If you're in Toronto this February and you'd like a free bowl of gourmet soup, I know where you can get it!
Seriously, no joke.
You get free soup AND by doing so you also get to support the Daily Bread Food Bank here in Toronto.
That's definitely win win situation. 🙂
First, a little background before you rush off to get your warm bowl of soup.
Recently, I had the pleasure of attending a special media preview event for a new pop-up restaurant here in Toronto called The Cantina by Campbell's.
It was such an awesome experience to attend the preview since I was able to find out all about The Cantina before it opened to the public. In addition to trying the gourmet soups before the restaurant was officially open, I got to meet the chef behind the tasty creations – Chef Matt Dean Pettit!
Chef Matt is very well known as the owner of the famous Rock Lobster Food Co. which currently has three amazing restaurants. He's also the author of the best seller The Great Lobster Cookbook
and will also be co-hosting a new show coming to The Food Network.
Meeting someone who has such a passion for good food and has been so successful doing what he loves is so inspiring to me. Honestly, I was pretty much star struck. lol
I was a total goof ball when he introduced himself to me. I mean, really…
Chef Matt: “Hi, I'm Matt!”
Me: “Oh my goodness! It's you! You're here!”
See what I mean? I really said that. haha
Anyways, enough about me being a goof…
Why visit The Cantina by Campbell's?
I often talk about how living in the big city of Toronto has given me the opportunity to experience the authentic flavours of foods from all over the world. Living in such a multicultural city has been an amazing experience since moving here back in 2008.
One thing I've always noticed from all the different foods I've tried is that every culture has some kind of soup. The different cultures and people who make up this beautiful patchwork that is Toronto are not so different. As Campbell's says “We All soup”.
No matter who we are and where we're from, soup is a common comfort that we all share.
I'm certain that just about everyone has some kind of special or comforting memory involving soup. Personally when I think of comfort and home, it's about the homemade chicken soup my grandmother would make for me as a child.
Maybe you have a similar memory?
When you visit The Cantina by Campbell's, you'll get to try some amazingly delicious (and free!) soups inspired by different cultures.
- Thai chicken and rice curry (My favorite soup there!)
- Creamy tomato black bean taco soup
- Roasted beer can cream of chicken soup
- Spicy vegetarian ramen
I must say though, one of the best things about The Cantina is that for every person who comes in and places a sticker on their wall, one can of soup will be donated to The Daily Bread Food Bank. Campbell's is aiming to donate a total of 15, 000 cans of soup to the food bank.
All you have to do is come in, get a free soup, put a sticker on the wall and a can of soup will be donated. That's it – and I love it.
The Cantina will be open to the public from February 2 to 21 at 501 Queen Street West in Toronto. If you're in the area, please stop by and get your soup!
Live too far away to try the free soup? Try it at home!
I realize many of my readers don't live in Toronto like I do, and I wish you could come with me and try some of these tasty soups for yourself.
I have some good news for you!
You can try these soups at home!
Check out Chef Matt's recipes on the site and make them at home for yourself!
One of the great things about these recipes are that they are super simple to prepare at home. I've tried each of them and they are fantastic.
My favorite soup at The Cantina was the Thai Chicken soup and then my second choice would be the roasted beer can cream of chicken soup. The smell of all those tasty soups cooking in there was just lovely!
I can't wait to have them again once I add the recipes to my weekly meal plan.
A few more things from my visit
The set up they have in The Cantina is so neat! Inside they have a wall of vintage soup cans forming the Campbell's logo. It's pretty neat and I couldn't help but feel a little artsy fartsy taking photos of it. lol
Honestly, I was beyond excited when I received the invite to attend this event. As a stay at home mom I spend a huge amount of time at home doing my motherly duties. Being able to stay home to care for my son is wonderful, but at the same time it's so awesome to have a good excuse to get out of the house! 🙂
Also, now that I've been blogging for a while, it's pretty neat to be considered part of the “media” and be invited to a media event! I'm just a regular lady who likes to cook and eat… I may or may not have written this post wearing my pjs. 😉
Discolsure: I was asked to attend the media preview for The Cantina but was not compensated monetarily for writing this post. I got to try some free soup and I support this campaign since it also contributes to The Daily Bread Food Bank. All opinions are 100% my own.
