Vegandale Food Drink Festival makes its way to Toronto

North America’s fastest-growing vegan festival entered its fourth year as Vegandale Food Drink Festival (previously Vegan Food & Drink Festival) with an incredible two-day event at Fork York Common Grounds in Toronto.

Festival-goers enjoyed colossal burgers, cold brews, Instagram-worthy sweets and live entertainment, all of which were 100% vegan!

In case you missed out on the vegan eats, we’ve highlighted some of our favourites.

Samples were a-plenty at Vegandale and we were happy to partake!

The sunshine on Saturday made it hard to resist Ben and Jerry’s new line of vegan ice cream – Coconut Almond Fudge Chip was a sweet treat without (as much) guilt.

Who can say no to Jerk chicken- vegan style. Burger Urway offered some of the best burgers and this burger made us feel like we were in Jamaica with all that spice!

Yves and Lightlife were also serving up samples of their veggie hot dogs and spicy “sausage” – these would be perfect for a summer barbeque!

If you haven’t tried jackfruit before, now is the time to give it a try! We absolutely loved Animal Liberation Kitchen’s pulled “pork” sandwich made with this exotic fruit. The jackfruit’s unique texture lent itself perfectly to the smoky flavours of traditional pulled pork. Animal Liberation Kitchen specializes in vegan catering and is available to cater your next event – big or small!

Eggloo was also a hit! This New York parlour went vegan just in time for the Vegandale tours! We had the Berrylicious and it was perfect! The waffle was just as soft, and the ice cream hit the spot on this hot summer day!

At the end of the day, the long lines at Kelly’s Bake Shoppe made it clear we had to stop in for some sweets … we weren’t disappointed! According to Buzzfeed, this Burlington-based bakeshop is ranked number 3 in the world. Planted-based, gluten-free, peanut-free, dairy-free and egg-free, but incredibly delicious! The snickerdoodle cookie was our favourite.

We can’t wait for what is in store for next year at Vegandale, but in the meantime, we’ll be eagerly awaiting some of the new vegan restaurants that they’ll be opening in Parkdale!

[Review and photography by Julie Craig]