French Made Baking and Thierry Chocolaterie Pâtisserie Café bring Macaron Day to Vancouver

Two macaron shops are bringing Macaron Day (Jour du Macaron) to Vancouver for the first time on March 20.

The day, which celebrates the sweet meringue-based dessert while fundraising for charity, was started by Parisian pastry chef Pierre Hermé in association with the Relais Desserts in 1995. With the widespread popularity of macarons over the past few years, Macaron Day has been recognized in cities around the world, including Toronto and New York City.

This year, French Made Baking (81 Kingsway Street), which opened in December 2011, will give a free macaron to anyone who visits the shop on Macaron Day. Owners David and Catherine Introligator, who moved to Vancouver from France three years ago, will have a donation box on hand, and all money raised on Macaron Day will be donated to the B.C. Children’s Hospital Foundation.

Meanwhile, Thierry Chocolaterie Pâtisserie Café (1059 Alberni Street), which also opened last year, will be celebrating Macaron Day by donating 10 percent of all sales of macarons that day to Growing Chefs! Chefs for Children’s Urban Agriculture, a local non-profit that supports food sustainability. Chef Thierry Busset’s macarons ($1.75) come in more than 15 different seasonal flavours, including lychee, chocolate caramel, passion fruit, and coconut.

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