ETHICAL GOURMET / Remind me to Tell You About the Time I Looked in the Heart of an Artichoke

Stratford Chef School Co-founder, Eleanor Kane & Chef Andrew George Jr. BY BRYAN LAVERY DigiWriting Book Marketing Agency (producers of the Stratford Writers Festival) launched Appetite for Words: A Literary Festival with a Culinary Twist! at Stratford Chef School at end of October 2017, with Chef Andrew George Jr. At the literary-themed dinners, food is paired with the author’s readings, so participants can taste the words they’re hearing. Canada 150 has been a year-long celebration of the sesquicentennial of Canadian confederation. Fifty years ago the Canada Pavilion at Expo 67, Canada’s centennial celebration in Montreal, contributed to strengthening a powerful cultural unity. At the time the pavilion’s two restaurants were seen as providing a national culinary narrative. Restaurant La Toundra, operated by CN Hotels, served a Katimavik (which means “meeting place” in the Inuktitut language) Special that included chilled Okanogan apple juice and “To

Making Pasta in Emilia- Romagna, Italy 1999 BY BRYAN LAVERY When I was a young teenager, our friends and family reacted like we were moving to Mars when we left Toronto to move to our cottage at Rice Lake. Our parents fulfilled a long-held dream when they purchased the cottage with a hilltop location and an acre of cedar forest backing on to the Ouse River. The site had previously been part of much larger farm acreage. The cottage was a prefabricated shell with no amenities, in my unformed mind a zeitgeist in the back-to-the-earth spirit of the times, a handyman’s special that we idealized and had the potential to be transformed into our dream home. At first, I thought we had landed in paradise, taking a cue from my parents who behaved like we had inherited heaven on earth. It was a convincing gambit that betrayed no hint of the hardships and sacrifices ahead. We briefly emulated the type of television family that enjoyed the solidarity of breaking bread

Manisay Visouvath and Fouzan (Rafael) Beg are the proprietors of Thaifoon, downtown London’s upmarket Thai restaurant. The restaurant remains a family affair. Visouvath is the youngest sister of Eddy and Alex Phimprhrachanh’s mother, Arounvaty, who is the head chef at Thaifoon and the matriarch of a Thai food dynasty in the city. Several of Arounvaty’s sisters have opened successful Thai restaurants in the city after being mentored in the kitchen by her.   Visouvath was born in the Southeast Asian country and came to Canada with her parents in 1980. Rafael is from Hyderabad India.  (Hyderabadi cuisine comprises a broad repertoire of rice, grains and meat dishes and the skilled use of various spices –  Indian cuisine has a longer, slower burn, rather than the sharper, built-up spiciness of Thai cuisine .)  Thaifoon’s with-it and tasteful take on the ancient Thai culture, with a décor that honours the past while embracing modernity, has earned both raves and admiration

Yue Minjun  (born 1962) is a contemporary Chinese artist based in Beijing, China. He is best known for oil paintings depicting himself in various settings, frozen in laughter. A couple of prints of his work hang in the dining room at Wing's Kitchen. BY BRYAN LAVERY Brief Overview Nov8 Nov8 Nov8 is a brand new, contemporary Chinese restaurant in the premises formerly occupied by Nov8 Sushi, located in the Costco plaza at Wonderland north of Oxford.  The owners of Nove8 are expanding the definition of Chinese food by skillfully combining traditional and contemporary sensibilities – in the décor, cooking and presentation. Try the stewed pork belly over onions with roasted garlic. Ask for the hot, salty and crispy chicken sparked with ginger, sesame oil and dried hot chilies. The combination works beautifully especially if you like heat. Crisp-tender baby bok choy with meaty, earthy shitake mushrooms glazed in oyster

Kitchen Smidgen  is a small bakery — a smidgen of a spot along the beautiful Thames in St. Marys operated by Cindy Taylor. Stop by for sweet and savoury treats; perhaps pick up some C’est bon cheese or Transvaal Farm preserves. Taylor’s cinnamon buns and scones have a bit of a cult following.  www.kitchensmidgen.com BY BRYAN LAVERY To bond with the rural charm that defines Perth County, consider day-tripping by car and staying in farmhouses or farm guest houses. Agritourism, as it is defined most commonly, constitutes any agriculturally-based operation that brings visitors to a farm. Many agro-tourists have a strong interest in all things culinary. They want to meet the local farmers, artisans and processors and talk with them about what is involved in food production while getting an authentic taste of rural life.   In Perth County, culinary entrepreneurs continue to develop fresh takes on the farm-to-table ethos while examining the roots of local cuisine and de