EAT! Vancouver Food and Cooking Festival is the ultimate Food Expo. Celebrity chefs, popular local restaurants, wineries, food and beverage manufacturers, cookbook authors, retailers, artisans, and many others from the culinary world will come together for a three day public extravaganza at the newly refurbished BC Place Stadium.

The festival encompasses unique food experiences, opportunities to learn behind-the-scenes culinary magic from professional chefs, dynamic entertainment through celebrity chef cooking demonstrations and culinary competitions, diverse food, beverage and cooking related exhibits; and of course fantastic shopping opportunities.

The chefs of favourite Lower Mainland restaurants will serve up appetizer portions of their signature recipes. For a nominal charge ($1.00 - $4.00) per item you will be able to savour the flavours of numerous eateries.

Beer, wine and spirits will be well represented in the Tasting Pavilion where you can sip and taste hundreds of different beverages.

While at EAT! Vancouver, you will also enjoy shopping in the marketplace of over 250 exhibit booths. Producers, manufacturers, retailers and food artisans will showcase a wide assortment of unique products for eating, drinking, cooking, entertaining, and outfitting a kitchen. Exhibits will include everything from gourmet foods to kitchen accessories.

EAT! Vancouver takes place at BC Place Stadium, from June 1 - 3, 2012.

For more information go to: http://www.eat-vancouver.com.

 

 

Celebrity chefs appearing at EAT Vancouver

 

Dr. Greg Chang

 

Founder/Creator, Dr. Greg’s SuperChefs Cookery for Kids and SuperChefs of the Universe on the Fit to EAT! Stage

 

Dr. Greg Chang is a writer, trained chef, clown, and dentist. As a dentist he knows the importance of a healthy diet and lifestyle to maintain good physical and emotional health in children, as pediatrics is a large component of his practice. His culinary training includes Dubrulle International Culinary and Hotel Institute of Canada and Northwest Culinary Institute in Vancouver, Darina Allen's Ballymaloe Cookery School in Ireland, Walnut Grove Cookery, Loire Valley and Ritz Escofier in France, and Culinary Institute of America Hyde Park in the USA. Treating children inspired him to write SuperChefs of the Universe (www.superchefs.tv), a group of intergalactic chefs written with writers from Sesame Street, which is helping in the battle against childhood obesity.

Dr. Greg also created SuperChefs Cookery for Kids, which is a hands-on cooking program for kids, teaching them basic cooking skills and nutrition in camps and Starwood Hotels across North America. Dr. Greg practices in Surrey, BC as an alumni of UBC Dental School, and is the team dentist for the Grey Cup Champion BC Lions Football Club.

 

 

Chef Albert S. Rivera

 

“Fun Flavours of the Philippines” presented by Philippine Tourism

 

Born in the capital city of Manila, Philippines, Albert Rivera came to California in the United States at the age of 10. Discovering his passion for cooking, he entered into the culinary program at Contra Costa College in California. He began his culinary career as an intern at Plouf in San Francisco. While undergoing his internship program, he began managing the kitchen at Shinsen in Hercules, California, where he learned the delicate balance of Japanese cuisine. He continued his journey at various restaurants in San Francisco, including using fresh and local ingredients at Russell Jackson’s Gustatory Lafitte.

After a hiatus to spend time with his wife and two young sons, Albert's passion in the culinary industry was reignited when he joined the kitchen of Va de Vi, one of the San Francisco Chronicle's Top 100 Restaurants. He is now the Sous-Chef at the sophisticated Metro Lafayette.

Albert gained his well-deserved recognition when he was named “Top Filipino Chef” at the 2nd Annual Kulinarya Competition held in San Francisco, California in 2011. He bested 2 other chefs in the professional category with a mixture of Filipino taste using local ingredients, depicting the rich culture and heritage of the Philippines through is food preparations. Since then, he has been featured on ABS-CBN News, Balitang America, and Adobo Nation through the ABS-CBN network (The Filipino Channel).

Inspired by the foods that he used to love growing up as a child, Chef Albert S. Rivera aspires to incorporate a unique Filipino flair into his dishes, regardless of where he is.

 

 

Chef Arnat Seksantrakul

 

“Thailand – A Taste of Thai” presented by Sala Thai Restaurant and Thai Trade Centre Vancouver

 

Chef Arnat Seksantrakul was born in Pattaya, Thailand. At an early age, he was introduced to Thai cuisine by his father, an Executive Chef at an exclusive five- star hotel in Pattaya. Arnat often went to work with his father and watched him create magnificent dishes for hotel guests; while at home, he watched his father create simple, yet delicious meals for the family. Arnat learned to combine the distinct flavours of home cooking with the style and panache seen in high end restaurant meals. Arnat struck out on his own to become the head of his own kitchen, first in Bangkok, then abroad in Europe. He settled in Vancouver 10 years ago, and became an integral part of the team at Sala Thai Restaurant.