I like to buy the Toque et Tablier fruitcakes, as well as canned shellfish from BC. Also the blackcurrant syrup from Quebec
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I’ve been going to OOAK for decades.
- 3/4 oz. Tonic makes great tonic syrup and other syrups for drinks.
- Abokichi makes great miso-based pastes and respectable ramen kits.
- Blink makes decent chocolate barks - popular as gifts.
- Coach House makes great shortbread. We love all their savoury flavours, particularly cheddar chipotle. The sweet ones are also great, particularly sugar plum (though they didn’t have it last year) and rose petal and almond.
- Crosswind Farm has some nice goat cheeses.
- Dvorak makes good nuts for gifts. They altered the recipe for the chocolate orange almonds, so they are not our favourites anymore (but friends still appreciate them).
- Les Canardises have a nice duck confit in a can.
- Mado’s Sauces has a really nice hot sauce. It’s more flavourful than hot and is great as a marinade for seafood or chicken.
- Manba does a great spicy peanut butter and a spicy chocolate peanut butter.
- Rootables Chips are really tasty, particularly the root vegetable chips and the garam masala chips.
- Saha International Foods does some nice sauces, including the lahmajoun and the Caribbean curry.
- Soul Chocolate has fine dark chocolate.
- Tealish has awesome herbal teas.
- Unifruits has a great concentrated cherry juice.
Some of our favourites that have gone missing include Edna’s Pickles, The Fishery, Forbes Wild Foods, Odile Chocolat, Rootham’s, and especially Tickleberry’s.
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I like the canned Cassoulet, as well.
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I am able to buy Rootham’s in London at Remark Market and Crunican’s apples.
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It is possible to buy most of these products separate from OOAK. The sale just provides a convenient one-stop shopping opportunity.
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Yes.
After one of the Shows, I started visiting a shop on Roncesvalles to buy The Fishery canned fish, a few years ago. They didn’t carry the smoked oysters that I liked.
I also visited Monna et Filles Cassis in Ile d’Orléans when I made a road trip in 2019, after buying their products at the Show for years.
It looks like the folks who made the Cranberry Pudding are not participating this year due to a production problem.
Saha International sells their sauces at Sobeys, in case you’re looking.
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The Fishery used to do fabulous canned smoked scallops (whole, not just the muscle). We buy directly from Forbes and from Odile. I’ve seen Saha and Abokichi products in Loblaws also.
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I visited today. A lot of food places I used to like are not participating.
Out of the places I’ve visited before, I stopped at Les Canardises. They were sold out of canned Cassoulet. I purchased their terrine and rillettes. https://www.lescanardises.com/
I purchased some nice jelly gift boxes from Tangled Garden from NS.https://www.tangledgarden.ca/
Other purchases:
Honey ($16) from Heritage Bee near Creemore
Bottled Indian sauces from East India Company (vindaloo, korma, tikka masala, and a mango chutney)https://www.eastindiaco.com/at-home/
Salsa Verde from Mi Cocina in Cobourg https://tastemicocina.com/
9 pieces of Chocolates from 2 spots.
Aline Nasseh Artisan Chocolates ($28 before tax for 9)
Acorn Chocolates ($28 for 9 before tax) https://www.acornchocolates.com/handmade-chocolate
Templemans Toffee’s Canadian Crunch (with maple) and Cashew Crunch https://templemans.ca/
Dog treats from Farm Fresh Pet Foods made in Saskatchewan, sold by Albertans (beef and Saskatoon berry) https://www.farmfreshpet.com/
There were fewer stalls from Quebec this year.
There seemed to be more gimmicky vendors this year.
A fancy version of Nutella
@juno, the Bean Ladies have a booth. I remember you were looking for their product.
Be warned, parking at the Exhibition is $21 now, credit card or debit only!
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