La Dolce Vita- West Coast Edition

While the World Cup is the main event happening in the city, there are plenty of other activities going on. It is summer, after all. Over the weekend, Italian Day was celebrated in a neighbourhood that has been dubbed Little Italy because of its historic roots to waves of Italian migration in the 20th century. Most Italian immigrants that came to this city settled in the Commercial drive area, where every year Italian heritage is celebrated with several blocks of shopping, eating, drinking, singing, dancing, and much more.

I have previously attended this festival, but this time, I decided to photograph it in Black and White for the #monomad challenge

The street is closed for about eight blocks and stalls from nearby businesses (shops, restaurants, and services) are set up all along the road as far as the eye can see.

Uruguay en la casa

I spotted a lady holding a mango that was covered in red hot spices. My food-seeking sensors turned on. I scanned the street like the terminator and saw more people holding mangoes. I followed the trail of mangoes, but at one point, I lost it. Oh no! Then through the crowd, I saw a man with the fruit in hand talking to a woman. He pointed towards several stalls to his right. Although, I could not hear their conversation, all visual evidence suggested that it was mango related, and so I initiated movement in the direction that he had pointed, and I soon localized the target zone, where mango after mango was being unceremoniously peeled, impaled on a stick, and sliced like a flower to be covered in mouth-watering, lip burning, and digestive-system-cleansing spices.

The tray under this mango is full of spices sprinkled from all those bottles scattered on the table.

I was attracted by the sight of several cakes on a table and three vats filled with mysterious liquids from Brazil. When doing field work, I like to conduct thorough investigations of my subjects, and as I stood there transfixed by the multilayer cake, I decided to dive all in.

The coconut juice and the slice of chocolate passion fruit cake were refreshing, creamy, and stimulating.

Why was there a Brazilian business in an Italian festival in Canada? I overheard a Brazilian lady sum it up with a laugh, “close enough.”

There were a few businesses that catered to the Italian taste with food like pasta, sandwiches, baked goods, roasts, and so on, but there was food from all over the world.

Historically speaking, commercial drive as a business area is no longer exclusively Italian. It is a mosaic of restaurants and shops that cater to many tastes beyond the Italian palette, and indeed beyond the earthly palette if one takes into account the counter-cultural community that calls this area home.

It was seriously hot that day, so I don't blame that pooch for looking thirsty.

There was a roasting pig, and it looked scrumptious (from a carnivore pov).

Italian Day was hot in more ways than one. Did I see any Italians that day? I couldn't tell you, but there were plenty of lovely people all around.

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