Evening at the Market - Eat Good, Do Good, Feel Good

the calm before the storm, admiring the beautiful crystal chandeliers installed just for the evening

I can get really passionate about the subject of food education and because of that, I am a huge fan of Food Share. This Toronto based, non profit organization works with our communities and schools to provide them delicious, healthy food and give them with the education and tools needed to empower those communities to start taking over themselves. The catch phrase for all of this activism is "food security" so if you haven't heard that term yet, it's only a matter of time until you do.

Food Share has helped to revolutionize school cafeterias and has pioneered ideas like rooftop school gardens and urban agriculture across the city. They teach people how to grow, cook and eat with hands on training, community kitchens and a wealth of other amazing programs. The bottom line is that the people of Food Share believe that everyone deserves access to affordable, good quality, fresh food.

For the last two years I have attended the annual Food Share fundraiser, Recipe for Change, held in St Lawrence Market's North Hall but this time, a fundraising evening of food, drink and entertainment was held in the historic South Market.

Each vendor who sells their wares in the market was on hand with a delicious offering and there were bars pouring wine, courtesy of Niagara's Union Wines and beer from Amsterdam Breweries while Chefs Lynn Crawford and Lora Kirk were entertaining people with a cooking demo up in the Market Kitchen. There was a DJ playing music on the main floor and a band playing downstairs so it was a riot for the eyes, the belly and the ears. If anyone could say they were bored, they were lying. Everyone could just wander up and down the aisles, stopping in to see what their favourite food vendors was up to and sample the night away.

As always, people were lining up for freshly shucked Oysters while circus performers entertained them from the floor and on high. From Portuguese Churassco to Korean Braised Beef with Kimchi and a never ending array of baked goods, sweets and tarts, cheese, risotto and crab cakes, there was truly something for everyone.

I took a friend with me and after two hours, we both had to admit defeat, unable to even stuff one last little morsel of food into our mouths. We spent so much time upstairs that by the time we made it downstairs, we realized that we were too full for more and had to leave but promising each other we would return next year and start in the basement and work our way up.

acrobats from Zero Gravity Circus on silks wowed the crowd

I hope that this event becomes an annual occurrence because at $75 for all you can eat and drink, it's not only a very worthy cause, but a fantastic culinary event.
Eat Good, Do Good, Feel Good.

To donate to Food Share, click here
To get involved with Food Share, click here