A Community Centre for Foodies
Posted by Lauren Simmons in SOLE food, grocery, shops on April 24, 2008 at 7:54 am

Culinarium
705 Mount Pleasant Road, Toronto
647-430-7004
In the uptown enclave of Yonge and Eglinton, peppered with high-end foodie destinations from bakeries to gelato to dim sum, there is a new kid on the block, with a unique take on the upscale food experience. Offering Ontario-only food products, Culinarium, which recently opened on Mount Pleasant at Soudan, is a gourmet grocery store, the retail division of a company called Savour the Flavour. Their mission is “to provide authentic local food experiences by retailing Ontario’s finest locally-produced products and connecting those passionate about food with local food-producing communities via edible events such as cooking classes, tastings and farm tours.” After spending some time with Kathleen Mackintosh, the store’s founder, it’s clear that Culinarium’s unique mission is one driven by a true love of food.





Sunshine Natural Foods
The gift baskets have become a great way for people that are not in the area to be able to use the store. The website became a way for people to order all sorts of themed baskets like, “Thai Me Up for Dinner” or “I Will Never Wheat Again”. The store also has its own line of spice kits nicely presented in silver boxes, making a simple, elegant gift. Customers can also pick out their own basket or other container from the store’s selection and fill it with whatever they choose to create their own package.
Atelier Thuet
Today we’re looking at the organic options in the higher-end grocery stores in my ‘hood. And the options really appear to be all about location. In Parkdale proper, even the prepackaged organic items can be hit or miss, but once I headed over to Roncesvalles Avenue where the supermarkets face stiff competition from a plethora of greengrocers, the organic options were overwhelming.
A few months back I read something in one of the newspaper food columns about how relatively easy it was to get organic produce at local supermarkets. The article specifically mentioned the No Frills in