Newsletter #11
June 2001In this issue:
- Vegetarian Montreal: Montreal Jazz Fest
- General News and Site Update
Vegetarian Montreal
The Montreal International Jazz Festival
Okay, while it's not exactly a vegetarian event, the Montreal Jazz Festival draws over a million music fans to downtown Montreal each summer, and given the statistics, about 4000 of them will be vegetarian. This year, the ten-day event takes place from June 28th to July 8th.The first Montreal International Jazz Festival was held at Man and his World, the former site of Expo'67, in 1980 and attracted 12,000 spectators. Just a short five years later the event brought over 300,000 fans to Montreal's Latin Quarter on St-Denis street and was recognised by participating musicians as being the best and most important jazz event in the world. That same year, Montreal's Jazz festival won several awards and was crowned "Jazz event of the year" by influential Los Angeles Times critic Leonard Feather. But the success didn't stop there. In 1987 the festival passed the half-million mark in terms of spectators and was declared the most complete and best organised festival in the world. In 1991, attendance topped one million and last year, on its twenty-first birthday, the Montreal Jazz Festival brought music to over 1.6 million pairs of ears, and its main event, Timbalada from Brazil, was seen live by 225,000 fans and broadcast live to millions around the world. It's quite a success story and one that shows no signs of slowing down.
This year the Jazz Festival will feature over 500 shows performed by over 2000 musicians from around the world. With a little something for every taste, the diverse repertoires of confirmed concerts range from classic jazz to blues, soul, worldbeat and modern electronic. Among the keynote performers this year are Canadian "Queen of Jazz" Diana Krall and blues legend Colin James, singer Cesoria Evora, renowned composer and trumpet-player Wynton Marsalis, singer and jazzman George Benson, and the pop icon Prince. Among the immensely popular free outdoor concerts we can expect to be entertained by . Finally, over 350 free shows will be happening on outdoor stages around the festival grounds. This includes the big main-event concert, which will be held on July 3rd and is touted as being "an explosion of Asian funk". The concert will be performed by Groove Alla Turca and over 20 other jazz artists who will combine American jazz-funk and traditional Turkish music.
If you're looking to check out some local talent, the Jazz d'ici La Presse series takes place every night at Club Soda and will showcase the top talent from Quebec and across Canada. The Jazz Contemporain series at the Musée d'Art Contemporain also provides access to local talent. Les nuits Bleue Dry at the Spectrum, which is devoted to artists who are reinventing the world of Jazz, also has a substantial local presence with Soulnotmind and Bullfrog, as well as DJ Tiga performing.
So with all this excitement, where does a vegetarian go to eat?
For a quick bite close to the action or to stock up your cooler on the way to hear the sounds, head to Optimum Natural Food Store on the corner of Union and Sherbrooke (630 Sherbrooke West), just slightly north-west of the festival site. They have a very good grab-and-go section with vegetarian and vegan sandwiches, wraps, pastries, salads, sushi and baked goodies. Remember that festival security won't let you onto the festival grounds with glass containers, so choose canned or plastic bottled drinks instead.
Close to the north-east corner of the Festival site, Le Soleil on the corner of St. Laurent and Ontario streets (1626 St. Laurent) serves up very good Tunisian and North African food cafeteria-style with reasonable vegetarian choices. A quick 10 to 15 minute walk east, Formosa is a personal favourite of mine that dishes up excellent selection of vegetarian and non-vegetarian, peanut-free, Szechuan and Thai delicacies at reasonable prices. You can find them at the corner of Sherbrooke and St. Denis streets near the trendy coffee houses.
A quick bus ride or twenty minute walk north of the festival site will get you some amazing sandwiches, vegan pies and fairly-traded coffee in a delightful outdoor garden environment. Café Santropol at 3990 St-Urbain (at Duluth) is a Montreal legend located in the heart of the colourful, alternative "Plateau" disctrict of the city that is well worth the visit. (By bus, head to the eastern exit of the festival site and take the 55 heading north up St. Laurent street, get off at Duluth and head west.)
In the same general area, you will find the exclusively vegetarian restaurants La Faim du Monde (300 Duluth E), Govinda Jaya Jaya (Indian buffet; 263 Duluth E) and ChuChai (Thai; 4088 St. Denis), all of which are vegan-friendly. Other vegetarian-friendly places in the Plateau area include La Salsa (Mexican; 4306 St. Laurent), and Nantha's Kitchen (Thai/Malay; 9 Duluth E). Remember, St. Laurent Street divides Montreal into East and West, so check your addresses carefully.
Again closer to the festival site, the downtown location of the Quebec vegetarian food chain Le Commensal is located at the corner of McGill and Ste. Catherine streets, in the heart of Montreal's shopping district. Price is by weight at this serve-yourself buffet, and the vegan selection is surprisingly somewhat limited, but the food is generally good and the atmosphere relaxed.
If you're still in the mood for Jazz, Upstairs Jazz Club Bar on Mackay street below Ste-Catherine (1254 Mackay) offers vegetarian (not vegan) fare and good beer in a friendly environment at standard prices. It's about a fifteen minute walk west of the festival site.
In addition, most of the city's major shopping centres are located west of the Festival site and their expansive food courts generally can supply something vegetarian or vegan. Most fast-food Mediterranean restaurants like Amir and Mr Falafel will offer good, inexpensive but somewhat limited vegan choices. And finally, local fast-food chains with veggie burgers or similar fare include Harvey's, Lafleur and Burger King.
As a last word, if you enjoy the free shows, it is worth getting the $10 "Friends of the Festival" card, which helps finance the free acts at the Jazz Fest. The card also entitles you to discounts at Quebec liquor stores and gets you a free CD featuring the festival's performers.
Happy eating and enjoy the festival!
- A link to the article "Water management a global issue" by David Suzuki has been added to the Food Issues section of the site
- "Organic farming a growing field" by David Suzuki has been added to the Food Issues section of the site
- Amanda's Kitchen is looking for volunteers to help write articles for the web site, and to translate articles from English to French. If you're interested please e-mail AmandasKitchen@yahoo.ca or consult the Writer's Guidelines.
- A new monthly feature has been added to the newsletter: Restaurant Reviews and News. if you have any hot tips, or would like to submit a review, please contact AmandasKitchen@yahoo.ca.
- Over the summer, Amanda's Kitchen will be focusing on building up the Montreal section of the website. If you have any favourite food-related shopping spots, "must see" suggestions for tourists (and locals), or insight into the local history of Montreal's various communities, please let me know.
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Amanda's Kitchen is devoted to introducing healthy
vegetarian and vegan cooking to everyone's kitchen.Disclaimer: This newsletter and the Amanda's Kitchen web site are not prepared by a registered dietician, nurse, doctor or other medically-qualified individual. Any health and nutrition information provided by Amanda's Kitchen is designed to support, not replace, information provided by a registered dietician or healthcare provider. Where appropriate, Amanda's Kitchen has endeavoured to support information contained on the site and newsletter by providing references to source data and, where possible, specific HTML links.Page last updated: September, 2001