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French not crazy about Julia Child, Maple Leaf Gardens has a future, top food-buying trends of 2009

Pricey ice cream takes hit in 2009 (Photo by Monsieur Gordon)

• Retail analysts have released a list of 10 Canadian food-buying habits in 2009, and they’re all of a totally unsurprising theme: cheaper (lentils instead of chicken), less (leftovers instead of groceries) and trading down (Breyers instead of Häagen-Dazs). Missing from the list: free (the dumpster behind Ace Bakery). [Globe and Mail]

• Julie and Julia premieres in France this week, and ex-pat Americans are shocked to discover that French people don’t really know or care about Julia Child or her cookbooks. In the words of one Parisian, Child’s culinary style is “the vision of a revisited France, adapted to the American taste, at a time when tastes were lifeless.” Sacre bleu. [New York Times]

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September 15, 2009 | 9:19 am

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Busting the bubbly, how not to be a “label whore,” suing Seinfeld

• It’s been a bad year for champagne: global sales fell by 19 per cent in the first half of this year. As a consequence of the reduced demand, grape growers have been forced to leave vast amounts of perfectly ripe grapes to wither on the vine. Philippe Gué, who supplies grapes to Veuve Clicquot, says he will be abandoning a third of his crop–enough for 20,000 bottles of champagne. [Independent]

• The Canadian government is set to abandon a plan that would have allowed the food industry to imbue junk food with vitamins and minerals. While the prospect of transforming Mars bars into superfoods is appealing, public health officials were apparently concerned that the move could instigate an increase in junk food consumption. On the bright side, we’ll be spared the predictably cheesy marketing slogans touting the health benefits of unhealthy snacks. [Canwest]

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Aprons & Icons

July 29, 2009 | 12:38 pm

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Cookbook fracas: Susur Lee, Marc Thuet and other Toronto foodies displeased as Canadians left out of 100 Emerging Culinary Stars

Shut out: Canadian chefs have been left out of COCO

Backcountry bias: COCO: 100 Emerging Culinary Stars Chosen by 10 of the World’s Greatest Chefs snubs Canuck chefs

The country’s top chefs and food writers are outraged that an upcoming book profiling the world’s 100 most promising chefs does not include any Canadians. The 448-page book titled COCO: 100 Emerging Culinary Stars Chosen by 10 of the World’s Greatest Chefs will also contain recipes by these young, non-Canadian chefs. When Toronto writer Shaun Smith learned that there is still one slot left in the book, he promptly started a letter-writing campaign to the COCO’s British publisher, Phaidon, making the case for squeezing in some CanCon.

The letter (full text below) explains how disappointed the signatories are with the list. It’s an impressive collection of names: 24 of Canada’s top chefs and food writers have thrown their support behind Smith’s campaign, including Susur Lee, Jamie Kennedy, Marc Thuet, Anthony Walsh, Guy Rubino, Anne Yarymowich, Lucy Waverman and Toronto Life’s own James Chatto.

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The Dish

Aprons & Icons

June 19, 2009 | 10:35 am

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Ted Reader wants to take backyard barbecue to gourmet heights

Plankhead: Ted Read at The Cookbook Store yesterday

Plankhead: Ted Reader at the Cookbook Store yesterday

Yesterday’s rain didn’t stop barbecue king Ted Reader from grilling up a storm at Yorkville’s Cookbook Store, where he was signing copies of his new (and already award-winning) book, Napoleon’s Everyday Gourmet Plank Grilling. This is the chef’s third tribute to his favourite smoking technique, which involves barbecuing food by placing it on a slab of wood rather than on a grill. Reader’s new recipes reveal how to plank-cook everything from steak and burgers to lasagna and Twinkies. The chef is appearing this afternoon at First Canadian Place, where he’ll be doing additional cooking and fielding questions from those looking for last-minute Father’s Day ideas. Reader will also give away a Napoleon Travel Q portable grill (with which he’s travelled the country), among other prizes.

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May 30, 2009 | 9:00 am

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Indie coffee shop cred questioned, inmates growing their own veggies, organic produce prices will continue to rise

• Toronto’s small coffee shops are opening second and sometimes third outposts in the city, raising questions about their indie credibility. [National Post]

• Mississauga Secondary School is doing away with the unhealthy pizzas and burgers in its cafeteria, instead serving its students healthy wraps, subs and soups—and winning awards in the process. [Mississauga News]

• Last fall brought a flood of tomes by celebrity chefs, but the newest releases are a batch of idiosyncratic cookbooks on Argentine- and Cajun-style cooking, and preparing the perfect taco. There must be a can-do spirit in the air. [New York Times]

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May 20, 2009 | 5:01 pm

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Crustacean celebrations, Vaseline pie crusts, Sean Avery’s new bar

The mayors of P.E.I. advise partying with lobsters (Photo by Keven Law)

The mayors of P.E.I. recommend partying with lobsters (Photo by Keven Law)

• Plummeting lobster prices and reduced demand are prompting P.E.I. mayors to encourage the rest of the country to hold lobster parties to help out the east coast’s fishing industry. [CBC]

• Scientists offer tips on how to store chocolate, saying that the stuff can remain delicious for years if kept under the right temperatures and humidity levels (though why a box of chocolates would last more than a week in someone’s house is a mystery to us). [CP]

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Rumours & Rumblings

May 12, 2009 | 8:41 am

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Chef Greg Couillard takes a Hemingway-esque departure from the Spice Room

The logo of the Spice Room bears Couillard's name

Yorkville’s schmoozy Spice Room chef, Greg Couillard, has skipped town for Mexico once again, leaving long-time colleague and fellow chef David Nganga to hold down the fort—only this time, it’s for an indefinite period. No, Couillard’s not a fugitive bandido, but there may be reason to believe that the unceremonious departure is about more than just sun worship.

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May 5, 2009 | 7:54 am

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Elderly etiquette, Parkdale Potluck, and pork barriers continue to go up

Come and get it, guys folks. (Photo by Wells Dunbar)

Come and get it, folks. (Photo by Wells Dunbar)

• When dining at a restaurant, senior citizens don’t like to be referred to as “guys,” would like to have a glass of water right away, and would like all their cutlery laid out immediately. This according to curmudgeon Don Crossley, whose 900-word gripe also recommends portion sizes and serving tips. [Burlington Post]

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Aprons & Icons

April 24, 2009 | 7:03 am

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Christine Cushing wants to teach “lovable losers” how to cook

Fearless: Christine Cushing takes aim

Spirited TV chef Christine Cushing is on a mission to transform Toronto’s “hopeless lovable losers” into confident cooks on her new reality series, Fearless in the Kitchen. The show, which premieres this fall on the Viva Network, is one part Kitchen Nightmares and two parts Makeover Story. Episodes will feature true cooking amateurs—who will have been tested to prove that they can’t even fry an egg—being treated to lessons by Cushing (for whom “failure is not an option”). Fearless promises all the voyeuristic appeal we’ve come to expect from this sort of endeavour, complete with laughable neophytes, surprise challenges and, as Cushing puts it, a little bit of “oh crap, what’s gonna happen?”

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The Dish

Aprons & Icons

April 13, 2009 | 12:25 pm

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TV chef Laura Calder moves to Toronto and wants to teach us to pour a great glass of water

Laura Calder, home in Hogtown

The Food Network’s effervescent face of modern French fare, Laura Calder, is bringing her continental expertise home to Toronto. The long-time expat and host of French Food at Home, who has been stationed in Paris for the better part of a decade, landed back in her native Canada earlier this year with a not-too-shabby James Beard Foundation Award nomination, a new book, and a mission to update the artery-clogging cream-and-butter concept of French gastronomy.

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April 7, 2009 | 12:33 pm

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Beer banned at Jays games, organic food sales decline, Jews protest at the LCBO

Beer-free benches (Photo by ConspiracyofHappiness)

• Watch out for the seventh inning kvetch: the Rogers Centre has two beerless Jays games (and one football match) coming up, thanks to a temporary ban on booze. One game-goer, who bought almost 600 seats to a no-tipple event, is livid that tickets were sold without warning. [Toronto Sun]

• Manischewitz may seem a curious flashpoint for Middle Eastern politics, but police broke up a demonstration outside an LCBO where pro-Palestinian Jewish activists were announcing their boycott of Israeli kosher wine. We don’t think a friendly drink will solve this one. [UPI]

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The Dish

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March 27, 2009 | 8:51 am

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Charging for tap water, ATM-style coffee, the return of Jamie Oliver

The Naked Chef outsells Harry Potter (Photo by Really Short)

• Though he’s been in Britain’s bad books often over the past decade, Naked Chef Jamie Oliver is back. He became the country’s best-selling author when his latest cookbook, Ministry of Food, sold a record 11.7 million copies, surpassing the sales of even J.K. Rowling. [The Guardian]

• Some Toronto restaurants are now charging $1 for the city’s piped water. This is not the next trend in water snobbery: funds raised go to a UNICEF project that provides clean drinking water to children in developing countries. [Toronto Star]

• Things got heated in the kitchen when New York Times foodies staged a dinner duel. Critics Kim Severson and Julia Moskin each cooked up a lavish meal on the shoestring budget of $8.50 a head. Heavyweight critic Frank Bruni settled the score. [New York Times]

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The Dish

Pantry Raid

March 20, 2009 | 8:20 am

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Bacon, bacon everywhere: Toronto gets reacquainted with a fatty friend

Sweet and savoury: The ??? at Yummy Stuff

Sweet and savoury: a chocolate-oatmeal cupcake with maple-bacon buttercream at Yummy Stuff

During a recent event at the Coupe Space in Leslieville, the author Jennifer McLagan held a discussion of her book Fat: An Appreciation of a Misunderstood Ingredient. Demonstrating the virtues of this long-derided ingredient, she concocted and served a delicious sweet—bacon brittle. It was the latest in a long list of unusual bacon sightings. Torontonians are finding the cured meat everywhere as more and more local shops, bakeries and restaurants rediscover the fatty friend and work it into their wares. Canoe is serving bacon toffee crunch with its date pudding, and The Mercantile on Roncesvalles is stuffing its gift baskets with Vosges bacon chocolate bars, bacon salt and “baconaisse.”

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The Dish

Aprons & Icons

February 9, 2009 | 9:28 am

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Gordon Ramsay titillates Toronto

If Gordon Ramsay is in Toronto, who is making culinary train wrecks cry on reality television? The famed British restaurateur—known as much for his Michelin stars as his bone-shaking expletives—is in Toronto today for the Canadian leg of his book tour. Gordon Ramsay’s Healthy Appetite is the newest addition to his bibliography, bringing his tally up to 11 publications, including a tell-all autobiography entitled Humble Pie. The former footballer’s appearance on The Hour this evening promises plenty of heated discussion. We can’t guarantee that he’ll dish on rumours of a Toronto restaurant (frequent trips to the city, among other tip-offs, have raised suspicion that England’s iron chef might have his eye on 1 Bloor St. E.), but Ramsay’s previous interviews with Toronto’s own George Stroumboulopoulos cooked up much amusement—it turns out that Ramsay’s loose-tongued manner is not an act. He talks straight (and sometimes dirty) on his own eating habits, troubled boyhood and celebrity status. Perhaps this time, he will let loose on being cast as a Christian role model.

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