It starts, as these things so often do, with food. My (non-Jewish) partner and I, recently reunited after a short separation, in the sad bachelor apartment where he had temporarily landed. Where familiar, lonely kitchen things still glared at me woefully, bereft of their mates that had landed up in my kitchen. Where we bumped into each …
I finally made the kompot. What’s kompot? Russian kompot is essentially a homemade fruit juice. It’s been around for centuries and is popular in Russia and the former East Bloc. I only recently learned that what I always thought was kompot was actually compote, which is also made with cooked fruit, but has less liquid …
Russian Kompot: I’m probably doing it wrong (with recipe) Continue Reading »
Breaking news, people. That coffee you’ve been storing in your freezer is really what’s wrong with society today. According to Coffee Common, a coalition of coffee roasters and farmers, based out of the US: Once more consumers understand that coffee shouldn’t be stored in their freezer like a bag of corn; it opens up the …
Still keeping your coffee in the freezer? Tut, tut Continue Reading »
Are you a food writer? Do you tweet? Josh Ozersky, Time food writer, has something to say to you. You’re boring. Your tweets suck. Food writers on Twitter suck. There. Phew, done. Said. Finally. It’s refreshing to hear a food writer say this aloud. Ozersky has essentially highlighted all the absurdity of a culture saturated …
While I was ranting about $8 chocolate bars yesterday, I got to thinking about No Frills, where we get a lot of our groceries. What Canadian doesn’t like to rave about our open-minded multiculturalism, and especially the eating part? It’s easier than trying to dissect international politics, or talk critically about the ways in which …
No frills, but plenty of multiculturalism Continue Reading »
(Warning: The following rant has not been brought to you by sustainable, artisan chocolate or fair-trade coffee. In fact, it’s been sitting around on ye old to-do list for coming on three weeks now. I guess we can call it a well-aged rant.) In short, can we please, please stop trying to find meaning in …
Sometimes, a chocolate bar is just a chocolate bar Continue Reading »
Sheryl Kirby, the blogger behind Save Your Fork… There’s Pie and Taste T.O., posted on this great article in the Vancouver Sun on the backlash to the food police, “Consumers Fed Up With Food Politics.” That special place in my heart where my inner Albertan resides, silently seething against well-meaning Ontario and its progressive socially-minded …
Food police: Whither the voice of reason? Continue Reading »
A story by Lisa Abend in Time this week, “Kitchen Gods,” chronicles the rise of the celebrity chef and the role of “the global hum of diligent foodies at their keyboards” in creating rock star chefs. Ok, so the chef as rock star isn’t anything new. I mean, unless you’ve been living under a rock, …
Professional kitchens get gentrified while foodies pretend to be ordinary folk Continue Reading »
Back in my vegetarian days, I generally avoided faux meat products. Partly because I turned out to be one of those people who just can’t quite buy that it tastes like the real thing. That, and I couldn’t ever get over tofurky. Can we all just agree that it’s a disturbing “food”? The rows of …
Don’t worry, we’ve got our best minds on it! Continue Reading »
(This is the second of my posts on independent coffee shops and socioeconomics. The first looked more specifically at the microcosm of Cabbagetown coffee culture.) Like the Tim Hortons and Jetfuel debate in Cabbagetown, the newly formed Toronto Coffee Conspiracy (TCC), is equally applause-worthy and depressingly elitist. In an effort to encourage people to support …
Caffeinated conspiracies and indie economics (2) Continue Reading »
