If you’ve been following my blog you know that this year I fell in love with Stratford. It started with a fabulous tour earlier this year hosted by the tourism department that allowed me see a lot of what Stratford has to offer from their farms to top chefs to candy shops and more. Heaven!
So I was particularly thrilled to learn that they host an annual food festival called Savour Stratford. It’s a week-long festival with tons of activities related to food. I decided to visit for the final weekend of the festival.
When we arrived on Saturday morning we just missed the Cider Tasting so we headed over to York Street Kitchen where I had a comforting soup and salad lunch in a really cozy setting (which was perfect because the weather wasn’t ideal). There is something about a nice bowl of soup when they weather is a bit gray and drizzly.
Then it was off to the farmers market to scope out the produce. While I love summer produce (corn! berries! peaches!) I can’t knock fall. I love fall fresh apples, pears and squash. The following day I bought a few squash (including one of the gorgeous ones above from Soiled Reputation) and a basket of Ginger Gold apples, a variety that I first discovered when I lived in New York.
One of the activities that I had formally scheduled for the day was a chocolate and wine pairing session hosted by Chris from Chateau des Charmes and Kristene from Rheo Thompson Candies. We were treated to (over)generous pourings of 6 Chateau des Charmes wines and 5 types of chocolate from Rheo Thompson. It was a really great way to learn about different wine and to get an idea of how to pair wine with not only chocolate but with other foods as well. For me, the chocolate covered ginger was the most versatile of the chocolates, who knew!?!
That evening was the BBQ, Brews and Blues event. As it turns out it wasn’t much of a BBQ (there were pork sandwiches on hand) but in terms of Brews it was fantastic. Your ticket ($30) got you 6 beer tickets and they had a number of breweries on hand. It was great way to try a number of different beers that I wouldn’t normally consider. It was also a great way to catch up with some of the other folks from Toronto that had come up for the weekend.
I started Sunday morning off with hot chocolate, a butter tart and a stroll along the Avon river. How gorgeous is that!?! Really what I was waiting for was the main event… the Savour Stratford Tasting.
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The tasting takes place under a tent and is set up with a few dozen vendors including restaurants paired with producers, wineries and breweries. Your ticket lets you into the tent and allows you to sample everything available. Trust me, you definitely want to arrive hungry. There was so much good food it was hard to pick a favourite. I definitely fell in love with the Church Hill Farm lamb sausage wraps, as in could eat about a thousand of them. But trust me when I say the food was fantastic. I didn’t end up having any wine but I did have about 2 or 3 cups of tea from Distinctly Tea (the takeout cup lids had a filter built in for your tea leaves!) that were perfect for the weather.
I will leave you with perhaps my favourite Stratford discovery. While I dined on some fantastic food from top chefs, had wine at my disposal from Ontario’s finest, it was the truck below that stole my heart. Every weekend at the farmers market there is an apple fritter truck! These are no Tim Hortons fritters. These are slices of apple, battered, fried and covered in cinnamon sugar. Oh and they cost $1 (or 6 for $4.50). They are AMAZING. After my first one I had to go back later that afternoon. The following day I bought a half dozen. They are that good.
Thanks to the lovely team at the Stratford Tourism Alliance for their hospitality and for putting on a fantastic weekend. I’m excited to see what Savour Stratford has to offer next year.
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What a great blog post entry. You have inspired me, once again.
Thanks.
Fun. Excellent. I need to go to tastings too.
Fritters. Want. Now.
(that is all)
That’s so cool. I was browsing foodgawker, from Mexico, and saw this recipe for fritters. Then I saw something about Savour Stratford, which is where I grew up and then I saw a picture with my parents’ business logo from Soiled Reputation. Small world :).
[…] To read more about my trip to last year’s festival check out this blog post. […]
[…] enough to be invited down by the Stratford Tourism Alliance to enjoy Savour Stratford weekend. I enjoyed the festival last year and was super excited to visit once again. Not only did I buy a ton of produce at the market and […]