The Taste of the Middle East is a festival that celebrates Arabic music, culture, food, arts and heritage.
This year the festival was held downtown Toronto, at Nathan Phillips Square.
It was a brilliant sunny day. I visited on Friday, the first day of the festival. It runs Friday, Saturday and Sunday. Apparently there are bigger things planned on Sunday.
Along with the sponsor tents, there were lots of other tents of various merchants. Here is Huda, a religious organization, right next to the telecommunications giant Telus.
In the picture above, City Hall is to the background. Nathan Phillips Square has the advantage of having a huge Green P parking lot right underneath. I got in around 7 pm and got parking easily. It only cost $6.
Lots and lots of stalls, and lots and lots of people. It was great to see the huge diversity that makes Toronto one of the best cities in the world to live in. Everyone came to experience Arabic culture, not just Arabs (or Muslims).
People also have the misconception that Arabic culture is just limited to Muslims and Islam, which is not true. There's a lot of Christians in the Arab world. Some of the Arab world also have other cultures that are non Arab, for example Berbers.
As the evening went on, it became busier and busier, as more people started to drop by. The stage also started to have some shows and performances.
The one complaint I would have is that the food selection was not that big, and as expected from a festival - it was expensive. A pineapple juice drink was $13. A pastry was $8. Osmows shawarma platter was $13. I guess inflation hits everyone.
It's a great festival, particularly the musical big names at the end of the night. If you are in Toronto, it's definitely worth checking out, especially when parking is not a problem.
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