There is no more fundamental component of culture than food and drink.   As Brillat Savarin wrote, “The fate of nations depends upon how they eat.” A starving nation is known as a failed state.
These are dark days here in Canada. Food sections have been radically down-sized.  People who merely eat have become self-proclaimed experts.  Food writing is added to magazines and newspapers almost as an afterthought.   The most stunningly–stupid nail in the coffin was driven in last week in Toronto.  With the dismissal of James Chatto from Toronto Life it …

It seems the local food movement is getting more political.  Michael Ignatieff and the Liberals have developed a platform for a Canadian food policy, and with their announcement Monday, the food community is aflutter with comments focusing on what positive changes this might bring, or whether it is just more political grandstanding.
Even with the fanfare, the Liberal party is not entering into a massive food policy void.  Canada has a food policy.  For better or worse, Canada has a whole pile of government food policies, regulatory agencies, and organizational tiers.  …

The naked eye can’t tell the difference between sturgeon caviar and roe from Mississippi paddlefish. But with the help of DNA technology developed at the University of Guelph (U of G) in Ontario, the US is hoping to clamp down on food fraud.
Whether it’s inferior olive oil passed off as extra-virgin,  cow’s milk cheese sold under an expensive sheep’s milk label, or mouldy tomato paste sneaking past quality control and into ketchup bottles,  food fraud is a growing concern.
In a recent article,  U of Guelph technology helps US monitor …

What is the Canadian law for satiety claims?
Written by Ronald L. Doering
The food, beverage and supplement weight management product market in the U.S. last year was $3.64 billion and growing fast. There are several approaches including providing slimming ingredients that increase energy expenditure, moderating carbohydrate metabolism and blocking dietary fat absorption. For the food industry, beyond the traditional claims such as low fat (food minus), a burgeoning new field involves a shift to satiety claims (food plus). Foods marketed for satiety have enhanced levels of fibre or protein and claim …

Update: Deadline has been extended to December 14, 2009.

Food policy in Canada — it’s a bit of a daunting concept.  In Canada, we are blessed to have a bountiful food supply, very low food costs, and a vast variety to choose from.  But what is our policy about food?  We’ve got regulations about food safety, agricultural policy, and so on.  These are technical interpretations of food. Perhaps more importantly, how do we view food in our daily life, in our culture, and in our social responsibility towards each other — and interpret it all through …

As a Home Economist and a Registered  Dietitian,  I am at times torn between loving food (and I mean ALL food – including the delicious crispy fat on a BBQ’d pork chop;  full fat Brie cheese with white crusty bread;  that yummy icing made out of sugar and lard on bakery cakes) and, well… being a Dietitian!
One  food that conflicts me is “seasoned” pork and chicken, which is not “seasoned” in the sense of having added spices or flavourings, as the name might suggest.  Instead, these products have been injected …

Like many chefs, Martin Kouprie, co-owner of Pangaea Restaurant in Toronto, is always looking for variety on his menus and feels limited in his choice of land animals. “Everyone does beef, lamb, even caribou,” he says. Fine-grained and tender, horsemeat was a natural choice for Kouprie, but he recently pulled it from his restaurant’s menu. Why? Canada lacks a grading system and he can’t find a source that provides food-purpose-bred meat. “Everything available is work or race horse. Or someone’s pet,” Kouprie says.
Kouprie discovered the point-of-origin issues while doing research …

It’s everywhere! “Eat Local” endeavours are touching the country from coast to coast. The ministers of agriculture and aquaculture for the Atlantic provinces just endorsed a rather interesting campaign.
How about a completely vertically integrated large-scale food system as part of the equation? There’s a company that sells the agricultural inputs, even the fuel, then buys the finished product, processes it, and sells it in its own consumer stores. Sound like corporate agriculture, or a grand social experiment? Well, yes. Perhaps a little of each.
“Co-ops are unique in the market, in …

Here’s a topic you won’t see in the food magazines — horsemeat. Chef’s love it, animals lovers balk at the idea and the Japanese want us to ship more.
But this $60-million industry has virtually no regulations and generates a lot of controversy.
To set the record straight, Cuisine Canada’s intrepid Dana McCauley did a lot of digging. In her article Behind the Barn Door: The Hidden Facts about Canada’s Horsemeat Industry, McCauley logs dozens of hours talking to the Canadian Food Inspection Agency, meat specialists, the Horse Welfare Alliance of Canada …

These are the practiced hands of Natasha Akiwenzie. She and her husband Andrew own and operate Akiwenzie’s Fish. Their whitefish, pulled responsibly right from Georgian Bay, makes its way to Toronto Farmers’ Markets and onto the menus of top Toronto chefs like Jamie Kennedy. They’re a small. They’re struggling. And I suspect they aren’t alone.
So when I read Taking Stock of Fish in the Wall Street Journal, it got me thinking. Some CSAs in the US are branching into fish. Is this a effective way to support sustainable seafood and …