BrilynnFerguson.com

You may or may not have noticed the extreme silence around here. I'm posting on a slightly more regularly basis, (emphasis on slightly) over at www.brilynnferguson.com.

It's less cooking by me and more of my photos and videos of the Toronto food scene. If you feel like catching up on what I've been up to, have a look over there.

Cheers!

Street Food Block Party... the video

The photos were just the beginning, here's a video recap of the biggest food party in Toronto this year! It was the best of both worlds, Toronto Underground Market and Food Trucks Eats, together in one place. 

And a reminder that the next Toronto Underground Market, (TUM) is happening June 9th, but tickets go on sale THIS Friday, (May 18th). They will sell out, so get yours early. 

Street Food Block Party

Street. Food. Block. Party.

Hell yeah Toronto! Photo highlights from one of the biggest food parties of the year.  3000 people at the Brickworks eating food, drinking craft beer and local wines and having a great time.

A huge thank you to Hassel Aviles and Suresh Doss, (and all the volunteers) for their tireless efforts in promoting street food, food trucks and budding entrepreneurs in Toronto. You guys are amazing, (and inspiring) this nights proves that.

Video recap coming soon!

Terroir 2012

I had the pleasure of attending the 2012 Terroir Symposium, a hospitality industry event held at Arcadian Court in Toronto. Terroir brings together industry experts, chefs, restaurateurs, marketers and food writers alike to discuss current trends in the culinary world and what the innovators are doing.

Of course, the discussion was interesting and the speakers were engaging but when you host such a large selection of hospitality industry professionals for an all day event, one of the big questions that everyone wants answered is: What did they eat?

I put together a little highlight reel of the day's eats to show you. Bon appetit.

Love for the Toronto Underground Market

Rock Lobster Food, Sullivan & Bleeker Bakery Co. and Uber Toronto have teamed up to offer 5 lucky people, (and a guest) the chance to win a Toronto Underground Market preview lunch this Thursday. All you have to do to enter is tell them your favourite thing about TUM, (more details here).

I ended up with the day off work after a water tank exploded and soaked everything in the office. So with some unexpected free time on my hands, I put together a little highlight video of some of the reasons why I love TUM. The next event is a combo underground market and food truck event, being called Street Food Block Party. This is one party you don't want to miss.

The Secret Pickle Documentary

For the past 8 months I've been immersed in a New Media Journalism postgrad program at Sheridan College. For my final project, I created a documentary about the Secret Pickle Supper Club. The name alone should intrigue you enough to spend 10 minutes watching my video. It was enough to make me want to do a documentary on it. Enjoy!

The West Side Beef Co. Story

Ryan Donovan of West Side Beef Co. See more photos here.

It all started because Kurt Krumme was hungry. He was hungry for traditionally raised, high quality, affordable beef and it was surprisingly hard to find in Toronto. After his search yielded little in the way of results, he got some friends together, contacted a butcher and ordered a whole side of beef to divide amongst the group. What he ended up with was mislabeled beef, poor butchery and a large bill. Kurt believed beef should not be this confusing or difficult.

“I’d been doing some reading about where food comes from and I didn’t really like the answers. So I actually tried to order an entire side of beef.”

-Kurt Krumme

Shortly after this experience, Kurt ran into an old friend of his, Ryan Donovan, and relayed his tale of woe. Ryan responded immediately by saying he was now a butcher, he knew farmers and he could make this work. And he did.

Ryan got a side of beef from farmer Dennis Harrison at Dingo Farms. He butchered it himself, got in his car and drove it over to Kurt’s house where he was hosting a barbecue. Everyone was so impressed with the quality of the beef that they demanded Kurt and Ryan get them more. When other friends found out about it, they wanted some too. It soon became evident that there was a hole in the market that needed to be filled.