Fraser Valley Food Show 2013

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This October weekend, you can eat to your hearts content and not feel bad about it one bit at the sixth annual Fraser Valley Food Show. This three-day event brings local producers, farmers, manufacturers, importers and restaurateurs together inside Abbotsford’s Tradex for a delicious and insightful way to spend your day.

These days, we find ourselves concerned over the quality of ingredients we use in our meals: where they come from, what are they made from, what chemicals were used to protect them, how they were raised, and so on. The Fraser Valley Food Show allows people and groups involved in all parts of the food industry to share their knowledge and products with consumers so that we can find something that not only tastes great, but is good for you and good for our province.

The Fraser Valley Food Show occupies one giant hall of the Tradex. In the southern half focuses on gluten-free products aimed at people who are unable to eat the protein-based substance that’s present in most wheat products and people who are looking for alternatives. Cloud 9 offers a baking mix that is a cup-for-cup replacement of traditional flour. Samples of ginger snaps baked with the gluten-free mix tasted like any other — you don’t have to sacrifice taste because of gluten. Quinoa muffins, agave muffins, brown rice pasta, macarons and chocolates — everyday treats with natural ingredients and free of gluten.

Honey is nature’s sweetener. I found some especially delectable nectar at BC Buzz Honey Corporation booth. BC Buzz bottles raw, unpasteurized honey from two locations in the Fraser Valley in a handful of flavours from different pollinating plants — two of my favourites being the Blackberry and Blueberry. They’re smooth, fragrant and sweet. An air-whipped cream honey is available too. I was told that pasteurizing (heating it to destroy bacteria) honey affects the taste and removes many of the nutrients that we would find beneficial to our health.

I enjoy sweets, that’s a given. Milsean, a local confectionery, makes a dangerously addictive demerara butter crunch. It’s sweet, crunchy and nutty hard to put down. I can’t say no to them, and opened my wallet for a bag. Then there’s fudge. Checkers Premium Fudge lured me in with their root beer float fudge and I left with it, plus the amaretto and the Canadian maple.

Vernon’s Italian Kitchen displayed three of their creations simmering in big pots — tomato sauce. Brimming with juicy tomato chunks and fresh leaves of basil, I was sold. I’m a sucker for basil and that this sauce is just all natural ingredients, I just couldn’t pass it up.

So many samples of great food and ingredients to make healthy meals. I can’t list everything I tried, there’s just too much — succulent papaya, tea made from cocoa bean shells, hemp seeds, cranberry chutneys, seaweed salad, hams, and so on. All so very tasty!

As part of the Fraser Valley Food Show, the Great Canadian Sausage-Making Competition showcases the wide spectrum of cured meats. Salami, kielbasa, farmer, Italian, Ukrainian… there are numerous preservation methods and styles. Professional sausage-makers from around British Columbia proudly stood behind their work as a steady stream of hungry visitors savoured their creations. So many delicious sausages, including some with unique flavour combinations: shrimp, chicken and apple. During the sampling, I would’ve liked something to cleanse my palate with — sausages have an aftertaste, especially ones prepared with a healthy dose of spices. I find that it interferes with my ability to enjoy these meaty links.

Of course, after having all these sausages, the end of the path lead into the Wine, Beer and Spirits Tasting Pavilion. While the entry to the Great Canadian Sausage-Making Competition includes a ticket for a sample of Erdinger’s gluten free beer, I opted for an amber-coloured honey lager by Cariboo Brewing. Light and sweet with a hint of honey, it went down smooth. My friends went for a glass of mead from Campbell’s Gold Honey Meadery instead. Never having mead before, I was allowed a sip — it’s different; sweet with a somewhat distinct, rich honey flavour to it.

I am a bit disappointed with the restaurant selection for Bite of the Valley. Of the four restaurants, three of them are from Vancouver, and one has locations in Vancouver and Chilliwack. I’m certain Abbotsford, Mission, Chilliwack, Hope and other towns out in the valley have eateries that could benefit by setting up a spot at the food show.

The Fraser Valley Food Show is all about the food. There’s still one more day for the food festival if you haven’t gone yet. Tickets can be purchased both online and in-person at the Tradex — a $2.00 discount off of the price online or $9.00 online.