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

BRYAN LAVERY Here we go again. The London City Council is ready to revive the discussion on food trucks in London. As reported by the London Free Press Wednesday, city councilors are reviving the proposal the previous council rejected. Mayor Matt Brown and Councillor Josh Morgan are expected to be pro-food trucks and propose that city staff spend the next month reviving the plan with a view to launching a pilot program this summer. The request is expected to go to the Community and Protective Services Committee tonight. Last year, the London Food Truck Pilot reignited debate and Community and Protective Services Committee  voted 5-0 to refer the food truck pilot proposal back to a special meeting. The issue has been a hotly debated for two years.  Among the more disappointing proposals was a recommended cap of 12 trucks and a lottery for licences. City council eventually decided, by an 8-6 vote, not to permit f ood trucks on City of London streets. The unanticipated decis

By BRYAN LAVERY Dining at T.G.’s Addis Ababa is characterized by the ritual breaking of  injera ( the traditional yeast-risen flatbread which is spongy in texture, crèpe-like in appearance with sourdough tanginess) and sharing food from a communal platter signifying the bonds of loyalty and friendship. For more than a decade, T.G.’s Addis Ababa has offered a tour de force from the Ethiopian culinary repertoire. This is refined Ethiopian cooking.    The modest restaurant is tucked away off-the-beaten-track in an unassuming brick building the south side of Dundas Street, near the corner of Burwell and Maitland. Having avoided the Eritrean – Ethiopian conflict in 1998, with little more than determination and a leap of faith, T.G. was eager to resettle her life in London. It was a tough route that included being detained in the United States for five months before she received refugee status in Canada.  Initially, T.G. was employed at a variety of jobs

    By BRYAN LAVERY   My passion for French cooking was ignited when I travelled through France at age 22. A year later I was asked to run the kitchen at The Vineyard, one of Toronto’s first wine bars. In those days, French cuisine dominated the fine dining scene. My mentor was a serious gastronome who informed and educated my palate by wining and dining me in the most prestigious fine dining institutions in Toronto. All of these establishments — Napoléon, Three Small Rooms, Auberge Gavroche, Fenton’s, Les Cavaliers and the dining rooms at the King Edward Hotel and the Westbury Hotel — were French, and enjoyed august reputations and discerning clientele. The same welcoming hospitality, and the same discreet but impeccable service were extended to everyone. Tastes are transitory and altered sensibilities have brought changes to the cuisine and classic styles of restaurant service that I esteemed in my early career. Good value to the patron does not mean c

Hunter's Precious Metals Junction Flea in Toronto By BRYAN LAVERY London's Old East Village is home to a row of second-hand, vintage, retro and quasi- antique stores, attracting a diverse clientele of vintage aficionados, collectors, dealers and people who have a growing awareness and appreciation for the 20 th century decorative arts and like to score a deal. There is also a diverse vendors market on the 2nd floor of the Western Fair Farmers' Market on Saturdays known as the Artisans’ Market – which is similar to the big city fleas, (think the Brooklyn Flea or the Junction Flea in Toronto),  that are popping up in neighbourhoods all over major urban centres. The 2 nd floor market is also home to the Fire Roasted Coffee roastery and the On the Move Organic production facility, and several other niche culinary businesses like Kosuma Foods, Everything Tea and Dessert Buns. Over the last few years the ever-changing 2 nd floor Artisa

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BY BRYAN LAVERY The end of one year and the beginning of another is the perfect time to re-examine the role of culinary trends as a gauge of popular culture. How we eat, what we eat, and where we eat are all indicators of the larger popular consciousness. Tastemakers and trend analysts use a variety of ways to determine what’s hot and what’s not. The fact is that most gastronomic trends have a shelf life. Technological innovation, food science, increasingly inquisitive customers and rising labour costs will be driving factors in food and beverage trends at restaurants and hotels next year, according to a recent report by food and restaurant consulting firm Baum + Whiteman. The culinary world continues to embrace smartphones, mobile apps and all sorts of devices and programs that interface directly with the consumer. Locally, think of The SmartAPPetite app which communicates to users not only what, when and where local food can be procured, but offer

The Smart APPetite App Stands Out     By BRYAN LAVERY   Recently I was the guest of Dr. Jason Gilliland (HEAL & Dept of Geography at Western) and Margaret Milczarek, the project manager and research associate for the SmartAPPetite initiative, for an outstanding lunch at the Church Key Pub. Dr. Gilliland and I ordered the warm duck salad (which he highly recommended) with duck leg confit on greens, roasted mushrooms, candied almonds, Stilton cheese and white balsamic and raspberry vinaigrette. Milczarek, a passionate food enthusiast, ordered the steamed P.E.I mussels that were served with frites, and brought me up-to-date on several interesting culinary-related activities she had recently attended. We were there to discuss the launch of the smartphone application, or 'app', and an accompanying interactive website that will help make healthy local food more accessible, and its interrelated strategies.   SmartAPPetite is a Western University community