About Us
Taste of the Caribbean (TOTC) is an annual FREE outdoor 4-day cultural festival which also features several year-round side projects, with an overall mission of promoting the diversity of Canada’s Caribbean culture.
Our mission, via the main 4-day outdoor free festival and year-round related activities, is to promote the diversity of Canada’s Caribbean culture to all audiences to form a better understanding and integration between cultures, as well as to influence Canadians of non-Caribbean descent to travel to the Caribbean region, while in the meantime, direct them to visit local Caribbean outlets here, such as: businesses, art galleries, live performances/events, imported products, etc.
The festival allows visitors to taste their way through the islands by way of local restaurants, international guest chefs, cooking and mixology demonstrations and live spectacular musical performances from homegrown talent to internationally known, Grammy-Award winning performers.
Some of our side-projects include our very own “Taste the Bean – Caribbean Coffee” imported from 3 Caribbean islands and roasted locally in Montreal for Canadian distribution via our website and Amazon.
Another special project were the 42 episodes we filmed during lockdowns 2020-2022 era, the “Mi Casa” series and the “Virtual Shift” series. We hope to continue these projects in the future.
In 2022, we also stared a collaboration with the “Stages Canada” series of shows for upcoming and undiscovered artists, out of Toronto and we continue to feature them at our festival and other events.
The acquired ‘House of Reggae’ name-brand (an old live reggae music bar venue in downtown Montreal, which closed down in 2011) in collaboration with ‘Rebel Vibez’ out of the Toronto Caribbean-Radio show scene, joint talent co-management project for some of the best (some are JUNO Award Winners) Caribbean artists in Canada has taken fruition in the winter of 2022; our roster can be seen here: https://totc.ca/talent
Our most recent additional side project is the ‘Havana Resort’ camping “RV Experience” which entails renting our recently purchased and modified RV Trailer and camp site cultural space about 1hr30min drive from Montreal. Our space can handle 20 people overnight, in our RV and via their camping tents with the family. The hosting venue is a 300-acre full of activities with a Cuban themed flavor.
History
Taste of the Caribbean is an exotic experience for all your senses!
What started out back in 1999 as a small 1 day all-you-can eat indoor ticketed food event, has now [2015] turned into a large 4 days of FREE outdoor music, arts, food, and culture festival, which also features several live international performing artists/bands within a special ticketed concert zone.
From Jamaica’s famous reggae sounds and jerk chicken dishes to the spiced rums and soca artists of Barbados and Grenada, we invite you to come and submerse yourself in the Caribbean culture, right here at the Old-Port of Montreal and our other activities across Canada!
