We all have to eat, of course, but what does food mean to us and why do we care so much about it?
We love growing, cooking and serving food to our family and friends. We hold an attachment to the food of our past, our culture and traditions. We want to know where our food comes from – how, where and from whom do we get the food we want to eat? And how does this food-getting process affect others, such as farmers, agricultural workers, the retail food industry?  There are many aspects to food in Toronto, from farmers’ markets in our parks, to food processing and retail jobs, to the kitchens of our neighbourhoods. FEEDING TORONTO looks at some of them.

ALL IN A WEEK’S WORK: Managing The Stop’s Wychwood Farmers’ Market

by Cookie Roscoe
How a farmers’ market got started, what it takes to keep it going and the principles that guide it.

MAMAN’S COOKIES

by Linda Perez
A family’s traditional cookies carry the stories of their lives.

WORK GROUP: Planting, weeding, harvesting, canning, eating

by Mary Lou McQuillan
How a ‘work group’ makes serious farm gardening so much easier and a whole lot more fun.

A GIARDINIERA GARDEN REMIX 

by Eizabeth Cinello
Documenting a mother’s recipe for a vegetable (and some tuna) antipasto.

YOUNG FARMERS: Bringing fresh organic food to your neighbourhood

by Paul Stewart
The journey of two young Toronto organic farmers whose market gardening is bringing more fresh food to our city.

OFFERING AT CENOTAPH

by Rebecca A. Pinkus
Food encountered at the cenotaph in Prospect Cemetery.

THE SOLAR DEHYDRA-REVOLUTIONATOR

by Bengt Skoggard
Recycling, re-purposing and defying convention. All in the name of, mostly, drying tomatoes.

ON LOCAL APPLES AND 5,000-MILE APPLES

by Vincenzo Pietropaolo
Avoiding perfectly shaped grocery store apples for locally grown ones but do we really know how they’re cultivated?

YOUR CHOICE

Photo by  Anna Payne-Krzyzanowski
Elect the tastiest candidate in town.

TORONTO’S MARCHÉ ISTANBUL

by Elizabeth Cinello
Specialty grocery stores import from everywhere. Here’s where the local Maraș Turkish community can buy bulgur from home, anchovies from the Black Sea, pointy chick peas…

TORONTO FOOD POLICY COUNCIL

by Schuster Gindin 
Did you know we had one? Toronto’s Food Policy Council, the first in North American, was established as a subcommittee by the Board of Health in 1991.

BACKYARD CHICKENS: An Urban Adventure

by Chris Ioannou
Chickens are not complicated creatures. Feed, water, scoop poop, dress up like turkeys for Halloween, repeat. But really – do it for the eggs.

THE VESTA – A Video

Where do you eat when you’re out in the middle of the night? Vesta Lunch has been a Toronto institution since 1955. The Vesta is a video short by Lucas Gindin and Leib Kopman.

A DELICIOUS BUSINESS: Our Colossal Food and Beverage Industry

by Elizabeth Cinello
Torontonians don’t just eat food, we make it too. From wine juice producers to breweries, from bakeries to coffee roasters, from patties to pasta, food feeds the city’s economic engine.

Comment on the issue:

Great recipes!  And the pix are fabulous too.
Kathleen Howes, Toronto