By Maggie Richardson

Gourmand is a French word used to describe a person that takes great pleasure in food. If you are such a person, then you were probably among the thousands (like me) that visited les Fêtes Gourmandes Internationales this weekend, July 28th to August 1st, at Centropolis in Laval.

This year was the first edition hosted in Laval (previously at Île Ste-Hélène) and it promised to be a HUGE event joining forces with le Festival des bières du monde and Dinner in the Sky. So me and my “beau” set off to see what all the hype was about!

To be honest, it took us quite some time to figure out exactly where the venue was. Centropolis is so big that we weren’t sure exactly where to start looking. Turns out it was set up where Cavalia used to be hosted. If you were coming in from the highway, there was a large electronic billboard directing you but otherwise you where left to fend on your own. When we finally got there, we noticed that they only accepted cash which forced us to take a trip into the movie theatre nearby to find an ATM. And after some confusion about how the beer tickets worked, we finally made our way into les Fêtes Gourmandes and began our tasting journey.

They had everything from alligator to kangaroo including insects, camel and shark. A little too exotic for my taste but I did muster up the courage to try some kangaroo sausage. It had a weird texture but I survived! They also had the classics from around the world like Italian pizza, Lebanese Shish Taouk and Eastern European sausage. And the beer selection was just as diverse. My personal discovery was a local brew: Just goes to show that you can search the world but home is where the heart is! My only complaint is that it can get pretty pricey if you really are the type of person that likes to try everything ($8 entrance + about $4-5 each tasting).

While sipping beer and tasting the foods of the world under the stars, we had the pleasure of singing along to Johnny Cash. The tribute band was excellent (Saturday night) and I had just finished watching the movie with Joaquim Phoenix for the second time so all the famous songs were fresh in my head. They also had a DJ spinning electronic beats in the “Little Italy” section of the event just to add some variety, which I thing was greatly appreciated by most.

Next on our exploratory journey was Dinner in the Sky. I had heard a lot about it on Virgin Radio since they had a contest running all week to win tickets. Tickets started at $265 to enjoy a 5 course meal while letting your feet dangle free in the air. As cool as the experience sounds, I would imagine that Centropolis doesn’t necessarily offer the best view (but that might just be jealousy talking because I didn’t get to try it). But I invite you to check out their website which is really well put together and explains the experience step by step.

All in all, I had a blast but I think that this event still has a lot of work to do if they want to bring this event to the next level. Setting up at Centropolis is definitely a good start because it is conveniently located on highway 15 and gives access to many north shore Quebeckers as well as Montrealers. It’s also a nice change from downtown Montreal where there is less and less parking and more and more congestion.

As I type up this article, the weekend is coming to an end, and so is the festival. So for all of you that missed out, you will have to wait another 365 days until the next edition. Yummmmmmy…I’m getting hungry already!

Maggie Richardson
Findsalonspa.com Blogger

- Lovin’ festival season in Montreal!