Matthew Halliday | torontolife.com

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Gwyneth Paltrow, deboner; R.I.P., Taco Bell chihuahua; carbonated milk, no thanks

• Gwyneth Paltrow has pulled a bait-and-switch on her trusting vegan fans. The animal-rights activist and former vegan recently posted a video on her Web site that shows her messily clean, debone and stuff a chicken. The video is drawing predictable outrage from all quarters of the vegetarian community. [New York Daily News]

• Gidget, the Taco Bell chihuahua, has been euthanized after suffering a stroke. Besides being one of the most ubiquitously annoying pop-culture presences of the late ’90s, Gidget was a gender-bending pioneer as well—though female, she played a male on TV. Fans of quasi-Mexican food and tiny, anthropomorphic animals will miss her. [National Post]

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July 24, 2009 | 8:50 am

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101 summer salad recipes, Japanese screaming contest, drugs in restaurant kitchens

Extraordinary tossers: The New York Times offers 101 different salads (Photo by Jeff Kubina)

• Allegedly, it’s summer in Toronto, and that means the time is ripe for light, fun recipes. First up, 101 simple salads courtesy of the New York Times: vegan salads, green salads, seafood salads, melon salads and even a gourmet hot dog salad—the perfect combination of two quintessentially summer foods. [New York Times]

• Speaking of summer food, the Globe is profiling a fresh, deconstructed B.L.T. for the warm months. Montreal chef Normand Laprise offers his step-by-step guide through the preparation of this bizarre rendition of a diner classic. [Globe and Mail]

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July 23, 2009 | 11:30 am

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Camel’s milk chocolate, listeriosis verdict, ranking street food

Land of milk and money: ?? is hoping to sell well throughout the world using camel's milk in its chocolate (Photo by Sara Yeomans)

Land of milk and money: Al Nassma Chocolate aims to seduce the world with camel's milk products (Photo by Sara Yeomans)

• A Dubai company is about to take its brand of high-end camel’s milk chocolates international. Al Nassma Chocolate, which owns a farm with 3,000 head of camel, is aiming to be “the Godiva of the Middle East” according to company spokesperson Martin Van Almsick. It will soon be peddling its wares in the U.S., Europe, and Asia. Camel’s milk contains less fat, less lactose, and more vitamin C than cow’s milk. [Reuters]

• The federal government’s report on last year’s deadly listeriosis outbreak has been released. It paints a scary picture of the bureaucratic incompetence that led to the outbreak and reveals how Canada’s food safety system is “on the upper end of being mediocre.” Maple Leaf Foods, which, in a brilliant PR move, offered an apology in the aftermath of the outbreak, comes off looking somewhat respectable. [Toronto Star]

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Toronto International Film Festival 2009

July 22, 2009 | 5:15 pm

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Schlock and awe: Megan Fox and Ethan Hawke among stars at TIFF’s Midnight Madness program

Megan Fox, star of Jennifer's Body, predicts that we will all laugh at gilded butterflies. Some of us already are (Photo by Megan Fox Rules!)

Megan Fox stirred the hearts—and a few other body parts—of millions of men when she donned a pair of tight denim shorts in the two Transformers movies. That they were mediocre films was cause for less celebration. Happily, though, Fox’s Toronto fans will soon have the chance to see her in a movie that promises to be more than a brain-dead ogle-fest: the titillatingly titled Jennifer’s Body, which will open TIFF’s annual Midnight Madness lineup.

Written by Juno screenwriter Diablo Cody and co-starring Adam Brody and Amy Sedaris, Jennifer’s Body represents a turn to the mainstream for the historically esoteric Midnight Madness series. Fox, in the title role, plays a popular high school cheerleader who’s the envy of the school—and boy does she know it. When she becomes possessed by a demon and begins devouring the town’s all-too-willing young men, her nerdy best friend has to step up and save the day. Other titles from Midnight Madness—TIFF’s horror and schlock series—were announced today. More on them after the jump.

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July 21, 2009 | 9:26 am

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Fast-food copycat, street meat problems, Nelson Mandela’s eating habits

Finger-lickin' facsimile: A man in Long Island claims to have reproduced KFC's signature recipe (Photo by El Gran Dee)

• A Long Island man claims to have cracked KFC’s notoriously well-guarded fried chicken recipe. In fact, Ron Douglas—who until 2007 was a finance manager at a major Wall Street firm—has spent the past two years recreating a plethora of top-secret fast-food recipes and posting them on his Web site. [New York Post]

• Life ain’t easy for the proprietors of Toronto’s first ethnic food carts. Two months after the much-touted (but somewhat mismanaged) Toronto à la Cart pilot project began, several of the vendors are still working second jobs, and three are temporarily out of business while the city finds new locations for them. One has even refinanced her house to pay her start-up costs. Bad summer weather hasn’t helped matters, either. [Toronto Star]

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July 17, 2009 | 11:08 am

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Rogue cheese makers, Toronto restaurant closures, how to be a coffee snob

Wait for it: Aging cheese properly is not to be taken lightly (Photo by stu_spivack)

Wait for it: The proper aging of cheese is not to be taken lightly (Photo by stu_spivack)

• Canada’s cheese makers are concerned that as the popularity of aged cheese increases, the substandard work of amateur cheese ripeners—retailers, mostly—will damage their hard-won reputations. [Globe and Mail]

• BlogTO takes us on a photo tour of recently shuttered downtown restaurants, from old institutions (Mel’s Montreal Delicatessen in the Annex) to voguish newbies (Roncy’s Abstract Tree). No great losses here, but some mid-range neighbourhood standbys are no more. [BlogTO]

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July 15, 2009 | 9:40 am

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The world’s top food city, molecular gastronomy tragedy, props for Vivoli

First for food: Osaka gets a nod as the best eating city around (Photo by takato marui)

First for food: Osaka gets a nod from Michael Booth as the best eating city (Photo by takato marui)

• Forget New York, Paris, London and Tokyo. Food writer and blogger Michael Booth crowns the birthplace of the ramen noodle—Osaka—the world’s best food city, citing its amazing fast food, astonishingly lively restaurant quarter and “the world’s greatest cooking school” as the reasons for his choice. [Guardian]

• A 24-year-old German chef lost both his hands in a molecular gastronomy experiment gone horribly wrong. Though it’s not clear what he was attempting to do, reports indicate that the accident occurred when he tried to empty a bottle of liquid nitrogen—often used to flash-freeze food. [Local]

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July 10, 2009 | 8:00 am

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Viagra in energy drinks, Tim Hortons expands in NYC, man dies in chocolate vat

Chocolate, the silent killer (Photo by Daniel Catt)

• A 29-year-old man died Wednesday after falling into a vat of chocolate at a New Jersey candy factory. Not the most dignified way to go, but definitely not the worst. [Huffington Post]

• Oscar Mayer III has passed away at 95. (No, we didn’t know there really was an Oscar Mayer either, let alone three of them.) In his honour, the Chicago Tribune has compiled a list of other notable food products named after people, real and fake. Biggest surprise? There really was a Chef Boyardee. [Chicago Tribune]

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July 8, 2009 | 8:19 am

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Fruit follies at Pusateri’s, a hidden culinary haven, the dangers of baby food

Grapes of wrath: A dispute over lousy fruit kept one woman from Pusateri's forever (Photo by LD Cross)

Grapes of wrath: a dispute over lousy fruit sparked a one-woman boycott of Pusateri’s (Photo by LD Cross)

• After the harrowing experience of watching her mother try to get a refund for rotten grapes at Pusateri’s, the National Post’s Meghan Telpner got to wondering why grocery stores won’t let customers return damaged produce. [National Post]

• Who knew that in the middle of economically devastated Michigan there lies a near-mythical land of milk and honey just waiting to be discovered? The resort town of Traverse City has a rising “gastronomic subculture,” as celeb chef Mario Batali puts it, including a wealth of new restaurants, farms and a diversity of produce second only to California. Road trip, anyone? [Canadian Press]

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July 3, 2009 | 10:16 am

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Gordon Ramsay’s humility, protesting a Harbord bistro, new organics standards

Meal of approval: this logo will appear on foods that meet Canada’s new organic standards (Image by Canadian Food Inspection Agency)

• Canada’s new organic foods standards went into effect this week. Produce that gets stamped with the new “Canada Organic” logo will have to be 100 per cent organic, while products with multiple ingredients will have to reach the 95 per cent mark. Products imported from the U.S will be stamped with the same logo as long as they fit similar standards enforced by the USDA. [CBC]

• Jamie Kennedy isn’t the only celebrity chef facing financial woes lately. Gordon Ramsay’s company, Gordon Ramsay Holdings, almost went bankrupt last year thanks to overly optimistic expansion. “We thought…that we could not fail,” Ramsay recently admitted in a rare moment of humility. [Telegraph]

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June 27, 2009 | 12:28 pm

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Susur Lee for $385, popcorn as Viagra, prison food gripes

Slaw slinger: Susur Lee gives Torontonians a taste of his new menus

• For $385, fans of Susur Lee can experience the All Things Susur Lee package at the SoHo Metropolitan Hotel. Included is an overnight stay at the hotel and a five-course tasting meal with selections from Lee’s restaurants in Toronto, New York, Washington and his not-yet-open RUYI, which will be located in Singapore. [National Post]

• 36-year-old journalist Leanne Davis tries a mid-career transformation into a pastry chef with help from Splendido’s Michael Angeloni and Victor Barry. Turns out pastry making is a more exacting—and back-breaking—discipline than she ever imagined. [Toronto Star]

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June 26, 2009 | 3:11 pm

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Chefs make better lovers, threatening T.O.’s culinary superiority, cell phone credit cards

Go zest: Vancouver and the rest of B.C. want to be Canada's food capital (Photo by Small)

Go zest: Vancouver and the rest of B.C. want to be Canada’s premier food destination (Photo by Small)

• Could this be the end of the Toronto-Montreal axis of culinary superiority? We doubt it, but a new initiative between the British Columbia government and restaurateurs in the province is aiming to put Lotus Land on the culinary map. [Vancouver Sun]

• Longtime New York food critic Gael Greene argues that chefs make better lovers, and that celebrity chefs in particular should spend less time cooking and more time reaping the fruits of celebrity—especially sex with willing young food groupies. As if Rachel Ray needs another reason to smile. [Daily Beast]

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Pantry Raid

June 24, 2009 | 3:17 pm

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Farmers’ markets in strike mode: What’s open, what’s closed

Fruits of labour dispute: A surprisingly high number of Toronto's farmers' markets are staying open through the city workers' strike (Photo by Natalie Maynor)

Fruits of labour dispute: The city strike hits the markets (Photo by Natalie Maynor)

Toronto’s summertime farmers’ markets will be a lot less abundant for the duration of the municipal strike. Markets on private property will still be trading all things fresh and local, but the situation gets a little more complicated for those that operate on city-owned land. Markets at civic centres and city squares are cancelled for now, though organizers are scrambling to find alternate locations; those in city parks have technically had their permits revoked, but all are planning to set up anyway—some in nearby locations, others in their usual public green spaces (though they will be without washroom service and electricity). After the jump, our list of which markets are open, which are closed, and which are changing location.

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June 24, 2009 | 7:54 am

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Naked food heist, the strawberry’s story, protecting Canada’s bagels

Chew patriot love: Should Canada be protecting its bagels? (Photo by Julia Manzerova)

• The European Union means business when it comes to protecting the culinary treasures of its members. Could Canada do the same by preventing knock-off versions of the Montreal bagel, Oka cheese and Charlevoix lamb? [Vancouver Sun]

• The Star goes to California to follow a strawberry’s trip to Toronto, including its encounter with eight state lines, one federal border, two trucks, a car, a pickup and eight forklifts. [Toronto Star]

• Vancouver is a notoriously clothing-optional city, but one fellow took it to a new level when he stole a customer’s fries from the drive-through of a Wendy’s. [Vancouver Sun]

• The New York Times explains why we lie awake at 2 a.m. thinking about that tube of raw cookie dough in the freezer. [New York Times]

• Preserving without the preservatives: more Canadians are canning their locally bought ingredients, reviving a nearly dead tradition that allegedly makes for more nourishing food. [Canadian Press]

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June 22, 2009 | 1:08 pm

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Warning: See Food Inc. on an empty stomach

The most disturbing thing in Food, Inc.—director Robert Kenner’s caustic documentary about North America’s industrial food industry—is a chicken. But not any chicken. Obese, overfed and pumped full of antibiotics, the bird in question waddles through an overcrowded, feces-strewn coop. Its tiny bones can’t support its unnatural girth, so its legs buckle and crumple every few steps. Eventually, it collapses, plopping into the excrement and dust of the coop, its beak gaping. This chicken is effective shorthand for everything Kenner finds wrong with the unnatural system of industrial-scale food production the world has come to rely on.

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