Winterfest and all the feelings

But where's the food?

Folks, I'll be honest with you. Things have been rough. I won't get into it, but the fact that you haven't heard from me—the one who finds humour in everything—since But It's October! is telling.

To top it off, I was really depressed after Winterfest. I mean realllllllly depressed. But... it was for a good reason!

In any case, this is all to explain why I'm writing about a winter festival now, at the end of May, with winter mercifully behind us (mild as it was).

You may recall my desire—nay, my need—for diversity from Home is where... the food trucks are? For anyone raised amid the colourful fabric of Toronto and its surroundings, seeing, hearing, and tasting multiculturalism is as essential as... well... food trucks. I mean air. I mean food trucks.

Sadly, I couldn't attend Winterfest last year, but l was in Toronto—a year-round Winterfest in spirit—and, in truth, although I regretted missing valuable time with my partner, our family, our friends, perhaps I didn’t need it because, well... it was Toronto.

This year, I needed it like I needed air. I mean food trucks.

No, I mean air.

History

I can’t seem to determine exactly how long Morden's Multicultural Winterfest has been running, but, based on a recent interview with one of the main organizers and community staple Shelly Voth in which she states that she’s been on the Winterfest Committee for 10–12 years—I presume at least that long.

The Winterfest Facebook page has events going back to 2015, which is significant when we consider that this community saw growth in its Latin American, South Asian, and African populations from 2011 to 2016*. To be clear, the growth wasn't astronomical (like it was from 2016 to 2021), but in a town like this it was enough to warrant the organization of what is, essentially, an annual, super gracious welcome committee.

I love that. But...

Where's the Food?

As you all know, my thoughts immediately turned to my stomach.

Does this mean food trucks?

Does this mean outdoor food trucks?

Does this mean... warm food? Outdoors? I can brave the cold for that!

Because, of course, any such event in Toronto would fly like the Corn & Apple Festival. Yes, outdoors. And yes, Torontonians are blessed with milder winters, and yes, we are well aware of this. To be fair, indoor venues in Toronto are ginormous, and their size would really take away from the beauty and quaintness of a cultural event like Winterfest.

The Winterfest pavilions were indoors, for the most part, which everyone who had to listen to my whiny I'm freeeeezings all winter was grateful for.

We started in the European hall, sampled everything, learned everything about every place, spoke to everyone. And all the time I searched and searched for larger tasties, warmer tasties—because don't we smell something warm and tasty?—and, at last, I found it: pão de queijo at the Brazilian table. These tapioca flour, cheese-filled nuggets are both delicious and highly addictive because one was not enough and, I suspect, it would be difficult to stop at, say, 10 (this is my arbitrary marker of addiction). They are sold at Minas Café & Eatery in Winkler (clearly my next destination), whose owners graced the table. They also set the bar really really high at the outset.

The bar was set so high that I immediately stared at the German booth with unwitting despondence and wondered why they weren't serving sausage? Or sauerkraut? Or, like, even... bread, I would've been happy with? That's ok, that's ok. Your Vitamix blender, though somewhat of an oddity, was sufficiently... err... informative.

Fun fact: The official bread of our household is Dimpflmeier rye, and, incidentally, the official bread of my parents' (Toronto) household as well.

In all honesty, I really did enjoy everything else we saw and sampled. Candies, lots of candies, crackers and caramel sauce, Ukrainian kutya, and so on and so on. The French booth provided tiny eclairs and graced us with a Leggo-made Eifel tower. The Ukrainians, of course, were gorgeously decked out in vyshyvanky, with embroidery, flags, and books all over.

The atmosphere was beautiful. Afternoon performances featured all sorts of cultural song and dance and, watching it all, I began to feel something welling up inside me which wasn't just hunger and a desire for more pão de queijo...

All the Feelings

When we entered the South Asia pavilion I immediately flew to the samosas—more warm and fragrant tasties—generously served by Kitchen of Spice. My partner would have lost sight of me, were he not a giant, such was my speed to the samosas. Only after devouring one was I able to stand still and look around.

And then, unexpectedly—or perhaps expectedly—the dam broke.

I wept silently during the Bangladeshi cultural performances. I mean real tears that needed wiping. It was not the samosa, which was mercifully mild, since, although I love Indian and South Asian food, I have no tongue for spice.

No, I wept from the beauty of it because when I turned, I saw the most Torontonian view of all: a sea of colour, diversity, and proud cultural displays. Kitchen of Spice was dancing along with the child on stage. Traditional clothing everywhere. Languages were spoken. Songs were sung. Laughter. Pleasantries.

Like at Whitecap, I felt both homesick and at home in the best possible way.

It was time to go.

There were more charming performances at the East Asia pavilion. Fortune cookies, bubble tea, various snacks. Everything of interest. Lovely people.

In Africa, dancing, colourful scarves, masks, and tablecloths; something salty and crunchy I forgot to get the name of; Moroccan tea. Tea! More loveliness.

In fact, we never made it to the Canada pavilion at Lake Minnewasta, with its ice sculptures and its hot chocolate. But why not tiny cups of poutine? Why not like... bear claws or something?

February feels a lifetime away from what is now near-June, and it's impossible to imagine ice sculptures on the lovely but tick-infested Lake (more to come on that). But perhaps this is an important quarter-year reminder to help us all appreciate the warmer weather we're finally having while gently nudging future Winterfest organizers about the importance of keeping people fed. I mean me? I mean people :)

In any case, please accept my apologies for the extreme tardiness of this report. But, as I said, I was depressed.

But for a good reason!

The photos below are mine, with the exception of those containing a D_Light_Catcher label (reproduced here with the permission of this talented local photographer).

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*Source: Demographics from the Morden Wikipedia page, which links directly to data from the Canada Census. Something inexplicable happened to the Southeast Asian and East Asian populations from 2001 to 2011, which started off strong and had dropped to 0 by 2011. I'm guessing there was a move to bigger cities. These populations, too, began to recover by 2016.