The start of every New Year is associated with feeble attempts to make resolutions; vows that are often guaranteed to last no longer than a glorious scoop of Solferino’s (38 Wellington Street East) pistachio gelato under the hot summer sun. Of course this fact doesn’t excuse one from accepting challenges. There should still be a willingness to step outside of one’s comfort zone, especially if it involves good eats. A New Year means new beginnings, and what better way to approach 2008 than to do so with a ready stomach. Listed below are 10 food related tests to tantalize the taste buds and open the palate. It isn’t difficult considering that there are 12 months in a year. Really, that’s less than one feat to conquer per month. By the end of the year, the budding foodie residing within will truly be able to stake claims of having been there and done that.

Continue reading Daring Food Challenges for the New Year »

The message from the lines that snaked up and around Nathan Phillips Square for the Toronto Street Treats Event was as clear as a bell; we want more food, and we want it cheap from the street. Despite stirrings in City Hall and by Toronto Public Health, our food vendors can’t offer us more than sausages. Dr. Liette Gilbert from the Faculty of Environmental Studies at York University put it perfectly when she asked “Why is the most multicultural city in North America limited to hot dogs?”

She and three other panelists at the Street Food Vending Project Panel Discussion on August 11th all had their unique explanations to the question posed. Each presentation showed hurdles to be overcome if we are ever to chow down on colourful cuisine from a cart.

Continue reading Why We’re Eating Mostly Wieners »

Let me state from the outset that I have been served a three-course meal while sitting on a toilet. You don’t believe me? Well click here! So perhaps, as far as food is concerned, I’m not excessively worried about hygiene. And it is for reasons of hygiene and sanitation that Toronto’s street food is limited to wretched hot-dogs and sausages.

I ordered a hot-dog last Saturday. The experience made me feel angry, sickened and ashamed. I hated the vendor who sold me the hot dog. I hated the people who lined up behind me to buy their hot-dogs. I hated the cows, pigs and cats who were slaughtered to make the hot-dogs. And most of all I hated myself.

Why, oh why did I do it? I was hungry. I was in a hurry. I confess that the aroma of that unholy flesh excited my palate. In the end it was an empty and degrading culinary experience. Eating a hot-dog on the street is the culinary equivalent of smoking crack-cocaine in an alley.

Continue reading Passage to Little India »

A friend who worked in a restaurant kitchen once told me that if people knew what went on in restaurants they would never eat out again. That can’t be true, as restaurant workers tend to eat at other establishments frequently. Still, it’s a little unsettling to hear the horror stories, but I’ve eaten in a lot of restaurants and I’m still alive so they can’t be that bad, right?

Recently I discovered that the city of Toronto has a program called Dine Safe. It’s a web site that lets you see the results of food safety inspections. You’ve probably seen the placards in the windows, almost always green ones for pass. Now you can look online, and search by establishment name, location, area of the city, or even search by rating. It lists all types of food vendors, so you can look up markets too.

All Toronto restaurants are listed, and most of them don’t have any infractions. For those that have been cited, it lists the type of infraction and the severity. Common infractions I noticed were for things like not maintaining the food at safe temperatures, pest control issues, failure to protect food from contamination, or not having proper hand washing facilities.

Continue reading Dine Safe in Toronto »