Monday, 25 April 2005

'Muskox tastes like . . .' Eat! Vancouver 2005

By Michael Kwan, for THECOMMENTARY.CA

This past weekend I had the opportunity to try everything from vodka-infused green tea to habanero chips at the third annual Eat! Vancouver, under the dome at BC Place Stadium. For all you foodies out there, this is your chance to sample food and drink from all over the world; from the mundane to the exotic, and for an entrance fee of $12 a head. It covers a number of booths, but if you want to get into the Tasting Pavilion for premium sake, Yellowtail wines from Australia and the like, food vouchers would have to be purchased. They were available for $12 for a sheet of 20, with a taster of wine or beer going for anywhere between one and five tickets. Jaii vodka green tea was nothing special, tasting, surprisingly enough, like green tea and vodka. Lime Alive was another vodka-based drink, featuring, again surprisingly enough, a shot of lime flavour. A 5% alcohol spritzer, Lime Alive tasted like 7-Up; you can't even taste the alcohol.

These vouchers could also be exchanged for samples from local restaurants at the Bowls of Hope Restaurant Pavilion, a joint venture of Eat! Vancouver, the Union Gospel Mission, and a number of Vancouver Restaurants. I tried the chicken souvlaki from Taverna Gorgona for five tickets, or the equivalent of $3. The meat was tender, the pita was soft, but it could have used more tzatziki sauce. Alternatively, I could have also had a burger from Vera's Burger Shack (You can't beat Vera's Meat), a meat pie from the Kiwi Pie Company, southern barbeque from Memphis Mike's or meat skewers from Shark Club, among others. This was great to create awareness for the Union Gospel Mission, which served nearly 300,000 meals last year to those who were hungry.

On the Food Network Celebrity Cooking Stage, I took in Bob Blumer, better known as the Kramer-haired host of The Surreal Gourmet. He challenged himself to make an authentic Italian pasta dish from scratch faster than a member from the audience could make Kraft Dinner. The twist? Blumer's headset microphone wasn't working and he had to use a regular handheld microphone. In other words, he was cooking with one hand. His opponent? The wife of the head chef at Frog & Firkin. In the end, she lost by 15 seconds but lost by a wider margin on the taste test, as judged by two young girls from the audience.

Among the free samples, you could find Nekta Kiwifruit, a spectacular Kiwi juice and slush drink, which was neither too sugary nor too bland, and is available at your neighbourhood IGA. Soy2O is a fruit-flavoured water drink with a 20mg shot of natural soy isoflavones. What this means is that you get the "well-known benefits of soy without the unpleasant taste, appearance or odour." It is very lightly flavoured with absolutely no sugary aftertaste unlike Fruitopia and the like, but I found the taste to be lacking-like watered down juice. Soy2O is available at Yaohan Centre in Richmond, among other locations.

The Canadian Barbeque and Chilli Competition brought competitors from North Vancouver, Washington, and elsewhere in the Pacific Northwest. Before going around sampling the concoctions from the entrants, I tried a shaved meat that had a similar appearance and texture as prosciutto. Wild Arctic Muskox Mipkuzola was incredibly musky and should be reserved for the adventuresome only. It did not taste like something one should be eating; it reeked like the soiled litter pans at your local pet shop or, rather, like, well, a muskox. That being said, there was the Muskox Chilli - People's Choice competition, sponsored by Hills Food Ltd. and Weber Grills. In third place was Dom DeLuise look-alike Steve Burnfield of Roadkill Chilli with his thick and meaty chilli. First and second place in the muskox chilli cook-off went to Baja Chilli and Blood, Sweat and Beers Chilli respectively.

Other features of Eat! Vancouver: The Everything Food and Cooking Festival (previously the Everything Food and Kitchen Show) included the Knorr/CCF Junior Culinary Competition, CityTV's Master Chef Competition (a la Iron Chef), the Terasen Gas Cooking Stage and the Ice Carving Competition. Last year's winner was Gordon Chen with his ice carving of a violin. This year we saw the creation of a sailboat and a goddess-like figure.

The show, or rather festival, seemed smaller than last year overall, but last year there did seem to be a little too much walking space, making for a more spread-out or vacant appearance compared to this year. Overall, the festival was enjoyable but anti-climactic. That being said, I look forward to attending again next year to try the latest innovations in culinary art and creation.

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