I got to shoot yet another fantastic Foodportunity event, hosted by Tom Douglas and put on by Keren Brown (aka. Frantic Foodie) at the Palace Ballroom. As always, the food was incredible, the displays were great, and there was a trend toward healthy, sustainable products, as well as a bunch of great gluten-free goods. Many chefs who weren’t a part of the event made a showing, as well as lots of new people I hadn’t seen at previous events.

I had several culinary favorites from that night but I really think the deconstructed beef stroganoff by Fresh Bistro really hit it out of the ballpark. I also loved Crispin’s hard cider. Delicious! The one thing that was missing was the food expert panel from previous events. Instead, it was just a few tables in the front where people could talk to the chefs or writers, as they passed by. There were incredible raffle prizes this time, as well as another fantastic “speed networking” event at the end.

For me, I think the highlight of the evening was meeting Steve and Paul from my new favorite web site – www.rouxbe.com (Rouxbe Cooking School, in conjunction with Northwest Culinary Academy of Vancouver). Everyone scored a premium membership just for being there. How generous, and what a great way to promote the site. I know it’s going to be an enormous hit!

As always, here are some highlights from the event! Enjoy!