In the past few years, Toronto has been overrun by gourmet dining options of the fattening variety. Whether they’re serving gourmet poutine made with duck confit or lovingly hand-crafted burgers topped with rosemary mayo, some of the hottest places to eat are also the fattiest. That may be one of the reasons that a new study has found Canadians are getting chunky, even compared to the residents of other wealthy countries (well, not the U.S., U.K. or Australia).
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Canadians are fat, even by rich-people standards
Five things we learned about Tim Hortons from the recent Maclean’s exposé
Always fresh? (Image: Ann Baekken)
The paradox represented by Tim Hortons‘ “always fresh” frozen doughnuts got a thorough examination last week in a long Maclean’s feature examining why Archibald Jollymore, former executive vice-president, and others are launching a whopping $1.95-billion class action lawsuit against the doughnut chain. The case pits Jollymore, a cousin of Tim’s co-founder Ron Joyce, against current president (and Joyce’s successor) Paul D. House, and is laced with the family feuding, backhanded commentary, executive rivalries and all the other prerequisites for a juicy corporate scandal.
Here, five things we learned about Canada’s doughnut titan.
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Turns out that disposable chopsticks are an environmental nightmare
Sticky situation: eating implements create environmental problems (Image: Mykl Roventine)
Toronto loves Asian food. Witness the city’s endless supply of sushi restaurants and packed Chinese eateries— declared some of the best in North America. But all that glory and love comes with a hefty price: the burgeoning ecological disaster that is the disposable chopstick. In China, a jaw-dropping 100 acres of trees are felled per day to keep up with demand for the disposable utensils, according to Greenpeace China. That works out to about 16 to 25 million trees per year.
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Warning: President’s Choice cookies may contain shrapnel
Loblaws is recalling some of its President’s Choice Decadent Chocolate Chunk Cookies after someone came to the unfortunate discovery of small, round pieces of metal in the doughy snacks. The shards are about one millimeter in diameter. All packages have been pulled off the shelves and stores are offering a full refund for those who have already bought the cookies.
• President’s Choice cookies recalled [CBC]
• In store baked President’s Choice Decadent Chocolate Chunk Cookies May Contain Small Metal Pieces [Canadian Food Inspection Agency]
Prisoners at Toronto detention centre go on hunger strike
Connoisseurs of penitentiary cuisine may be interested in knowing that the East Toronto Detention Centre in Scarborough has been getting some rather poor reviews of late. The critics—300 of the detention centre’s inmates—are so appalled with the food that they are going on hunger strike. They claim that fruits and vegetables are a rarity and that chicken is served only about once a month. In addition to complaining about the poor quality of the food, prisoners also say the portions are too small. One prisoner even told the Star that he knows the food could be better because he’s been in many different jails and has had better grub. Looks like we were misinformed—being a wise guy doesn’t get you better meals in prison.
• Prisoners go on hunger strike over bad food [Toronto Star]
Forget the five-second rule—food eaten off the ground is always nasty
According to a new article in National Geographic, the zero-second rule should replace the five-second rule. Not that anyone took these regulations seriously, anyway, but a study from Clemson University has concluded that bacteria can be transferred to food as soon as it hits the ground. Some scientists are saying that where the food is dropped is more important than how long it’s been on the ground. Food dropped on the sidewalk, for example, might be more salvageable for the truly waste-wary than food dropped on the kitchen floor, which collects more dangerous bacteria. For those who were wondering, the bathroom floor is also, apparently, a terrible place from which to reclaim dropped food.
• Scientists count five-second rule down to zero for safety [Toronto Star]
Shafted by the G20, 40 Toronto street food vendors are seeking compensation for lost revenue
G20 fallout: street food vendors join the chorus of the screwed (Image: Rashomon, from the torontolife.com Flickr pool)
Street food vendors in Toronto are not a happy bunch. First, there was the whole A La Cart debacle that saw enterprising entrepreneurs stymied by bureaucracy and weird financing rules. Now, 40 street vendors, who were forced to leave their spots around the Metro Toronto Convention Centre for 19 days as a result of the G20, are seeking compensation from the government.
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Ottawa resto-bar bans babies, begins brawl
It all started simply enough: a new restaurant in the south end of Ottawa, Taylor’s Wine and Food Bar, was welcoming a patron who was investigating the restaurant in advance of a birthday dinner for her sister. Then, Trieste Rathwell mentioned that the table of five would need a sixth seat for her three-month-old nephew in his car seat. That’s when Sylvia Taylor, co-owner of the restaurant, told her that small children were not welcome in the restaurant, prompting a brouhaha that has spilled out into Ottawa’s newspapers and radio waves.
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Two Canadian restaurants make the S. Pellegrino top 100
Langdon Hall: 800 pro foodies can't be wrong (Image: langdonhall.ca)
The much-anticipated list of S. Pellegrino World’s Best Restaurants 2010 was announced in London yesterday in front of the world’s finest chefs, most influential restaurateurs and members of the international press. It appears that two Canadian culinary gems have caught the eye of the academy, and one of them is in the GTA.
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Junk food and cocaine pretty much the same thing: study
Jonesin' (Image: Alexey Krasavin)
Science is perfecting the art of proving the patently obvious. A new study published in Nature Neuroscience recounts how lab rats that were fed bacon, sausage and cheesecake became dependent on the high-calorie goodies in order to feel good. The co-author writes that, much like other pleasurable activities (sex, drug use), eating can trigger the release of feel-good chemicals in the brain, which can lead to addictive behaviour. The rats that were given the high-fat diet also had access to healthy rat chow, but they ignored it. This all demonstrates two things that have been evident for decades to any pet owner who’s gone through a breakup: 1) fat feels good, and 2) the deliciousness of sausage transcends the animal kingdom.
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The Daily Dish loses a word, but nothing else
Today, torontolife.com launches the two latest additions to our roster of blogs: The Informer, dealing with the news of the day; and The Hype, which gives our take on entertainment and culture. In light of these changes, we felt as though our eating and drinking blog deserved a second look. We hope you enjoy our more intuitive navigation tools, more streamlined style and new name: The Dish.
As health problems pile up, Toronto creates a new urban food strategy
Dr. David McKeown (Photo by Toronto Emergency Management Symposium)
The board of health is proposing a new food strategy that hopes to provide families across the city with better access to food. The public health department released its consultation paper this week and hopes to have some solid ideas presented to city council by the end of the spring. David McKeown, Toronto’s medical officer of health, told the Globe:
The food system that we have now, broadly, was developed in the postwar period and was really designed to keep prices low and maximize the amount of food that goes out there. But that food, despite the fact that food prices are relatively low historically, is still not affordable for people who are of low income.
Bathroom sex at Mildred’s: the gift that keeps on giving (to the media)
Forget the Olympics—this week, Canada is known as the country that lets patrons get it on in restaurant washrooms. News of the Valentine’s Day special at Mildred’s Temple Kitchen has exploded on the Internet, with coverage in Romania, Portugal and Hong Kong. In the States, outlets UPI, the Huffington Post, Drudge Report and the Village Voice (which makes the obligatory Purell joke) have picked up the story.
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The world’s most outrageous foods, why winter tomatoes are hateful, calorie labels might actually be effective
This Wendy's menu in New York lists calories (Photo by Ed Yourdon)
• A new study at Stanford University confirms that in-restaurant calorie counts change eating behaviour. In New York, where the labels have taken effect, Dunkin’ Donuts has lost at least three per cent of its business. A bill to bring similar labels to Ontario restaurants was introduced at Queen’s Park last year but has an uncertain future. [The Atlantic]
• McDonald’s customers are being told to “stay awhile” by a new proprietary entertainment network that reverses the chain’s fast-food ethos. More than just a new revenue stream, the in-house McDonald’s Channel would entice diners to kick back while slurping high-profit coffees and desserts. [NRN]
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Menus trick diners into spending more, $26.50 brownie mix, the manliest cooking magazine
The brownie mix from Bouchon
• Amy Pataki taste-tests a $26.50 brownie mix from the bastion of expensive cooking supplies, Williams-Sonoma. The mix, modelled on Thomas Keller’s Bouchon Bakery chocolate “corks,” fared better than the Duncan Hines and Betty Crocker mixes she also baked, but the brownies were a pain to make, and so buttery they stained the photographer’s table, and overall were not worth the money. A $26.50 jar of powder rarely is. [Toronto Star] Read the rest of this entry »
• Globe restaurant critic Alexandra Gill turns the tables, so to speak, when she takes up a waitress gig at one of Vancouver’s hottest restaurants, Cioppino’s. Spoiler alert: it’s harder than she thought. Gill struggles with the Saturday shift, incorrectly calls the chef by his name (in kitchens, the chef is always referred to as “chef”) and has trouble memorizing the daily specials. Perhaps after these new life lessons, Gill will have a few memorable posts for the myriad angry waiter blogs. [Globe and Mail]
