A DIY solution to the cancelled CNF Stampede breakfast

By Giselle Wedemire

I love this city, but I have a hard time getting jazzed about Stampede. I mean, I’ve had some great fun at some of their concerts on the Coca Cola Stage (including seeing Rooney, The Dudes, k-os, and a chance sighting of Drake at the 2006 Nelly Furtado show), but other than that, Stampede really doesn’t matter to me.

But Stampede breakfasts? Now, that’s something I can get behind. Since going vegan five years ago, my favourite part of Stampede has been hitting up Community Natural Foods’ annual Stampede breakfast. Sure, I had to get up at the crack of dawn and be a complete zombie for the rest of the day, but there were free pancakes involved, so it was worth it!

This year, however, CNF has decided against putting on its annual breakfast. While this is definitely sad news, you can’t really blame ‘em, thanks to this not-so-hot economy of ours.

Screen shot via Community Natural Foods' Facebook

The best Stampede breakfast ever is back!

By Giselle Wedemire

As a vegan and animal rights advocate, I'm very much against the Calgary Stampede. But what I'm not against is pancakes. And if those pancakes are free, slathered in maple syrup, and vegan, then you'll have to knock me out (or distract me with videos of cats) to keep me from getting at those flapjacks.

I'm choosing to believe that that's actually pats of vegan margarine on top of those pancakes.
Photo via iStockphoto

Which brings me to my main point: Community Natural Foods' annual Stampede breakfast will be making its tasty and triumphant return this summer. From 7-10 a.m. on July 11, the good folks at CNF will be serving up traditional (yet organic) Stampede breakfast fare, as well as vegan and gluten-free pancakes and vegan/vegetarian sausages.

CNF's Stampede breakfasts are phenomenal (and phenomenally popular); they've regularly been voted as the Best Place to Snag a Stampede Breakfast in the (now defunct) FFWD Weekly's Best of Calgary annual polls. 

Between its green incentive of rewarding a lucky diner who brings and uses a re-usable plate with a gift basket and the fact that most attendees rock up in plaid shirts and ear gauges rather than plaid shirts and cowboy boots, CNF's Stampede breakfast has got a great alternative edge that sets it apart from other, more traditional Stampede breakfasts happening in the city.

A word to the wise, though: make sure to get there early (and bring some coffee or tea with you if you're not at all a morning person) because the lines tend to be on the longer side, and they don't move all that fast. But once you make it to the front of that line, it is so worth it! 

What time are you planning on lining up at CNF on July 11? If you're not going, what's your favourite Stampede breakfast the city has to offer? Let us know in the comments below or by tweeting us at @PickyBitchez.