Proving that bloggers aren’t the only ones who lean on puns and band names to come up with subject lines, Beppi Crosariol of The Globe and Mail has a feature article today titled “New Oyster Cult“. It is, as would be expected, about the rise in popularity of the humble oyster. And now I’m craving oysters. I really shouldn’t write this column when I’m hungry.

Also in the Globe, Vikram Vij compares Indian food to a Bollywood movie:

Chefs are like crazy artists - not only do they have to please the palate but also the senses, as well as live up to peoples’ expectations and try to make money. And owning a restaurant is like a stage show - at a certain time, the curtains are drawn and the show begins. The job of the chef is to please the audience with food, and the servers are there to entertain. No one aspect is more important than the other.

Cinda Chavich looks at how wild rice is neither wild or rice (discuss), and Beppi Crosariol explores the choice of imported wines over Canadian products in restaurants.

The Toronto Sun is all about events and festivals this week, with Rita DeMontis previewing the Bala Cranberry Festival,  as well as an awesome-sounding Sustainable Chef competition, and giving a synopsis of Canadian Living’s second annual Cook of the Year country-wide cook-off.

Over at the Toronto Star, Susan Sampson sets off my retro food detector with a recipe for Western Sweet and Sour Sauce - there’s pineapple tidbits, people!! I am so craving this. I know it’s not swank, or sustainable, or 100-mile-y, and I’ll probably lose my food snob club membership, but you just can’t go wrong with pineapple tidbits. Sigh!

For those not so enamoured of the tiny chunks of pineapple, Jennifer Bain interviews an artichoke farmer from Markham. Yes - local artichokes - how cool is that? Bain’s also got a recipe for Buccatini with Sausage and Peas courtesy of Sting’s personal chef. Sting being one of those meat-eating vegetarians.

Tamsyn Burgmann reviews Thai Cuisine Experts, while Josh Rubin enjoys a bottle of Fuller’s 1845 (that’s a beer), and Gordon Stimmell looks at some new wines appearing on LCBO shelves.