This year, the annual Winter Village at Evergreen Brick Works is introducing a new Street Food Market. The diverse roster of over 15 vendors will be serving up eats ranging from Cantonese sandwiches and arepas, to Hungarian pastries and New England-style lobster rolls. You can gobble up your food at a picnic table or sidle up beside one of the Village’s cozy campfires. The Winter Village also features the Makers Market in partnership with Etsy and the Evergreen Garden Market, both of which showcase a variety of local and handmade gifts for sale. Plus, there’s a skating rink and tons of other activities. The best part? Admission is free.
The Toronto’s Finest $5 Food Crawl offers the chance to sample a signature dish from ten different restaurants around the city for $5 each. You simply pick-up a food crawl passport and then take it to any of the participating restaurants. At each restaurant, you’ll receive a stamp on your passport along with that restaurant’s feature dish for just $5. Digest and repeat. Head to Cluck Clucks to try the Little Clucker, a fresh waffle topped with a bone-in chicken thigh and served with a choice of sauces; or for something sweet, try Death in Venice’s Gelato Cookie Sandwich.
Two slices at Pizza Thick
The One of a Kind Show features over 800 artisans from across Canada, showcasing unique works that range from jewellery and visual art to home decor and clothing. The show is organized into “neighbourhoods” of vendors that share a similar theme. “Flavours” is the place to head to discover the show’s food and beverage artisans. This year’s show features more than 60 Flavours artisans, selling goods like chocolates, baked treats, hot sauces, hand-mixed spreads, and dozens of other giftable goodies for your food-obsessed friends. There are oodles of samples to snack on, plus demos by Ontario Meat and Poultry. Tickets are $13 online or $15 at the door for adults.
The second annual CF Shops at Don Mills Annual Holiday Market features live acapella performances and more than 40 vendors selling everything from clothing and home decor to art and – of course – tasty food. The market takes place across three consecutive weekends in December, with a different line-up of vendors featured each week. Some of the food and drink vendors you can expect to see at the market include Papabubble, Bier Markt, and Teavana (who will be providing free tea samples), among others. There’s also a special lounge hosted by Jack Astor's where you can grab drinks like mulled wine and spiced martinis, along with snacks on Sundays. Admission is free.
Sip holiday-inspired cocktails while hunting for the perfect Christmas tree at Bacardi Holidega, a pop-up tree lot and rum bar set to hit the terrace of Brassaii Restaurant and Lounge. The event is designed to be a festive spin on a traditional bodega market, with evergreen trees of various sizes available for sale (including small ones for those of us who would prefer not to have a colossal tree taking over our tiny apartments). Bacardi will be serving up free samples of their Bacardi Gran Reserva holiday cocktails, including Hot Toddys made with Bacardi 8 Años and spiked Eggnog cocktails.
The Toronto Christmas Market needs little introduction: Every holiday season, the Distillery District is transformed into a European-inspired Christmas market, which is set against an enchanting backdrop of glittering lights, cobblestone streets, and brick building facades. There’s a dizzying amount of great food to enjoy at this event, from hand-rolled Chimney Stax (a rotisserie baked dough served in a variety of flavours) to classic Quebec poutine with dark chicken gravy. Naturally, not everything here is free, but there are lots of free samples to be scored, including cups of Amarula Cream, a blend of South African liqueur and hot chocolate. Admission is free on weekdays and $6 on weekends.
Thane Lucas/Toronto Christmas Market
