Eatable Films was founded in 2015 by television executives Rachel Low and Janine Heath. With a background in producing food shows, Low was intrigued by the idea of creating an event where you could eat the food, rather than just watching it. She and Heath traveled to Berlin to check out the Culinary Cinema program at the Berlinale Film Festival – a series of films about food and dinner events featuring international chefs.

Along with television producer and Eatable partner Rachel Wagner, they came up with a program for the Eatable Film Festival, featuring a mix of contemporary international food films, classic food films and food and drink by Toronto’s top chefs. What made Eatable Film Festival different, was the idea of serving food and drink IN the cinema.

In year one, Eatable collaborated with several of Toronto’s top chefs to create food and film experiences. Grant Van Gameren/Bar Isabel, Bar Raval created cocktails, pintxos and a five-course sherry-pairing dinner for the film Sherry and the Mystery of Palo Cortado.  Brandon Olsen/La Banane created the perfect cocktail, appetizer and chef-made concession treats – including chocolates, for Sergio Herman F***ing Perfect. Leemo Han/Hanmoto created a five-course Japanese Izakaya snack menu for cult favourite Tampopo.