour class you’ll learn how to create a fabulous three-course meal with shortcuts and kitchen hints from renowned chefs. This weeks chef is Alain Rayé from La Relegadé. Coming soon: Nov. 16, Jeremie Bastien from Boneta; Nov. 22, Tina Fineza from Flying Tiger. Admission: $125. Tickets and info: 604-687-5315, ext. 248 or www.artsclub.com.
It’s too late to enter the Gingerbread Creations Competition for this year, but you can come along Friday night and Saturday to check out the amazing creations. Feast your belly as you feast your eyes; that doesn’t mean you can snack on the competition entries (remember what happened to Hansel and Gretel) but you can buy goodies from the marketplace. You can also vote for your favourite, for the People’s Choice award.
Yes, I know the Benton Bros have already opened on 41 and Arbutus and that you love them, but their new space on Cambie and 18 (formerly the Mt Pleasant Cheese Shop) officially opens this Saturday. So, put on your fancy clothes, bake them a cake and welcome them to the neighbourhood (perhaps the best way to welcome them is by buying some cheese).
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.
