Gail Gordon Oliver, the owner of Edible Toronto Magazine, was born and raised in Montreal and moved to Toronto in 1996. After earning a diploma in Culinary Management from the George Brown Chef School in 1999, she joined the test kitchen staff at Canadian Living Magazine, where she honed her recipe development and testing skills.

In 2004, Gail created Flavours of Home, specializing in the fields of culinary education, food writing and editing, and recipe development and testing. The following year, she teamed up with Maran Graphics to produce Maran Illustrated Cooking Basics, an instructional cooking book that was published in 2006.

Launching Edible Toronto is a dream come true for Gail. As publisher and editor, she has the opportunity to showcase and applaud Ontario’s culinary heritage, its present-day gustatory pleasures, and its healthy, safe and sustainable future, all in a beautifully presented magazine her readers can savour season after season.

You’ve got $10 to buy lunch - where do you go?

The Village Restaurant (419 Spadina Road) in Forest Hill Village, for a great club sandwich, old-fashioned, friendly service, and décor that takes me back in time.

The budget’s unlimited, someone else is paying and the choice is yours - where do you pick for dinner?

Eigensinn Farm (RR 2, Singhampton, Collingwood) or Treadwell’s (61 Lakeport Road, Old Port Dalhousie) Give me farm-fresh food expertly prepared and I’m a happy gal.

Tell us some of the food shops you frequent when buying groceries to cook for yourself.

I’m a foodshop-aholic, and shopping for groceries is one of my favourite occupations. I try to go to at least two farmers’ markets per week, even in wintertime. Other shops I frequent include Qi Natural Foods (1001 Eglinton Avenue West), a terrific little natural foods store on Eglinton West, The Big Carrot (348 Danforth Avenue) and Whole Foods (87 Avenue Road). And my new favourite supermarket is Fiesta Farms (200 Christie Street) on Christie just south of Dupont, which I discovered only recently, having lived in Toronto for almost 11 years. The store stocks fabulous local produce and food products and lots of organics, at extremely reasonable prices.

When ordering in for a quiet night at home, what’s your favourite place for take-out or delivery?

Asian Monsoon (905 Eglinton Avenue West) serves wonderful Chinese, Thai and Vietnamese dishes, and we often get delivery from there.

Oh, no, relatives are coming to Toronto from out of town - where do you take them?

We adore Sado Sushi (1116 Eglinton Avenue West), also on Eglinton West; it’s my kids’ favourite restaurant. The food is excellent and the service is warm, friendly and professional. Everything is freshly made to order.

Your favourite place to grab a couple of drinks and hang out where everybody knows your name?

My husband and I have never been bar-hoppers or drinkers; we much prefer to eat!

What’s coming up?

Edible Toronto is coming! We’re launching on September 10th, and copies of the magazine will be available free of charge throughout the Greater Golden Horseshoe within a week of the launch date. Check out our website in September for a listing of locations.

We will also be distributing the magazine to all guests at the following events:

• Feast of Fields, taking place September 16 at Everdale Farm
• The Slow Food/Evergreen picnic September 16 at the Brickworks
• From the Ground Up: Nurturing the Art of Sustainable Living, a lecture and dinner hosted by Jamie Kennedy, Michael Stadtlander and Sinclair Philip on September 25, which is a fundraiser for the Gardiner Museum
• Eat to the Beat, the annual fundraiser for Willow Breast Cancer Support Centre, featuring local female chefs and their culinary creations, September 25th