COME HUNGRY TO FOOD AND DRINK FEST
Jay Higgins hopes he doesn’t sound trite when he offers what might be the most important advice for attending this weekend’s Food and Drink Fest.
Don’t eat before coming to the annual event dedicated to all things edible, drinkable and, perhaps most importantly, made in and around Hamilton.
Higgins, who founded and organizes the comestible fete, did plenty of reconnaissance at other food festivals before launching a Steeltown-centric edition in 2006. He vowed things would be different at his own do.
“We’d joke after all these food shows that we have to go out for dinner,” Higgins said. “Here, you’ll be fed and fed well.”
Food and Drink Fest features dozens of chefs, breweries, wineries and other vendors from Hamilton, Niagara, Norfolk County, Pelee Island and surrounding areas. They’ll be serving up samples of their creations and doing cooking demonstrations from Friday to Sunday at the FirstOntario Centre. Live entertainment is also on the bill.
“To see what these (chefs) pull off with a butane burner is fantastic,” Higgins said about the spectacle. “My biggest pet peeve is I put on the best show I can’t go to because I’m working.”
And that leads to Higgins’ other tip for attending Food and Drink Fest: give yourself time to enjoy it. Plan on spending at least three hours because of how much there is to eat, drink and see.
Needing ample time to make the rounds is a nod to Food and Drink Fest’s success over the years. It’s also a symptom of Hamilton’s emergence as a post-industrial culinary destination. There are a lot more chefs cooking a wider variety of foods in the city than ever before, Higgins noted.
When he first launched the event, it was merely intended to be a morale booster for his hometown typically bypassed by tourists and not taken seriously by those living farther east down the QEW.
Response was mixed when Higgins shopped his idea around to potential participants. He managed to attract 50 exhibitors and 4,000 visitors to the Hamilton Convention Centre at the inaugural event. He knew he was on to something.
“We got a little momentum, and by the third year we were bursting at the seams at the convention centre,” he said.
By year four, there were twohour lineups to get into Food and Drink Fest’s new home, Copps Coliseum. Then came the calls from tour operators in upper state New York and Windsor asking for group rates for their hungry sightseers. “We were like, ‘Oh my God, this tourism,” Higgins recalled.
Weekend packages are available for culinary tourists who want to turn a day at Food and Drink Fest into a longer getaway. Those planning to visit for only the day are still encouraged to buy tickets in advance, particularly for Saturday night, which often sells out.
Entry is $15 and can be purchased online. Food and drink samples are bought using a token system.
New this year is a family day at what has otherwise been a 19-plus event. Wristbands will be in effect on Sunday but the day features children’s programming, including a kids’ cooking school, and appearances by Hamilton Tiger-Cats players and mascots TC, Stripes and Pigskin Pete.
Coat check fees will be donated to Food 4 Kids, a local weekend breakfast program that complements school breakfasts in Hamilton and Halton.
After hosting the “festival with taste” at different locations throughout the city, Food and Drink Fest returns to FirstOntario Centre this year where there’s lots of room to show off what Hamilton and area has to offer.
“The difference (between when we started and now) is we have a huge amount of restaurants and breweries,” Higgins said. “Hamilton’s not what people think it was back in the day. We’re a snapshot in one place of what Hamilton is.”
Visit foodanddrinkfest.com for more information and tickets.