Sheryl Kirby

Lucky Dip – Tuesday, June 28th, 2011

Many chefs work their whole careers aspiring to cook for royalty (or at least a few minor celebrities). For a few kids from Stratford, their first real gig will be helping to prepare dinner for Will & Kate. [Toronto Star]

Whoa – you know how they say disposable diapers will last for hundreds of years in a landfill? Not if you use them to grow mushrooms. This is way awesome. [The Economist]

Think inside the box – used shipping containers, painted festive colours, make a great little modular marketplace, like this one at Scadding Court, where people can sell everything from prepared food to cheese. [BlogTO]

Look around at the litter the next time you’re out on the street – the majority of it is from fast food restaurants. Yet few fast food places will put your food in reusable containers. And recycle? Heaven forbid. [Mother Jones]

There’s an art to making kam cha (Chinese milk tea). Jennifer Bain helped judge a contest that will see the winner compete in Hong Kong. [Toronto Star]

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Lucky Dip – Friday, June 24th, 2011

In the version of this column that used to run on TasteTO, I’d often take local bloggers to task for running inaccurate reviews, pointing out that they could affect the restaurant’s business with a review that was not supported by research and fact. Now a blogger in Taiwan is facing fines and jail for exactly that issue. Watch what you write, folks. [Globe and Mail]

Who paid for the study? It’s a refrain heard in nutrition circles regularly, especially when the research appears to be in favour of processed foods that we know to be bad for us. It turns out, some scientists are happy to take a cheque from a corporation to fudge some numbers in their favour. [ABC]

Best idea ever – a packaging-free grocery store. That’s right, one massive bulk section where customers bring their own or buy compostable containers to get stuff home. [Good Food]

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School’s In For Summer at the Drake Hotel

Okay, so let’s be honest, it’s like no school cafeteria you’ve ever been in before; the tables are made from old bowling alley floors, the wall are covered in kitsch, and the juice boxes are spiked. But if you’re going to convert your hotel restaurant dining room into an ongoing art project, one in which the whole thing, including the menu, changes up every few months, school cafeteria food is surely a fun place to start. And of course, the food has got to be memorable too.

Chef Anthony Rose and the staff at the Drake Hotel (1150 Queen Street West) have a winner on their hands with the first instalment of the “Dining Roadshow”. Recent popular culture is rife with grown-ups wanting to act and look like children, so an opportunity to return to summer school for an evening and reminisce goes over like gangbusters with the crowd at the media preview earlier this week. We flipped through a menu presented in duo-tangs (menu order forms look like those dreaded fill-in-the-circle test sheets) and pulled condiments out of lunchboxes on each table.

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Lucky Dip – Thursday, June 23rd, 2011

Stuff you already knew deep down but now have to accept because the New England Journal of Medicine has proven it: potatoes, potato chips, sugary drinks, and meat (processed and unprocessed) drive weight gain; fruit, vegetables, nuts, yogurt and whole grains drive weight loss. I am consoled by the lack of mention of chocolate, which I am deeming to be neutral. [The Atlantic]

Toronto school board votes to stop stocking soda pop. Now what are they gonna do about the just-as-caloric juice and chocolate milk still in their vending machines? [National Post: Posted Toronto]

Bees, please. Beekeepers dealing with phobic neighbours want the right to make honey in their own back yards. [USA Today]

Steven Davey gives Against the Grain a thumbs up for the grub and notes that, unlike other pubs in the same chain, female servers get to wear pants not ass-grabbers (aka. super-short plaid skirts). Let’s hope these trends of great food and non-misogynistic uniforms at corporately-owned pubs is something that catches on. And while I’ve never felt much love for Lake Ontario, there are plenty of places to dine with a view of the water. [NOW]

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Smörgåsbord – Fishbar, Smith, Park Hyatt, Creme Brasserie

There’s been lots of eating lately, and no time for posting about the eating. June is a busy month in the food scene. Which is why it’s been weeks since Greg and I have been to Fishbar (217 Ossington Avenue), but I’m only now getting around to posting my pics. We stopped by on a Saturday night and sat at the bar where owner Mark Moore kept us entertained and well fed. Above: the salmon tartar; wild caught BC salmon, with soy, apple and shiso, paired with housemade crackers.

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Lucky Dip – Wednesday, June 22nd, 2011

There’s a fungus among us. That black gunk in the bottom of your dishwasher, the result of bits of food and less harsh, environmentally-friendly detergents, could make you sick. [Toronto Star]

You know that list that came out recently about the foods with the most pesticides? That list is based on the pesticide residue that reaches consumers; some of the “best” produce in terms of amount of pesticide that reaches the consumers are the very worst items in terms of pesticide exposure for farm workers. [Grist]

Free bread at restaurants – a nice, hospitable gesture or an environmental disaster? [Globe and Mail]

Is your server on auto-pilot? [Inside Scoop SF]

Farm up, not out. But someone’s gotta go first and actually do it. [The Grid]

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Lucky Dip – Tuesday, June 21st, 2011

They’re out there… they’re everywhere. You (hopefully) can’t miss fabulous local strawberries; eat them, they’re super good for you. [Toronto Sun] [Sweet Potato Chronicles] [Canadian Living: The Food Blog]

People are still squicked by the idea of artificial meat, but holy cow (heh), think of how great it would be for the environment. [The Guardian]

Especially when you consider how industrial farming is making everybody (humans and animals) sick. [The Daily Mail]

But – could the US Senate be ready to pass a bill banning anti-biotics in animal feed?!! [Food Safety News]

Fellow fatties, be forwarned, obesity is the last socially acceptable form of appearance-based discrimination, and with a push to cut back on “obesity-related” health care costs (most of which, as I rant about regularly, cannot be directly linked to obesity at all), that’s probably not going to change any time soon. [Globe and Mail]

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Lucky Dip – Monday, June 20th, 2011

It must be State Fair season; people are once again frying things that were never meant to be deep-fried. Like Kool-Aid. [Globe and Mail]

Don’t diss the junk food – it has its place as a guilty pleasure. [The Guardian]

It’s still tough going for women in professional kitchens. [National Post]

The fragmentation of food – while many of us aspire to eat foraged mushrooms around a battered harvest table, most people get their food from a box via the microwave. Plus, getting freekah. Let’s watch a food trend unfold. [The Independent]

Oh sweet merciful crap – someone has started a company making server uniforms for skeezy titty restaurants. [FOX Business]

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Lucky Dip – Friday, June 17th, 2011

Well, that’s just nuts – by which I mean that it really shouldn’t be hard to make a flight nut-free, never mind a nut-free zone within the plane. Seriously, people, I want a show of hands from everyone who can’t survive a couple of hours on a plane without nuts, because you all need a smack. [National Post]

The IFDB? An online food database where you can track the provenance of your food, or find a store or restaurant that has local ingredients. [Civil Eats]

For all those times you stood in a roti shop, wondering what a doubles was and were too afraid to ask. [Spice City Toronto]

I can’t remember if Convergence, the annual alt.gothic meet-up has ever been held in Denver, but I bet it will be, if only so all the Goths can have dinner in this restaurant that used to be a mortuary. [Eater]

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