Feast is an exciting new allergy-friendly food store and prepared eats space that JUST opened in downtown Toronto, on Queen Street West, almost directly across from Trinity Bellwoods park.
I’ve been watching for this opening for months now on twitter. The main reason for my intrigue and interest was because their entire place was advertised as being allergen-free plus non-gmo and organic where possible. It’s clear right from seeing the signs on their door that their claims are true, and they take this business of catering to allergic and discerning eaters very seriously.
This is what I found on their facebook page that describes their allergy statement of sorts: “Our in-house kitchen will be gluten-free, and free from the top 8 allergens: wheat, dairy, soy, eggs, peanuts, tree nuts, fish, and shellfish. Our store will be free from gluten, wheat, peanuts, tree nuts, fish and shellfish with a limited amount of products containing dairy, soy, and eggs, (and where these are present they will be clearly marked).”
As soon as we walked in the door there was an abundance of smiling faces and there was a tray of beautiful samples of their organic, chocolate caramels, which we tried and loved. My sister thought it was complete decadence, and my little brother probably would have eaten all of the samples, and then some, but my mother made sure he only had one.
Their store has shelves lined with local, organic and allergen-free products, including raw pumpkin seed oil (which is awesmazing and always in our kitchen), lots of different pastas, and cooking and baking goods. They also have a beautiful fridge and freezer sunk into a wall with a cool motif of their fork logo all over it. The fridge and freezer contained everything from more pasta to ice cream (and I know for a fact, that Live On Chocolate’s Avocado Pops will be in there too – they are ridiculously good and worth the visit there alone!), and Vam’s kombucha and kefir and maple water. They have gorgeous glass jars of various “butters” like vegan coconut spread, and sunflower seed butter in a large, bright display case with other foods, like the savoury vegan curried black bean “pocket” we enjoyed. There were also cake stands displaying 3 types of donuts – of course we tried them all and they were all crazy good.
Another really cool thing is that their name, FEAST, is actually an acronym. It stands for: Fabulous Eats for the Allergic + Sensitive Types. Awesome.
Friendly faces and friendly food — what a great combination. Go grab some goodness and enjoy it at home, or as a picnic in the park across the street like we did! And pass this on to anyone you know who has an allergy, since they will definitely be excited to hear about it!
