The cupcake reign: when will it end? (Photo by Lara)

• Unlike this year, summer 2007 was one of Ontario’s sunniest in recent memory. Vintners are calling it the province’s best-ever grape growing season and heralding 2007 wines as a marquee vintage. Bottles hit LCBO stores this week. [Globe and Mail]

• Cupcake sales in the U.K. have increased by 50 per cent in the last year, spawning an entire industry of “5-to-9ers”: eager entrepreneurs who arrive home from their day jobs and bake all night, selling their lucrative sweets to bakeries in the morning. Good for them, bad for the nation’s dental reputation. [The Independent]

• The Boston Globe profiles a home cook’s favourite recipe, fondly entitled “The Dump”: corn, potatoes, sausage and seafood are boiled together, then dumped in a heap on a paper-lined table. No cutlery or plates necessary. [Boston Globe]

• The director of Toronto company Eatertainment, caterer to the stars and a TIFF veteran, dishes on the big food trends of this year’s film festival. What the stars are ordering: stand-and-eat mini-foods like vegetable terrines. Laid-back comfort food trumping fancy sit down dinners in Toronto? Why are we not surprised? [Globe and Mail]

• Leading up to a possible fall election, the conservative government has earmarked $75 million dollars for food safety in an effort to avoid crises like last summer’s listeriosis outbreak. [Canada.com]