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Toronto Life - The Wire

The comprehensive index of every blog post, magazine story and restaurant review that appears on Torontolife.com

All stories relating to junk food

The Dish

Read All About It
October 7, 2009 | 1:48 pm

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The Simpsons eat right in Britain, the best brown-bag lunches, mini kiwis hit the Brick Works

Can Homer go healthy? (Photo by Benjamin Thompson)

Can Homer go healthy? (Photo by Benjamin Thompson)

• In a bid to persuade Britons to eat healthier, the U.K’s Department of Health is sponsoring episodes of The Simpsons, to the tune of £640,000 ($1 million). The animated commercials will showing a Simpsons-esque family eating junk food that slowly morphs into healthier alternatives. May we suggest a better way to get citizens healthier would be to have them turn off the television entirely and get some exercise? After all, you don’t make friends with salad. [National Post]

• For those with kids complaining about the lack of variety in their lunches, the Washington Post has saved the day. The paper asked four pros to design a month’s worth of lunches, fit for even the sparkliest Dora the Explorer lunch bag. The flavourful options are healthy and low-calorie and even includes a week of vegan options. The menu had us looking at our own brown bags and wondering if we could swap with the kids. [Washington Post]

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The Dish

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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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The Dish

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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)

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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The Dish

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July 7, 2009 | 10:17 am

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Seal meat on the rise, New Yorkers in the Junction, marriage linked to obesity

• Seal meat is the hot entrée at Montreal restaurants a month after the Governor General Michaëlle Jean horrified vegans by eating raw seal, proving that when it comes to good eating, diners are unmoved by cuteness. Perhaps PETA’s campaign to stop the consumption of fish—by renaming them “sea-kittens”—might actually backfire. [New York Times]

• Corey Mintz strives to prove that there are good Mexican restaurants in Toronto. His weekend review of fancy Frida, mid-priced Milagro and straight-up Rebozos reveals that authentic Mexican can be found at every price point. But while he made us crave citrus ceviche, we’d like to point out that all the restaurants he visited are all north of St. Clair. Luckily, Milagro has a second location in the entertainment district. [Toronto Star]

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The Dish

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May 16, 2009 | 9:00 am

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New Toronto street food launches, Stephen Colbert goes foodie

• Toronto is finally launching its new street food program this weekend with a variety of ethnic food. But famed cookbook writer Naomi Duguid is less than impressed with the execution, which has priced out many potential vendors. [Toronto Star]

• Health Canada is considering allowing junk food producers to add nutrients to their products. We’re suspicious that the somewhat creepy initiative will do little to improve the health and well-being of Twinkie lovers. [CBC]

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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)

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 18, 2009 | 8:08 am

1 Comment

It’s in the bag: Canadians show Doritos what flavour means

The great unknown: Canadians name the next Dorito

Canadians name the next Dorito

It’s Canadian Idol meets the munchies. That’s the idea behind Doritos’ Become the Guru competition—an irresistibly gimmicky, consumer-in-charge ad campaign that invites Canadians to name a new mystery chip flavour for the handsome reward of $25,000 cash, plus one per cent of the product’s Canadian sales. The price of victory? Somewhere between William Hung stardom and ritual humiliation. To cash in, contestants choose a name for the new incarnation of chip—suggestions range from the sedately descriptive “Hotcho Cheese” to the more outrageous “Louisiana Voodoo”—and make a 30-second TV ad to sell their concept. There’s no time like recession time to promise fame and fortune.

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