What a delicious way to spend 3 days -- but to eat your way through it! In late September, the Savour Stratford Perth County Culinary Festival is a real foodies event! The event this year was the 5th annual festival presented by GE Café Appliances – and what a great time was had by all! Perth County has some of the richest farmland in all of North America and it was celebrated by sampling food from all the local farmers (vegetables, fruit, baked goods, meat, dairy), learning from famous chefs, the students and chefts from Fanshawe College and the famous Stratford Culinary school and even food from local restaurants and food shops.
This celebration of food was honoured by both the Ontario Culinary Tourism Leadership Award and by Stratford Tourism Alliance for making an outstanding contribution to the promotion of culinary tourism in Ontario! Way to go Stratford and to all the chefs, farmers and promoters of local food initiatives for a job well done!!!!
The whole festival is environmentally friendly. For example, they do not sell bottled water anywhere on the festival site; however, there are drinking water stations for filling reusable water bottles. They also use biodegradable and recyclable (or edible) cups, plates and utensils. What a great contribution to the local environment!
Friday night was the opening event and was presented by the chefs and students from Fanshawe College. Down by the bandshell on the west end of the lake, there were tents set up all along the water. To create some atmosphere, there were paper chef’s hats hanging in the trees – just in case you forgot this was a food event – but it was really cute. Each tent had a special food delicacy that Fanshawe had prepared. You bought tickets and then each tent’s item was so many tickets to buy.
At the ticket booth they also sold cookbooks signed by the chefs at the weekend event, Savour Stratford posters, tote bags and an insulated lunch bag – so we had to buy a few things there!
This celebration of food was honoured by both the Ontario Culinary Tourism Leadership Award and by Stratford Tourism Alliance for making an outstanding contribution to the promotion of culinary tourism in Ontario! Way to go Stratford and to all the chefs, farmers and promoters of local food initiatives for a job well done!!!!
The whole festival is environmentally friendly. For example, they do not sell bottled water anywhere on the festival site; however, there are drinking water stations for filling reusable water bottles. They also use biodegradable and recyclable (or edible) cups, plates and utensils. What a great contribution to the local environment!
Friday night was the opening event and was presented by the chefs and students from Fanshawe College. Down by the bandshell on the west end of the lake, there were tents set up all along the water. To create some atmosphere, there were paper chef’s hats hanging in the trees – just in case you forgot this was a food event – but it was really cute. Each tent had a special food delicacy that Fanshawe had prepared. You bought tickets and then each tent’s item was so many tickets to buy.
At the ticket booth they also sold cookbooks signed by the chefs at the weekend event, Savour Stratford posters, tote bags and an insulated lunch bag – so we had to buy a few things there!
Let me tell you that the chefs and students out did themselves and presented such delicious food – Dawna and I went back more than one time to most of the tents. There was also a wine tent where you could take your tasty morsels to and enjoy them with a glass of great wine! The food offerings included beef short-rib sandwiches and potato latkes, salmon on a breadstick (get it – the breadstick was the utensil to eat the salmon with) with caviar and butternut squash soup, delicious chicken skewers with an avocado foam, and crème brulee with sugar-dusted grapes! Oh my gosh – we ate a lot. In fact, we kept buying more tickets (obviously our stomachs were not as big as our brains because we had tickets left over and couldn’t eat another morsel) so we brought some food home for Holley and Mom. But as we enjoyed our food and drink, there was live entertainment at the bandshell which really made it a fun evening. Then on the way home, the Fanshawe students were handing out free bags of fresh hot popcorn and candyfloss! I felt like a kid coming home from the fair with all my goodies! Sorry that the pictures of the food aren’t as clear as I would have liked but I was trying to balance my purse, camera and food on a park bench making very sure that I didn’t lose my food and my mouth was watering and my stomach was growling -- but I am sure you understand what that is like.
With the threat of rain, Saturday morning came and appeared to be a lovely day so Dawna and I went back to the festival to now enjoy eating and buying from local food vendors. We bought fresh produce, honey, tarts from Shakespeare Pies (another one of our favourite bakeries), cookies and cupcakes (from members of the Perth County Tourism), and popping pocorn that was freshly picked the day before, and so much more! By noon, the place was jam-packed so I am glad that we started out early so I could take pics not just of people, but of some of the tents. What a treat it is to buy locally grown food from new vendors. We always enjoy buying our produce, baked goods, etc. at the Stratford Farmers Market -- but for the most part, these were vendors we had never met before and it expanded our list of great local food producers -- which is always exciting!
Dawna had thin-crust pizza that she said was delicious – she got a whole pizza for I think $10 and some of the proceeds went to a local charity. I had a fantastic lobster roll from a vendor “Tide and Vine” – lightly toasted roll with fresh lobster inside – oh how my mouth waters for another one. It was the best lobster roll I have ever had!!! When it started to rain, Dawna and I ran back to the car to eat our scrumptious food samplings and empty our bags. But we ate so fast that I didn’t get pics of the pizza or the lobster roll! Sorry about that!
We gobbled down our lunch and by that time the rain had stopped. So off we go again with empty bags ready to buy some more things. At this point we came across a local sheep farmer who had brought his sheep to the festival – the big sheep were used for their wool and the baby sheep would grow up to be used for their milk. In fact, I believe he told us that his milking sheep produced some of the milk for the Montforte Dairy – which has fantastic cheeses that I didn’t even know were made from sheep’s milk (and yes we bought some cheese too!).
We gobbled down our lunch and by that time the rain had stopped. So off we go again with empty bags ready to buy some more things. At this point we came across a local sheep farmer who had brought his sheep to the festival – the big sheep were used for their wool and the baby sheep would grow up to be used for their milk. In fact, I believe he told us that his milking sheep produced some of the milk for the Montforte Dairy – which has fantastic cheeses that I didn’t even know were made from sheep’s milk (and yes we bought some cheese too!).
We also found a baker who makes fantastic baked goods, Lindsay’s Bakery, who apparently regularly sells at the Slow Food Market on Sundays here in Stratford and the Western Fair Farmers Market in London on Saturdays. Well – it has been a long time since I have enjoyed such baked goods like these. We bought brioche, scones, croissants, muffins, brownies and WOW were they good. (In fact, we have just started going to the Slow Food Market just to get his melt-in-your-mouth sweets and savouries!)
We traveled along the road visiting other vendors – such as Wild Violet Pottery – beautiful pots, vases, urns and dishes, as well as the well-known Montforte Dairy – who produces delicious sheep’s cream cheese with a hint of lemon and sheep’s milk cheese curds, as well as many other dairy offerings. They also make the cutest goat’s milk soap in molds of a goat’s head – really unusual but they bring a smile to your face. There was also a children’s tent with face-painting, entertainment and a bubble machine that the kids loved as they chased around trying to catch the bubbles.
There were also lots of roadside BBQs, live entertainment, and so much more. As we walked along the river visiting more great vendors, we came across our favourite mother swan and her 3 cygnets. Boy are they growing up and turning white. In fact one of the swans opened up her wings for me to snap a picture – they are all so beautiful as they mature with their coffee latte colours on their wings! What a treat to see them again and know that they are all doing well. When I see them next spring, I probably won't recognize them as they should be pure white by then.
Well what a fantastic time we have had at Savour Stratford – eating, buying, eating, buying – as a foodie, what more could you want!! Unfortunately, we didn’t make it to any of the classes held by chefs, or most of the specialty tastings – hopefully next year. There was also a big gala held on Saturday night, hosted by Peter Mansbridge and Cynthia Dale (local residents of Stratford) which was apparently a great success despite the rain (remember -- all 3 days of Savour Stratford are held outdoors). But I think for our first time at the festival, we covered a lot of territory and had a blast – mind you I would like to say we didn’t eat for a few days – but we did have to eat all the food that we had bought at the market!
So if you plan to come to Stratford next September, do try and arrange to come for Savour Stratford. The 6th annual Savour Stratford Perth County Culinary Festival will be held September 20 – 22, 2013, so don’t forget to mark it on your calendar.
Bon Appetit!
Heather
So if you plan to come to Stratford next September, do try and arrange to come for Savour Stratford. The 6th annual Savour Stratford Perth County Culinary Festival will be held September 20 – 22, 2013, so don’t forget to mark it on your calendar.
Bon Appetit!
Heather