Toronto Taste 2013 Takes Over The ROM To Do Good

One night in June, Avenue Road and the ROM turns into an gourmet grazing zone exclusively for people attending Toronto Taste and supporting Second Harvest.

Over 1000 guests. 61 chefs, restaurants and food purveyors. 32 beverage purveyors.  Over 73,000 tastes prepared. And the results of this?  Other than the killer food? (just keep scrolling for the food photos!)

Over 1 million meals delivered to Second Harvest‘s 215 partner agencies, thanks to the gross amount raised by Toronto Taste.

That is incredible!

I am one of the lucky few who get to see it all come together (and by “few” I mean: 329 volunteers, 23 staff and 19 steering committee members.)

The number of volunteers was staggering

And they looked after everything from setting up the food and beverage stations,

to creating flower displays

Turning this:

Into this:

to tearing the whole event down and making Bloor and Avenue road a road again.

It hard to believe this was my 5th year involved in Toronto Taste.  Every year it’s a new experience. Sometimes because we’re at a new venue. Sometimes because of a new wave of Chefs, Vintners, Brewers and other Sponsors. Sometimes, like this year, because of all the fresh faces on the Steering Committee and at Second Harvest and our great our communications partners High Road Communications and The Brain Storm Group.

We had our team of Roving Twitter Reporters on the ground again, tweeting the dishes served and beverages poured. Huge thanks to Mark, Stacey, Zalina, Anna, Andrea, (oh that’s me), and Stella.

This year Jamie Drummond, of Good Food Revolution, joined Anna Withrow in live-tweeting pairings from the event. But he was too fast for me to catch a photo of him in action.  Though I am still waiting for that glass of red he said he’d bring back for me to try.

Wish I could have been on the floor with Anna and Jamie, or even acting as a Roving Twitter Reporter, but I had my own duties:

no, that’s not the photo I meant…

no really, I was working!

Keeping this running

with Zalina

from here:

Though that shot was from the end of the night when the line ups for the Victoria Gin Martinis

finally started to wind down.

I even had a photography “intern” Moez, who helped with some of the setup shots after he finished his official volunteer duties and before he became a guest.  Here he is later in the night with friends showing them how to pose casually.

Chefs came early and setup

Wine guys too

And posed for a  couple of photos for me.

Bob and Roger were on their games again this year as our Hosts and keeping the live auction rocking.  Roger even played a couple of tunes from his upcoming album!

I even got to see a couple friends

and get out from behind the Social Media Station to see a couple of Chefs in action

And taste a couple of dishes

Because when it comes down to it, it’s not about the food we served, or drinks we poured,

it’s about the money raised for Second Harvest and the food we rescue.

Yes of course there are more photos

.