Taste of Asia - July 2, 2011.

The following post was written by Callie, one of henhaochi's co-bloggers on the http://www.globeimc.com/ 's iBlog.

This post is dated July 2, 2011.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Summer is here and that means food festivals to help celebrate Canada’s cultural diversity will be popping up all over the city! Just last weekend, Toronto hosted its 9th Annual Taste of Asia Festival, Canada’s largest Asian Street Festival.

Located in the parking lot of Pacific Mall in Markham just on Kennedy and Steeles, its East meets West. The Taste of Asia Festival is a cultural food festival that aims to bring as many unique dishes from the far east corners of Asia to the local streets of Toronto.

From the showcase of famous dishes like Taiwanese stinky tofu to Malaysia’s delicious murtabak, the festival included over 100 food vendors, clothing/accessories/electronics booths, and a variety of musical and cultural acts. Kung-fu demonstrations wow’ed the crowd and an on-stage cooking competition hosted in an Iron-chef style had competitors creating unique dishes within a set theme and a given ‘secret’ ingredient that must be used.

Toronto’s Taste of Asia is definitely the place to be to celebrate the summer alongside with food, art, and culture. Being a foodie myself, I can assure you that if you love food, fun, and partying too, street festivals are the way to go. The many vendor booths offer a generous amount of food for a very affordable price.

Plan on going to a night market sometime to celebrate Toronto’s international foods? Some interesting dishes that are worth trying:

• Taiwanese Stinky Tofu
• Korean Spicy Rice Cakes (Duk Bokki)
• Malaysian Murtabaks
• Japanese Takoyaki
• Assorted BBQ/Satay skewers (lamb, beef, chicken, octopus, squid, eggs)
• Tornado Potato
• Sweet Tofu Dessert Pudding
• Fresh coconut juice / pineapple juice
• And much more!

If you’ve missed this opportunity to taste the many international delicacies last weekend, Night it Up! Will be taking place in a weekend’s time, followed by T&T’s Waterfront Night Market in the last weekend of the month.