Boysterous: Starfish's oyster po' boy and the quest for sustainability

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Well Past Time

Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this (food) wall!

via Spacing Toronto • understanding the urban landscape by Shawn Micallef on 5/29/08

Street food is in the news again, and it's annoying. It's annoying because it has been so bungled up and delayed that it has invited the ridicule and scorn from the usual shrill and right-wing-populist corners of the city (making it far too easy for them), and lives up to whatever Soviet-style imagery they want to evoke. It's more annoying because we find ourselves agreeing with these folks. Back in February, Dylan Reid had the following to say here on Spacing Toronto:

It's not often I find myself in complete agreement with Denzil Minnan-Wong, but the way city council has managed to unnecessarily complicate what should have been a slam-dunk, the expansion of Toronto's street food beyond sausages, has put me in that unusual position.

I have long felt, like I'm sure most of our readers, that a diverse city like Toronto should have far more food available on the street than sausages (even if there are several kinds). So I was strongly supportive when councillor John Filion started a campaign last year to loosen the provincial regulations and enable a wider variety of food to be sold from stalls in Toronto.

It doesn't seem that it should be complicated. The province loosened the regulations last year, so all Toronto needed to do was to start licensing carts that sold stuff other than sausages. People in Toronto have been thinking about how this might be done for years, and given the wide range of cultures and inventiveness of our citizens, no doubt Torontonians would have come up with a wide variety of interesting proposals.

In the Star yesterday the Preston-Manning-of-Toronto-Danforth, Case Ootes, complains that "we have to micromanage everything," and for once, we agree. Today, Royson James does not look this gift horse in the mouth, and lays into the folly:

What a great idea. Why is the city bent on messing it up?

Councillor John Filion should be commended for trying to add spice and variety to Toronto's street food fare. Put a little jerk in the chicken, add some bite to the dog, and toss in some salads for the vegans and crepes for the sophisticates.But oh, how they've wrapped and trapped the spring rolls in red tape and bureaucracy at city hall.

You'd have thought this to be a simple matter: Change provincial laws that prohibit the sale of anything but pre-cooked meat; establish testing and inspections; announce the new regime; watch enterprising vendors enter the marketplace. And Torontonians are smiling in their samosas and crying in their hot curry.

But no, too easy. The meddlers had to engineer it into delay and confusion. First, the city wanted to borrow $700,000 to buy 35 carts and lease them out for $450 a month. Why not just set the cart standards and leave it to the private sector to provide and sell? Because the city wants to block "conglomerates" from taking over this new venture.

The solution is easy. Forget about this centralized cart-leasing scheme. Issue permits to individual human beings, and then let them decided what kind of cart they will use. Establish some general cart guidelines, but that's it ("no towering neon signs," that sort of thing). Maybe some of them will tap into Toronto's vast design talent and get a unique, locally built cart. Then let them serve whatever they want. Then send around Toronto's great food inspectors, who enforce some of the world's toughest food hygiene laws, and see if they're up to code, just like we do with restaurants in this city. If they're clean, they would have lineups of austerity-weary customers immediately.

There would be no delay in getting new kinds of food on the street because the creative entrepreneurial spirit in Toronto can move at the speed of light — all that creative city stuff we keep hearing about — but only if we let it happen. Toronto would be better off if the bureaucracy simply made sure it was done right, just by enforcing rules already in place, and meddling no further.

Farmers' Marketing

Farmers' Marketing

via Torontoist by Val Dodge on 5/6/08

For those who crave local food, the long winter of parsnip and rutabaga soup is coming to an end. The surest sign of spring is the sight of farmers pitching their market tents for the year ahead. You know what that means: you'll be able to add fresh local asparagus and radishes to that soup any day now.

Toronto supports a handful of year-round markets including the old reliable St. Lawrence and a relative newcomer in Dufferin Grove Park. But there's no need to travel very far for the variety and freshness; Farmers' Markets Ontario lists a dozen more neighbourhood markets that come to life in Toronto each spring. One of the first underway this year is the Friends of Riverdale Farm Farmers' Market, held in Riverdale Park West at the corner of Winchester and Sumach Streets. The Riverdale market launches next Tuesday, May 13 from 3–7 p.m. and runs every Tuesday through the end of October. It's best known for its mix of organic, transitional, and wild produce as well as sheep's milk yogourt, free range elk for carnivores, and other unexpected treats.

The East York Farmers' Market at the East York Civic Centre rouses from its winter slumber a week later on Tuesday May 20 from 9 a.m.–2 p.m. It usually starts a little small in May but is in full swing by mid-June. Pick up jars of elderberry jam and icicle pickles while you're there, and bring a front-end loader for all the Honeycrisp apples you can carry in September.

By early June, the markets at Nathan Phillips Square (Wednesdays), Mel Lastman Square (Thursdays), Birch Cliff (Fridays), Withrow Park (Saturdays), Liberty Village (Sundays), and elsewhere in the city will also be serving up local produce to eager residents. Arrive early on market day for the best selection, chat with the vendors for recipe and cooking tips, and remember what it's like to eat fresh local food that hasn't spent a week or three on trucks and ships to get to you.

Photo by Jen Chan from the Torontoist Flickr Pool.

Mmm, snow peas

Recipe.

What seafood can you eat?

Apparently, not much.

It gets pretty tricky what's ethical and what's not.
BBC guide
Sea Choice

Where is your fish from?

A Kitchen On The Cheap

The New York Times on the bare minimum one needs to provision a kitchen - for $300.

In Toronto, you could go to :

• Nikolaou

• Nella

• Dinetz

The list:

• 8-inch, plastic-handle stainless alloy chef’s knife for $10
• Instant-read thermometer $5
• 3 stainless steel bowls $5
• Sturdy tongs: $3.50
• a sturdy sheet pan
• plastic cutting board
• Paring knife $3
• Japanese mandoline for $25 (for thin, even slices or a real julienne)
• $4 can opener
• vegetable peeler
• colander
• a small, medium and large cast-aluminum saucepan (total: about $30) - just not the awful wafer thin sets of stainless or aluminum ones sold in big-box stores.
• medium nonstick cast aluminum pan (10-inch; $13)
• a large steep-sided, heavier duty steel pan (14-inch; $25)
• single lida skimmer (for removing dumplings or gnocchi)
• a slotted spoon
• a heat-resistant rubber spatula (replacing the classic wooden spoon)
• a bread knife (good for crusty loaves and ripe tomatoes)
• a big whisk
• food processor (12-cup capacity)
• salad spinner
• Microplane grater
• coffee and spice grinder
• An immersion blender
  
• A whetstone or a decent steel

What not to Get!

• BREAD MACHINE You can buy mediocre bread easily enough, or make the real thing without much practice.
• MICROWAVE If you do a lot of reheating or fast (and damaging) defrosting, you may want one. But essential? No. And think about that counter space!
• STAND MIXER Unless you’re a baking fanatic, it takes up too much room to justify it. A good whisk or a crummy handheld mixer will do fine.
• BONING/FILLETING KNIVES Really? You’re a butcher now? Or a fishmonger? If so, go ahead, by all means...
• WOK Counterproductive without a good wok station equipped with a high-B.T.U. burner.
• STOCKPOT The pot you use for pasta will suffice until you start making gallons of stock.
• PRESSURE COOKER It’s useful, but do you need one? No.
• ANYTHING MADE OF COPPER More trouble than it’s worth, unless you have a pine-paneled wall you want to decorate.
• RICE COOKER Yes, if you eat rice twice daily. Otherwise, no.
• COUNTERTOP CONVECTION OVEN, ROTISSERIE, OR “ROASTER” Only if you’re a sucker for late-night cooking infomercials.

I'm still full...

I think my belly might actually be distended... Phew.
It's the second time in a month where I've eaten over 16 ounces of steak in one sitting. I wouldn't recommend sitting near me for a while.