I’ve always been cranky about the lack of good bread in Toronto. I grew up in Vancouver, where (the city’s sleepy, provincial nature notwithstanding) the bread was nothing short of fabulous. If you lived in or near downtown, at least, you could find inventive, beautifully made boules, bloomers, baguettes and braids from Terra Breads or Eco Il Pane, both of whom had mastered the trick of delivering a dependable, fresh supply of their many products—complete with firm, crunchy crust and chewy, perfectly developed crumb—to better food stores and satellite bakeries around the city.

When I lived in New York for a year, the inexpensive little greengrocer where I used to shop on the Upper West Side stocked a walnut and date loaf that could make almost any foodie drool—and that was at an everyday shop. The last time I was in the city, I counted breads from more than 26 thriving artisanal bakeries on the shelves of just one midtown specialty store.

And in Montreal, where in many quarters good bread is seen as a birthright, I used to stop daily at Première Moisson, a city chain of 15 stores with a range of loaves, tarts, croissants and pastries that are every bit as good as you’ll find in Paris.

And then, well, Toronto. Fred’s Breads were good, I quickly realized when I moved here, if you could find them. Ace Bakery, the city’s reigning quality bread company, made a good baguette, but try, outside of the Summerhill-Rosedale-Yorkville corridor, to find a fresh one on a Friday or Saturday afternoon. (I’ve always had the impression that Ace cares much more about its mass-market business of shipping frozen, par-baked baguettes to Costcos and supermarkets across the U.S. than mastering the market here in town.) The St. Lawrence Market, pride of Toronto’s gastronomic classes, was, aside from the bagels at St. Urbain, a bread dead zone—I’d rather buy my sawdust directly from the lumberyard, thanks. And though our city had a small contingent of tiny, excellent artisanal bread concerns—like Epi Breads, Thuet, Le Comptoir de Célestin, St. John’s Bakery and Brick Street Bakery—it most often took a pilgrimage to procure one of their loaves.

And then, something happened. The east end got a dedicated St. John’s shop, as well as Brick Street Breads, master baker Simon Silander’s spinoff of the aforementioned Brick Works shop (it’s set to open later this month). The deep burbs got good bread at last, with Burlington’s Pane Fresco, the life’s work of baker Marc Albane, who is spinning out some of the best fougasse, rustic boules and croissants I’ve tried in a while. And most recently—and, yes, surprisingly—Dominion and A&P, those middle-of-the-road grocery stores owned by the Great Atlantic & Pacific Tea Company, made one of the best product-line decisions in years. Those stores are now stocking breads from Première Moisson, my beloved Montreal chain. The loaves aren’t quite as good as you find at the bakery’s shops in Quebec—the one I used to frequent, at the Atwater Market, even used a brick oven. They’re par-baked, then finished at A&P and Dominion’s in-store bakeries, and they don’t quite have the crust that they should. (I recommend spraying them with water, or even passing them under the tap, then finishing them for a couple minutes in a hot oven—the water helps develop the crust a little more fully.) That said, they’re far and away the best grocery store loaves around, and they rival what even some of the specialty shops can do.

Should local bakeries be upset that a Toronto-based grocery chain turned to Montreal for good bread? Absolutely. They should be upset at themselves. Meantime, it’s suddenly a lot easier for the masses to get the good stuff. And it’s about time.

You can’t spend more than a couple minutes reading a food magazine—or, I’ll admit, Toronto Life—these days without being told about the benefits of eating fresh and local. And the pinnacle of this practice is probably growing your own, which can seem a bit overwhelming at times. But anybody with a bit of space in the sun, and a few extra minutes each week to water, can grow tomatoes that are far better than what you’ll find in the store. This Saturday, May 19, a local group called Urban Harvest is holding a plant sale at 360 Dufferin Street. You’ll find plenty of heirloom tomatoes there, and it’s the perfect time to plant. For more information, call 416-504-1653.

Also this weekend, Terroir, the annual wine celebration in Prince Edward County. Between 1 p.m. and 6 p.m. on Saturday, most of the very promising wine region’s best wineries and many of its restaurants will pour and plate their best for guests at Picton’s gorgeous Crystal Palace. Tickets are a very reasonable $20 in advance, $25 at the door (additional wine tasting costs a bit extra). Visit www.thecountywines.com for tickets and info.