Heritage Days, Edmonton, AB - Heritage Festival 2012 Part 2 of Day 2 and 3 with food, drinks and performances from 60+ tents and 80+cultures!!

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Due to some commitments, we went briefly for Sunday's festivities, and went back for a few hours on the last day of Heritage Days to much on some of our favs we either missed out on the first day or we simply wanted another taste as the cultural displays, performances and food during Heritage Days only happens once a year during the August long weekend! Click here for Part 1 2012, Part 2 2012.. and now one to the finale!

First up was this yummy and new fav: Gozleme from Turkey ! This little unassuming thinly stuffed potato pancake is packed full of flavor. You can get it in many varieties - vege, meat - ours was feta cheese and spinach. Delicious!

At the Israel tent, I got one of my favs...their falafels! This year's Falafel Plate included a blob of hummus, lemon cabbage slaw, fried eggplant and pickles served with a thick Israeli pita and fried chick pea balls, drizzled with tahini sauce. I liked it better last year when they slowly grilled the eggplant over coals until it was completely caramelized, but still a tasty falafel!

We got distracted by the yummy smells and the juicy looking chicken at the Uganda pavilion

As well as the skewers sizzling on their grill...

The beef and vege skewers from Uganda were nicely flavored with a touch of spice

And their chicken was lovingly seasoned with a hint of chilis and lots of lemongrass. So moist and tasty!

Next stop was Taiwan for a platter full of crisp savory spring rolls, soft-crisp green onion loaded up green onion cakes, panseared dumplings and ginger beef. Mmm!

Our friends also picked up a Taiwan Mashu or rice ball dessert – soft sticky sweet smooth rice exterior topped either with shredded coconut and sweet green bean paste inside or topped with toasted sesame and a sweet black sesame seed paste inside!

With still a craving for BBQ'ed meats, we headed over to the Sudan pavilion where they had some Shishkebab Chicken was happily cooking away

The Shishkebab Chicken was flavorful and moist, served with a mildly spicy sauce and a bit of pita if you felt like wrapping your skewered meat up into a nice easy to eat package

We also sipped on Sudan's Karkaday a refreshing and lightly sweetened herbal drink of hibiscus flower that tasted simular to rasberries (along with its color!). We also cooled off with Aradaib from Sudan - made from the natural juice of the aradaib tree and lightly sweetened. One of my girlfriends really enjoyed this one - simular to iced tea with a light herbal note

Aradiab on left, Karakay on right

The Maatjes Haring – Salted herring garnished with chopped onions from the Dutch pavilion were so tasty, we had to return for them. This time, we had it without the bun and ate it the "proper" way: pick it up by the tail and pop it into your mouth! Mmmm.. Anyone know where I can get more of these in Edmonton? I can eat these everyday!

It was a beautiful day to bring out the family, watch the cultural performances, and try new and fav foods!

Kudos to all the volunteers wearing their traditional clothing in the heat! Kudos to this fella at the Irish pavilion too.. he was wearing facial hair too!

We snacked on Potato Cakes from the Irish tent, and weren't disappointed with these simple and hit the spot seasoned mashed potatoes patties. I think they were served with sour creme, but I finished mine by the time I realized there was something to dunk it into!

We had some more Frescolita from Venezuela tent to help cool off. The blue can tasted of light cream soda, while the red one tasted the same, but with a slight cherry cola flavor to the predominant cream soda flavor

At the Russia tent, we snacked on some Pelmeni dumplings stuffed with chicken and served with a generous blob of sour creme and lots of freshly chopped dill. Mmm.. Like perogies, but more meaty!

Running out of room, we also snacked on Venuzela's Taquenos - deep fried crispy dough wrapped around some melty mixed cheeses, and served with a thousand island dressing

Finally, to end our day, we had a cumin scented and mildly spicy Sambusa from the Eritrean tent. Simular to an Indian samosa in that it had lots of ground goodness in it - but all meat and no potatos... although a vegetarian one is available as well. Nom! :) So that concludes another year of Heritage Days! See you all next August long weekend!!!