Eat! Vancouver

It was my first time at Eat Vancouver 2015! I was pretty excited. Hosting different venues around Vancouver but the big showcase was located at BC Place.
Tickets at the door was $ 17 or online for $ 15. I was lucky enough to get free tickets. I came on a Sunday at around 11am. I was glad coming early to beat the big crowds and long lines. Lots of different vendors, food samples, food for purchase, beer garden, so much more. We purchased 20 tickets for $ 20. Pricey I thought, plus the entrance but lucky for us we entered for free! Most stalls had food or snacks anywhere from 1 – 6 tickets. But we were getting full from the free samples.
Lots of local, healthy, organic, gluten free vendors. We also watched a cooking class by a celebrity chef. Overall it was a good time.

Expensive, you have to pay to get in then buy more tickets. Food not that good.

Thanks to Unilocal I won tickets to this year’s Eat Vancouver event! I went later on Saturday afternoon and stayed until the show closed at 9. I think my favourite thing was trying all of the artisan cheeses by the cheese stage. My favourite was the horseradish cheese from the Village Cheese Company! It was $ 5 for one or 3 for $ 13 so I ended up buying 3 of their cheeses and I got a little cheese grater/​container too.
I gave the show only 3 stars because I’m not crazy about having to pay to get in to a show and then pay again to eat some of the samples. I felt like some of the samples were not worth the $ 2+ booths were charging. Also, I wish the signage indicating if the booth was charging tickets for their samples was better displayed. Some booths were hand written on scrap pieces of cardboard or napkins and you wouldn’t see it until you got right up front which was awkward. It made me feel like a cheapo if I didn’t pay the $ 2+ for the sample. I frequently visit craft fairs and recognized many of the same vendors and I was hoping to see more new things too. Overall, the show was A-​OK and I did enjoy trying all of the samples and learning about the local food scene. Thanks again for the tickets Unilocal

The funniest thing about Eat! Vancouver isn’t the great venue or the idea behind it. It’s the sheer number of people who for some reason, hail this as the greatest thing ever. Guys come on. Time for some reality here.
Ironically, you don’t come to Eat! Vancouver on an empty stomach. You’re supposed to come here AFTER dinner (but see, they don’t tell you that). For the price of entry, plus the cost of tickets (if you don’t want to be um…*those*…customers who are just there for the free samples[the vendors don’t like you]) — does that not defeat the purpose? So treat this more like a wine tasting event, and not a place you to, you know… actually eat.
I don’t know what this event was like in previous years, but now it’s turned into an almost entirely commercial/​consumer event, where the first thing you see isn’t the food stands at all (they’re all tucked away towards the back). It’s the vendors hawking pots, pans, and other products not unlike the ones you can just go and buy at any supermarket. So you walk PAST all that, to get to the reason why you’re here at all…
Imagine yourself as one of the food vendors for a moment. You have to cook (in a rush), the same thing over and over, many hundreds of times that day. What do you think the quality will look like (hint: bad)? You’ll be reciting the same lines, over and over, to the same set of questions asked. And it shows, in the undercooked pasta as well as the supposedly organic meat served in the burgers, which to be honest only really taste good if you arrived to the event starving. Unless you paid one ticket for the ramen (served in a tiny cup), but come on… ramen? No, it’s not made like those fancy ramen places downtown. Nowhere close, not a chance.
The event’s «cooking classes» advertise big names like Bobby Flay and other personalities from Food Network… without the personalities present. So don’t be looking for Giada Laurentiis, Guy Fieri, or Nigella Lawson.
Probably the best time (and the most densely packed section) of the event goes to the area where they sold booze. I guess that makes sense, given the relative mediocrity of everywhere else, and the vendors here actually seemed to have a good time.
In the end, it’s an overpriced marketing event. When the nicest, biggest booths are held by PepsiCo/​CocaCola, giving out free Nestea, or the free packaged yogurt… any pretense of Eat! Vancouver as exposure for new up-​and-​coming chefs, recipes or otherwise new ideas is just lip service.

I had such an amazing time at Eat! Vancouver — so many amazing food vendors and great flavours to try and share. My stand out recommendations from Eat are as follows
1. Gewurtztraminer Cheese — not sure who made them, but I swear to goodness, this is the best cheese I have EVER eaten!
2. Smoked Salmon Cheese
3. Fraser Valley Almond Crunch — hands down the best candy I have EVER eaten!
4. Killer Dave’s Bread — delicious, nutritious and full of amazing flavour.
Will definitely be back for next years shenanigans — if it’s anything like this years it’ll be so fun!

Despite having lived in Vancouver for a few years now, this was my first time to Eat! Vancouver. I’ve been to similar festivals in other cities though, so I definitely had an idea of what to expect.
We rocked in around 6pm on the Saturday, which proved to be a good idea as there was masses of people leaving at this time– some having been at the festival for hours. This meant there was very little queuing to try samples or talk to the exhibitors.
We walked out three hours later with two bottles of pasta sauce, two bottles of Filipino marinade, candied salmon, a couple of bottles of free juice and two bottles of jerk sauce and some chocolate coated licorice! We were also overstuffed on samples. Most of the exhibits had a decent amount of samples.
All in all a pretty solid afternoon. The only thing I wasn’t a huge fan of was the «sips» area. You had to pay for all the samples (in other food and wine festivals that I have been to, I haven’t had to) and it was a in crammed area that made it hard to actually talk to the Vendors.
The other thing I would say is to do a lap before you purchase food tickets, as we ended up with more than we needed.

I don’t go every year as I should, I go every other year ’cause I feel that the focus since inception has changed and not for the positive. This used to be the place for up and coming products, however, seems like more of a venue for large companies to show off that they have $$$ to spend on booths to tell you what you already know. The seminars, demos and Q&A’s are what bring me back every so often. I just wish I had a reason to come back as often as I should for someone like myself who is a culinary foodie. They also need to have some big names that are different each year. I do not need to see Mr. Feenie so many times. Most people there were sample freeloaders and myself, someone who loves food and wants to actually talk to the guys at the booth, was difficult and frustrating. I could tell that the vendors were getting a bit peeved that they were acting as a soup kitchen to feed people and less as a rep of knowledge the people in their booth. Half these people didn’t even care what they were eating, just picked a sample and off for their next feeding.

Another year, another Eat! Vancouver Food and Cooking Festival. Compared to last year Eat! Vancouver 2012, Eat! Vancouver 2013 offers a few more healthier choices and a diverse selection of food, products and food shows. What we’ve noticed was a lot of virgin olive oils and concoctions of dry spices for sale.
Super Chefs duke it out while showcasing some culinary secrets.
Boylan, a repeat from last year has brought their wide selection of sodas for everyone to sample. I really liked their Cherry Cola!
As are you waiting for your taste of Green & Black’s Organic chocolate, have a sample of some fine Canadian Maple Delights and maple syrup! Their Mint Dark coco is really good!
Technology has introduced some new ways to read a newspaper on your phone. Now, why I don’t just use feedly or via newspaper subscription to my smart phone beats me.
And for all you macaron fans, Carly has also set up shop for Kitchening & Co.
Le Gavroche also has a stand with featuring some menu items and little take home treats. Something about their banner needs some brightening up. It is hellishly freaky! Even zombie like from the Walking Dead.

Nabob brought their own crew of baristas and a food truck to give folks suffering from food coma a serious wake up call! I quite liked the Midnight Eclipse Dark Roast. It was bold enough without too much acidity and fruitiness.
Of course those over 19+ years are able to enter the fine area for libations. Craft beers, wines, sake, hard liquor are all available for sampling. What caught our eyes are the nifty 6 pack re-​usable holder from Old Yale Brewery.

The latest from Zoku, the fine people that brought us the 10 minute popcicle maker brought along their 7-​minute slushy ice cup. Concept is simple where you pre-​freeze the cup and than pour liquids into. It freezes from the outside towards the center. Every so often you will need to stir it around to mix the ice around. I’ll blist ice cubes in my Vitamix instead thanks!
Other fine organic and gluten free products are also available.
If you’ve missed the 2013 show, there’s also next year! See you all at Eat! Vancouver 2014!

If my $ 14 (with a $ 2 online discount) for a meal, sure, it was an okay deal but prepare for the lineup. I was there ~4pm on Sat and I thought it would be better because it was between lunch and dinner time. There could be shorter lineup if the vendors are willing to pre-​fill the samples, rather than asking the customers what flavour they would like following with a long conversation. I gave up tasting some of them due to the lineup. It makes sense that they only allow same day re-​entrance as it is a food convention. But I think they should do this for other conventions (i.e. craft fairs). I liked how some vendors are willing to accept cash without the tickets (I got less than $ 10 of food in total). Some ppl said BC place is better than Canada Place, but it doesn’t really matter if they didn’t use all the space anyways. Canada Place would be a better place coz of location, newer venue, and better parking). Grouping similar items in the same area would be nice (e.g. spices, desserts, etc)
It was more like a supermarket/​Costco tasting than anything else. I was expecting someone more unique or less known brands. Most of the stuff I can get from a supermarket anyways. Then what’s the point of my $ 14? I walked around first and I would get some tasting tickets if I found something worth and special to try. My guess was that smaller companies can’t afford for this kind of generous tasting for 3 days. I would prefer going to a Farmers Market or a Craft Fair with more unique food. I walked around the alcohol area but I drove so I didn’t bother with drinking. I also didn’t go to the «food court» area as I was already kinda filled up after sampling.

Bring your appetite!
This 3 day food and cooking festival is celebrating it’s 10^th anniversary in Vancouver and I can’t believe I’ve never been before!
The recently renovated BC Place Stadium is this years venue and hubby and I were lucky to get there early on opening day to have the opportunity to sample, sample, sample… olive oils, flavored balsamic vinegars, maple syrup, honey, hummus, misc spreads and dips, chocolate, smoked salmon, wild mushroom spread, fiddleheads, olives, cheese, coconut and vitamin drinks… okay I’m feeling full just thinking about how much I consumed. Boy did we get our $ 14 worth. If possible buy your entry tickets online. You save $ 2 (reg $ 16) but you’ll also skip the outside lineup if there is one.
We watched the 20 minute live celebrity cook off between renowned «Food Network» chefs, Rob Feenie, Bob Blumer and David Rocco, hosted and judged by Erin Cebula. Post show cookbook purchase/​signing was available. Nothing visually spectacular however these chefs are top notch and it was a laid back atmosphere and a good chance to sit and relax a bit before wandering the isles, checking out the food and travel booths. And then there was the adult bevy sampling section. You have to pay for this part ($ 10 gets you 20 tickets for example) and most wine/​beer/​gin/​whiskey/​absinthe samples range between 1 – 5 tickets. Inexpensive way to sample and find out more about some local products/​companies you may not know much about.
Additional presentations are available throughout the day so check the displayed posters for times or check online before hand.
Get there early if possible when it’s less crowded. It was a relatively quiet afternoon for us but it started to get packed at around 5:30pm Fri night. Same day re-​entry is available with a hand stamp.
Most importantly make sure to sample at least one new food or drink like we did. You may be pleasantly surprised and can take home most items at a discounted show price so bring your appetite, along with extra cash!

I was so excited to attend this years EAT! Vancouver since it was held at the new convention center. I“ve had the opportunity to do a site vist a little while ago and this place is amazing! However, this event was a bit lacking.
Positives: The chef competitions, a larger chocolate display and more candy and honey vendors. Good food and great drinks!
Negatives: The crowds, same vendors serving the same samples and selling the same stuff. There were also people there selling purses and steam mops which really had nothing to do with food.
Eat! Vancouver is shaping up to be similar to the Richmond Night Market. Good food, line ups and people selling random things.

Leaving this event, I had very mixed feeling. There were many positives, but there were also some distinct negatives. Let’s start with the good things first.
My favourite part of the whole event was the cheese seminar, hosted by Dairy Farmer’s of Canada. The seminar was well conducted, interesting, and included 6 samples of delicious Canadian cheese. I came away feeling like I had learnt something, and had a new list of cheeses to buy. I also loved the tasting booths — candied salmon may be my new favourite food.
On the other hand, I hated how hot and crowded the room was. I was constantly being bumped and pushed as people scrambled to get to the new booth. I also found that a lot of the vendor’s were not particularly interested in talking about their product; it was more «Here’s a sample, here’s my flyer, it costs this much, and you can find it here». My favourite booths were the ones where I learnt something new about a food, a process, or even what makes it different from all the products out there.
In summary, it was an interesting experience; however, it did not really live up to my expectations. I think there needs to be a little more planning as to people shuffling in order to create a really stellar event.

Was it the change of location or just the gloomy weather that brought everyone here today!!! It was super packed and there were lines at EVERY booth. I would be in line for so long that it just didn’t seem worth it.
There seems to less ‘tasting’ booths this year, and more booths selling items that weren’t really related to food. Steam mops?! The best booth was probably the Bosa foods one, and even this one was a lot smaller than last year. They had their sparkling sodas, truffles, and different kinds of cheeses to sample. Another good one was the BC dairy association booth where they actually had chefs cook a meal, so I got to try some tuna with fennel cream, which was quite good. Again, really long line up for these.
Nevertheless, I did manage to pick up some items at good prices. Kettle corn, honey, and Japanese red bean cakes. There some booths last year that aren’t here this year. (I wanted my Chai tea bags!!)
Walked out of here tired and worn, from squishing through the crowds so much. Purchased tickets online beforehand for $ 12 each. Will I go again next year? Guess I still have a year to decide.

The 2010 edition of Eat Vancouver is the worst I’ve attended yet of the three. Each year it seems they remove elements from the event while slowly increasing the price. Last year saw the removal of the BBQ competition and more samples moving towards a purchase system compared to the 2008 edition. This year was no exception with the move into the convention centre resulting in considerably fewer exhibitors and yet again a reduced quality of samples/​vendors/​giveaways. While Eat Vancouver used to be worth the price of admission before of the range of quality of products and samples available to you inside, it’s pretty much a cover charge now to get the right to pay for food and drink inside. While the beet/​spirits area still is a great value, they continue to run out of products, limit seating, and many premium products end up costing near retail price. Considering these products are often in highly competitive categories like rum or tequila, it’s very surprising that these exhibitors try and charge $ 2-​$ 2.5 for ½ oz.
The convention centre as a facility is great and easier to access than BC Place but it seemed more cramped and busier than the room could handle. It’s hard to tell if it’s an optical illusion from the size of BC Place’s facility or actual dimension changes. Regardless, this event is still worth attending, but more so now as a «something to do» rather than a place to sample extravagant cheeses, understand the differences between farmed/​wild salmon, and experience a true BBQ competition. Also considering the celebrities are Rob Feeney and the ACTOR who plays the soup nazi, this event is obviously catering more towards the exploding «foodie» culture than for the people who actually know their food and hope to experience the world’s best cuisines from its best chefs.
Let’s hope 2011 bring back something memorable or expands this festival outside of the confines of an admission charge facility and onto our city streets.

I hate to have to agree with everyone else, but I really couldn’t stand the massive crowds and lines of people this year! I can’t believe each booth had a 5 – 15 minute line and the vendors seemed so tired that you couldn’t even talk to most of them about their product that you’re genuinely interested in. I really do commend the ones that did take time to talk to me. In the previous 3 – 4 years, it was never this crazy. So I wonder if there were just more people there or if it really was the venue being smaller.
I also have to agree with the Bite of Vancouver being a little disappointing. Again, this was mostly because of how crowded it was. Really, you can’t move through them.
Samples in general were also a little more meagre than last year.
However, I think the products you can buy were a lot more reasonably priced. The maple butter that I was coveting last year was $ 3 for a small 2oz jar. And the larger one was $ 12 (but it was not for sale at the festival). And the cheese selections were amazing: Farmhouse cheeses, swiss cheese with chocolate!
Other updates from my notations of last year:
The Bite of Vancouver did have more variety in the cuisine, though there were still 2 Indian booths. How about having a South Indian cuisine booth? There were more West Coast Cuisine booths there.
There were more things in the goodie bags. Can’t wait to use my free Bonchaz coupon.
On the other hand, Barefoot Wines now charges 2 tickets for 1 wine sample.

Hmmm, nobody has done 2010 yet, so I will take a stab.
Just did the quick run through after work on Friday evening. Tasted 75% of the samples, both free and ticketed and that was tough to squeeze in in the 2.5 hours we had. Give yourself more time than this if you want to do any of the classes or seminars. Or if it gets any busier, which it probably will.
The food was pretty good overall, and there were some good deals to be found. The maple sugar gelato is amazing, as are the kangaroo sliders. I noticed a lot of salmon (to be expected), but oddly a good number of places doing sliders as well. The kiwi nectar slushies were addictive, and the Swiss shaved cheese flower thingies were fun too.
But I was very unimpressed with the vendors themselves. If they weren’t totally overwhelmed and unprepared, then they couldn’t be bothered to pay attention to people wanting samples or information. Those that did answer questions did so to the point of ignoring everyone else and going on and on and on. The douchey fratboys serving wine at the Barefoot booth were downright rude. The exceptions to the overall vendor fail, were the Handpresso guy who was very chatty AND could pass out multiple samples at the same time, and the guys at the Chinese wine/​sake/​beer booth waaay in the back corner who were funny and efficient.
I can see why people say that it is definitely worth going to once, but it isn’t worth going again.

A great activity for a weekend, however the crowds, pushing and shoving put a bit of a time limit on the amount of time I can spend @ this event and still maintain my sanity.
It seemed this year there were less throw away paper brochures (which I like).
The change in venue to the convention center was great.
For me it was about the same as other years, $ 2 samplings of food, $ 1 samplings of beer/​wine, free mini samples of product.
If I want to try the best the city has to offer for food I certainly wouldn’t expect to find it here (go to the restaurant and enjoy it how it’s meant to be enjoyed!).
There was a health and beauty show called epic on at the same time in the neighbouring convention hall. Might be a good idea to try and tie these two together in the future and have a combo ticket?
Definitely wish there were more things like this to do on weekends in Vancouver, maybe the new convention center will attract them (because judging by the crowds the city certainly supports it).

Couldn’t possibly give it more than 3 stars because the change in venue meant cattle prodding people to get the hell out of my way. Very very slow; people not moving, waiting for the vendor forever to finish talking to one couple while a hundred people wait for a measly sample. Oh Joy; another year at Eat-​Vancouver.
Some vendors definitely moved to the front of the line: make sure you check out Hevy D’s kettle corn. The guy is down to earth, from Vernon and readily handed out samples without an attitude! They have a travel section where I recommend you check out Louisana who gave mini bottles of tabasco sauce and creole seasoning.
For those cat/​dog lovers lots of free samples especially at Go! excellent quality food.
I found this year in particular had the smallest amount of vendors at Bite of Vancouver section; less than 10 vendors. Other years definitely much more selection. Not to be missed is Goldilocks; fantastic empanadas at 5 tickets for two… filled with shrimp and pork and dipping sauce. Milestones were serving trendy mini burgers and their famous artichoke dip. Lots of Indian food and the new Wok Box from Davie street with stirfry served in little Chinese take-​out boxes, so cute!
Overall, nothing new, too cramped and crowded as usual, allow at least 100 $ for a couple to get in the door and to buy your food & beer tasting samples. Don’t worry though, by this time next year you will forget all the gloom and doom and line-​up again with the best of them!

Here’s the gameplan: eat, drink, get buzzed, repeat.
This year’s event at the BC Place, Vancouver from 22 — 24 May 2009 was worth the trip, IMHO. I was initially wondering if CAD12.00 (discount from CAD15.00, was too much but if you’re a foodie and near the area it’s something worth paying for a full day of tasting.
The downer is that I would say to really enjoy the samplings you would need to shell a few more bucks per booth. You get respectable food items via a ticket stub system. Each stub costs CAD0.50 and booths could be asking anywhere up to 8 tickets.
But fret not because I would say half of the food booths offered bite-​sized samplings. Do the rounds which could take an hour if you’re with a group. Repeat.
Bigger companies like Kozy Shack offered actual 113g dessert cups. Nice.
Fuze enhanced drink with vitamins and minerals just needed a charity donation as small as nickel (CAD0.05) and you can grab a whole bottle. Give them a good amount of donation and you can practically sample all the flavours. But they won’t judge you for your donation. They’re just happy to take what you can give and entertain your questions about their drinks.
There were free seminars like the sponsored Cheese tasting which offered 7 samplings starting from the mild variety all the way to bleu cheese.
But there were also other seminars that needed 4 tickets like the Wine + Cheese pairing.
Then there is the 45-​minute Mott’s Clamato Caesar seminar which asks for CAD20.00 and was surprisingly over-​booked each time. You participate in being a bartender in the process by helping prepare 4 varieties of Caesar drinks which I would say is a 6-​oz cup each. Then at the end of the seminar, they hand out a Mott’s bartender kit which includes a wooden muddler, stainless steel mixing spoon and strainer. It’s a nice touch and money decently spent.
Lot’s of people on a Saturday. There came a point where you were squeezing your way in and out in various sections.
Every alcohol stall required the surrender of a few ticket stubs in exchange for a decent 4oz sampling.
I would honestly expect 2−4oz sampling to be FREE while a regular glass would require tickets. It’s marketing anyway for them. But I guess it’s also a safe way to not have everyone go home drunk.
Overall, it’s an event worth taking part of at least once. Fun to look around and discover what other ingredients and food creations are brewing.
So 4 stars for the event, but I’m knocking it down to 3 stars because of (1) the must-​have requirement to use ticket stubs not to buy stuff but to use it to practically enjoy decent samplings apart from paying an entrance fee, and (2) one-​time use of entrance ticket per day which means you need to purchase 3 tickets to enjoy all three days of seminars, cooking shows and tasting.