Join the feast at RELISH The Foodie Event

Scrumptious eats, fresh florals, live outdoor music, picnics with friends—summer fun doesn’t have to end on Labour Day. For its fifth year, Toronto’s favourite food fest is about to roll back into town with food trucks, a play zone for little foodies and hands-on workshops to help you soak up every bit of flavour from these last warm days—and prepare you for the tastiest fall ever.

RELISH The Foodie Event, presented by The Clove, is Toronto’s most celebrated culinary festival, with more than 12,000 delighted guests in attendance in 2023—and this year is slated to be the best yet. This two-day rain-or-shine event at Cloverdale Mall on Saturday, Sept. 14, and Sunday, Sept. 15, 11 a.m. to 7 p.m., promises to be chock-full of good times and tasty temptations guaranteed to please the entire family.

On the menu: Global flavours for the whole family

The first thing you need to know about RELISH The Foodie Event? Bring your appetite. This year’s event features an expansive menu of tasty fun with vendors and activities that are sure to satisfy foodies of all ages.

Take your taste buds on a world tour with an impressive roster of curated food trucks and tents, with vendors serving up new and familiar tastes from around the globe. Dive in to Mediterranean-Mexican-fusion tacos at Alijandro’s Kitchen; rum-cake waffles and Trini fried chicken by Communal Eats; jumbo quarter-pound hot dogs with all the fixings from Dog Shoppe TO; traditional samalamig and Filipino-style street foods by Eats Manila; and surf-and-turf faves from Hook and Anchor. Craving a sweet treat? Pick up cotton candy that looks almost too good to eat from Dreamland Cotton Candy Art, or some classic Canadian BeaverTails. With so many options, your only issue will be choosing what to try first!

Beyond food: Curated events and workshops

Since everyone wants to savour delicious flavours a little longer, RELISH The Foodie Event is providing even more special offerings for home cooks and entertainers with an on-site market full of locally made delicacies (think jams, hot sauces and honeys), artisanal goods including fresh florals, handmade pottery and gifts, and specialty workshops to help take your at-home hosting to the next level.

At the Tuscan Happy Hour workshop, Sept. 14 at 11:30 a.m., 2 p.m. and 4:30 p.m., guests are invited to experience a taste of Italy, with Cheese Master Afrim Pristine preparing a spread of Tuscan cheese, meats and other snacks, paired with everyone’s favourite dolce vita sipper, the Aperol spritz. Pristine will also be showing off his top homegrown-cheese-and-wine-pairing picks at the Oh Canada! Wine and Cheese Adventure Workshop on Sept. 15 at 11:30 a.m., 2 p.m. and 4:30 p.m., with featured wines from Château des Charmes.

There’s tons of fun for little foodies, too. The youngest guests will love putting their creativity to work at the Little Foodsters’ Fruit Bouquets workshops with Metro, where they’ll be able to make their own edible fruit bouquets using fresh-cut fruit, marshmallows, sprinkles and other embellishments. These hourly workshops will be available on Saturday and Sunday. There’s also a play zone dedicated to pint-sized chefs, complete with mini food trucks, market carts and more.

Prep your tastebuds for fall

Jumping into autumn is a little sweeter when you know how to set the vibe. RELISH The Foodie Event promises plenty of ways to extend that carefree summer feeling: enjoying live music from Gabriela Rodgers, Jesse Gold, Mike Robins, Solo Fire Sax and many more artists on the SKYGRID Stage; saying cheese (or woof) at The Clove Portrait Studio, which is offering free pet and family portraits brought to you by QuadReal and Mattamy Homes; and joining in on pop-up outdoor pickleball games with Fairgrounds.

Attendees will leave well-prepped for the fall entertaining season. At the hands-on Falling for Florals centerpiece workshops on Sept. 14 and Autumn’s Embrace dried wreath workshops on Sept. 15 with the Derêves team, you’ll learn everything you need to know to create a fall table that lives up to your menu. Little ones can join in on the fun, too, in the Terrarium Tales kids’ workshop, where budding artists aged six and up can craft their own enchanting miniature world.

At the end of the day, it’s about tasty fun—and this laid-back event is one to relish year after year. Click here for all the delish event details.