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

Ethically-grounded Economic Behaviour   BY BRYAN LAVERY   Farmers' Market season is over. Romaine lettuce was eight dollars a head at one of my favourite food shops, Vincenzo's in Kitchener. Cauliflower is ten dollars a head at the Covent Garden Market. With escalating grocery prices and the cost of lettuce such as romaine at an all-time high, we can say goodbye to the Caesar salad this winter. The concept of "greedflation" by Canada's largest grocery retailers has appeared as one of the most talked about concerns in the last few months. Food prices continue to increase.  We are living through a gastronomic renaissance, and more than ever, my work puts me in front of the orthodoxy of local food procurement, business incubation, culinary innovation and food start-ups advancing "local" in our food culture. Chefs and restaurateurs that genuinely support farmers and food artisans and pay close attention to the provenance of their ingredients hold a great

Homegrown Bananas – Cultivating Tropical Fruit in Huron County By Bryan Lavery   On a concession road deep in Huron County, about two hours due west of Toronto, you’ll pass many well-established farmsteads. Often referred to as Alice Munro Country, the writer’s birthplace and the subject of her prose, this neck of the woods is characterized as rural and conservative, with ingrained farming practices and stalwart beliefs. Visitors, arriving at Canada Banana Farms, will drive up a lengthy laneway with “No Trespassing” signs, past cords of stacked wood, ending up at a large modern brick house. To the right of the circular drive are three hoop houses and a view of an expansive field and large woodlot. Inside the main hoop house, a path follows the perimeter of the tunnel –shaped 30-foot by 100-foot structure. Surrounded by exotic plants usually found in more temperate climates, Canada Banana Farms, owner and farmer, Laurie Macpherson, is busy planting organic vegetables for harve

Deeply Nuanced Southwest Asian Cuisine at Loloan Lobby Bar   BY BRYAN LAVERY  Paul  Boehmer, a George Brown College graduate, has a well-rounded career including apprenticeships at Michelin starred hotels, Langdon Hall a Relais & Chateaux property, and the iconic Three Small Rooms at Windsor Arms, before opening Bhima’s Warung in 1994. Boehmer travelled on research trips to spend time with home cooks all over the Indonesian archipelago and beyond, documenting recipes. He owned and operated a fine dining restaurant in Bali, Indonesia for five years– which became part of the inspiration for Loloan. When Boehmer opened Bhima’s it was an ambitious undertaking to embrace the spectrum of regional cuisines, and variety of ingredients, spices and cooking methods largely unfamiliar to most diners. Boehmer has made a point of evangelizing cuisines that are less well known while not necessarily sticking to a strictly codified authenticity allowing room for creativity and high qualit

In the summer of 1973, a long total solar eclipse occurred. It was the year that Roe v. Wade made abortion a US constitutional right. It was the summer of Gladys Knight & The Pips, Midnight Train to Georgia. Entrusted with the graveyard shift as the fledgling kitchen manager of one of the first iterations of The Keg, which was then known as the Keg 'n Cleaver, I was not quite eighteen. Solitude boosted my creativity and allowed me to be productive without the constant interruptions and surveillance of a high-volume kitchen during peak hours. There were plenty of psychological advantages to working independently. I enjoyed playing the taped repertoire of jazz and blues to funk and soul recorded for the dining room. The playlist was my initiation to Bette Midler singing "Daytime Hustler" and "Do You Want to Dance," as well as the Pointer Sisters singing, How Long (Betcha Got a Chick on the Side).  Taking on additional duties and using initiative, I worked my w

The Tastes of Expo 67  "...A first-class treat for the ordinary palate, a feast for the greediest gourmand and a paradise for the connoisseur of haute cuisine." By Frank Rasky Finally, at the risk of sounding chauvinistic, I would give my vote to La Toundra in the Canadian pavilion for serving the best all-around meal - in terms of reasonable price, smart décor, fast service and excellent food. Everything in this 650-seat restaurant is done in an Arctic motif.  Igloo murals on the sea-green walls were created by Eskimo artists from Cape Dorset on Baffin Island. The seats are upholstered in authentic sealskin. Three genuine Eskimo girls serve as hostesses, and the bilingual waiters are tastefully decked out in what is called "high Arctic" style: soft tan jackets with black turtleneck sweaters. At $3.50, I had a superb meal - beaver tail consommé, roast Ontario turkey stuffed with chestnuts, maple sugar pie and a truly noble cup of coffee. But the pièce

 B y the time my brother Gary was in his early-30s, he had acquired expertise in unearthing the most unusual places to eat and drink. He had a penchant for the unlikely hole-in-the-wall whose name and setting belied what was behind its kitchen doors. Decades before culinary gurus Anthony Bourdain and Stanley Tucci acquired cult-like followings with their food and travel adventures, my brother was exploring diverse cuisines. Gary developed an endemic hunger for aboriginal cuisines and indigenous street food culture after moving to Scotland at seventeen. Tracking down local specialties with time-honoured traditions was his forte, from haggis to ceviche to sashimi to smalahove (sheep’s head) to banoffee pie.  Gary worked in the dining rooms as a steward on the Norwegian Royal Viking Sea luxury cruise lines, travelling to some of the most exotic ports with off-the-beaten path itineraries. Passengers were mostly wealthy retirees. The ships were built for lengthier round-trip luxury trans-At