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

Food Literacy and Growing Chefs! BY BRYAN LAVERY   Food literacy when taken literally means a person’s ability to correctly read food labels and Canada’s Food Guide – and the aptitude to comprehend basic nutrition well enough to apply that knowledge to food preparation. Food literacy also includes understanding how food is grown and produced, where it originates, how production affects the environment and who has access to what types of foods. The need to introduce food into school life is the most compelling at the primary level, when children are just starting to establish food preferences, make independent choices and influence their friends. Growing Chefs! was conceived in Vancouver B.C. by chef Merri Schwartz in 2006, as she identified a need to articulate the story of the food we eat. Believing in greater engagement between chefs, farmers and the general public, she set out to educate children, families, and community members about nutrition, sustainab

Toronto Christmas Market 2016 For a sixth year, the Toronto Christmas Market is showcasing all the romance and splendour of a traditional European Christmas market. Selected as one of the World's 10 Best Holiday Markets by Fodor's Travel and Jetlegs, the Toronto Christmas Market at the Distillery Historic District is the ideal place to rediscover the romance of a Dickensian-inspired Christmas Market. Christmas Markets, known as Christkindlmarkts, have been a German tradition for 700 years. Christmas markets are an especially festive, anticipated event, bringing light and merriment to a cold, dark time of the year. Each town traditionally had a unique and distinctive street market to celebrate the season. Local tradesmen sold their wares at these markets, giving each market an individual flavour and personality. The food and beverages being offer were traditionally regional, so each town's offerings were truly unique to the area. Tradesme

Hot Foodie Trends for Culinary Enthusiasts in 2016  BY BRYAN LAVERY For over a decade, I have been a food trend chronicler of sorts. Keeping tabs on the trends requires being an avid reader of menus, cultural cookbooks, restaurant reviews and scrutinizing a wide variety of food and drink publications and, of course, reading other food writing. I am interested in how food trends became part of the culinary landscape and shape both the restaurant industry and the consumer at large. To keep up-to-date on the latest culinary developments, I frequently dine out, attend food events, preview dinners and engage with culinary innovators, early adopters, chefs, farmers, food artisans and “culinary visionaries” in fields like nutrition, food policy and the environment. Professional tastemakers and trend analysts use a variety of ways to gauge what’s hot and what’s not.   I always keep in mind that there is a distinction to be made between tr

An Off-Season Look at Stratford BY BRYAN LAVERY   It may be the end of another Stratford Festival season which brought diners in droves to the city for prix fixe menus, but the city’s restaurant community continues to be open for business and not just for the locals. Stratford has been known for decades for setting the benchmark when it comes to dining, but until just a few years ago it wasn ’ t feasible for many of the restaurants to operate year-round. But that has changed. A full calendar of exhibitions and special culinary events, music programming, and lots of restaurants, cafés, food specialty shops, bakeries, farmers’ markets, epicurean treks, galleries, antique shops and a wide-ranging system of parks and recreation along the Avon River means that there is plenty to do in Stratford during the off-season.   Savour Stratford has had successes in steadily increasing the awareness of the many and diverse offerings of Stratfor

      Black George and TOOK: The Remake of the Modern Ontario Restaurant BY BRYAN LAVERY   Fine dining isn't disappearing. It is transforming into something fresh, as self-determining restaurateurs just keep changing and redefining it with new concepts and interactive experiences. But what is driving the change? As independent restaurant concepts continue to evolve, changing demand creates the need for new ways to enhance the customer experience. Restaurants that continue to grow and even prosper are usually the ones that are most willing and readily able to adapt to changing trends. Today’s modern restaurants are about feasting, sharing, authenticity, quality ingredients and celebrating the craft and tradition of farmers, chefs, winemakers and brewers. We are living in an age when pioneering chefs wield unprecedented influence, and some of the most innovative among them are finding original ways to utilize unfamiliar and largely neglected