20 years on, I’m Still a Fan of Charming Chef Jamie Oliver

May 25, 2020

This appeared as a longer feature article in the Toronto Star food section on January 26, 2000, after I discovered Jamie Oliver’s fledgling show “The Naked Chef” on TVO. I spoke to Jamie in the flesh a few months later when he was consulting at a London restaurant – the Toronto Star article appears below this one. Twenty years later, he’s had his ups and downs, and I am still a fan.

Jamie Oliver must have supernatural powers. He can make a person leap out of her comfy chair, run downstairs, fling open the freezer and act on an overpowering urge to roast a leg of lamb. I should know. It happened to me. Under slightly different circumstances, it also happened to Jody Read, acquisitions programmer for TVO. Read more…

Fond Memories of my Mum and her Delicious Food

April 19, 2019

LONDON UK – It was about six years ago and my mother and I were about to leave her flat on Steeles Rd. in Primrose Hill. We were standing in the small hallway when she put on her new navy blue gabardine coat with a hood. Read more…

My Lovely Late Mum Ruth Made a Mean Beef Stroganoff

May 19, 2018

My mother Ruth Schachter (née Nisse) in the garden of her flat in Primrose Hill, London UK, in 2014

I wrote this in 2002 when I was food editor for the Toronto Star. My dear mother, 95, died peacefully in her sleep a month ago on April 21, 2018

Today is Mother’s Day and this is a tribute to the person who first inspired my love of food and cooking – my mum. Read more…

As I Turn 70, Immaturity and Hair Dye Keep me Young

August 20, 2016

“Immaturity and hair dye keep me young.”

I’m repeating the title of this post for a few reasons: First, everything clever is worth repeating. It usually gets a good laugh – one of life’s giddiest pleasures, especially at my age. It’s true and unabashedly honest. It sums up what’s to follow – the announcement that I turn 70 in a few days. And last, it’s original.

I used to think I stole this funny line from my beloved heroine: the American journalist, author, screenwriter and director Nora Ephron. I steal a lot from that eminently quotable woman who died too young at 71 in 2012 from a rare form of leukemia. It’s hard not to steal from her because we seem to have parallel lives. I talk about her in the present because she lives on in my heart.

We both love food and cooking. We consider crushed pineapple mandatory in carrot cake, we like meatloaf – done right – and both have a recipe for cottage cheese pancakes. We both adore Julia Child and all that she’s about. Read more…

I Net the News on Fish and Chips from Humble to Haute, from London To Toronto

July 9, 2015

My love of fish and chips dates back to formative years growing up in London, U.K., the historical home of this popular, populist, down-home dish.

In my early teens, I recall joining Girl Guides where we lived in the North London suburb of Finchley – then a white-collar, white-bread enclave where my Jewish family stood out like a sore thumb. Read more…

Winning Reader’s Recipe in 2011 Observer Food Monthly Annual Awards is a Winner!

November 29, 2011

My mother Ruth Schachter (nee Nisse), age 88, is one live-wire.

She reminds me (and others) of the cute little old lady in the original “Ladykillers” starring Alec Guinness and a young, dashing Peter Sellers. White-haired and blue-eyed, that sweet, seemingly innocent, slightly scatter-brained octogenarian is far more savvy than she looks. ‘Nuff said.

Mum lives in Primrose Hill between Hampstead and Camden Town in north-west London (U.K., of course) and is a busy bee. Read more…

Ms Marmite Lover is London’s Most Influential Foodie

June 23, 2011

ms marmite lover at home — Kerstin Rodgers in her Kilburn home

It was Sheila Dillon – longtime host of The Food Programme on BBC 4 – who recommended I get in touch with Kerstin Rodgers on my recent two-week visit to my favourite city and childhood home: London, England. Read more…

London’s Hot – and Top – Spots to Nosh

June 6, 2011

Two weeks in London (U.K.) last month wasn’t long enough to sleuth the hot ‘n’ happening food scene in that fair city.

In the 1950s and ’60s, when I spent formative years there, bagels and baguettes were a novelty In fact, my Canadian dad used to make a pilgrimage to Soho’s Berwick St. Market to find cobs of corn: an imported delicacy in those days that cost the equivalent of a dollar apiece. Sunday was the day for our visit to Zlotnick’s in the North London suburb of Finchley where we lived to purchase bagels – almost unknown in our white, white-collar, white-bread nabe – at that lone Jewish deli.

Today, London is a hot-bed of delicious chow – from the nutrient-packed, luscious Muesli pot at Pret a Manger to high-end stuff like snails at the new St. John Hotel. What’s more, corn is on almost every menu along with harissa, veal cheeks, smoked eel, burrata, lovage and other exotica. Read more…

Britain is a Food Heaven and Haven. What Up Wit Dat?

June 1, 2011

My recent annual visit to London (U.K.) was the best yet. And, as a long-time defender of British food – yes, this in the face of doubters and haters who think gray roast meat and overcooked brussels sprouts typify that island’s grub – even I was surprised at the high quality of chow (almost) everywhere we ate.

Ross and I spent two weeks covering a wide area of that magnificent city – the place where I lived during formative years from age four to 19 – while sleuthing food, live music and just plain old fun.

This was in between hanging out with my mum who, at age 88, is alive, kicking, still speaking seven languages, being a culture vulture, savouring Goethe in the original with her morning coffee and teaching young ‘uns to read at the local primary school in Primrose Hill. Read more…

A Kleftiko Coup + Other Best British Bites

March 29, 2010

The Greek dish called Kleftiko – basically lamb shoulder or shank braised in white wine, stock and herbs – is one of my favourite creations of all time. It originated with bandidos who cooked it under the ground so no one would know their whereabouts as they prepared dinner while leading a life of crime in the Greek countryside.

For a long time, I was convinced that the best version of this dish was the one at Lemonia: a wondrous Greek restaurant near my mother’s Primrose Hill home in London, England.

However, on my most recent trip to visit her earlier this year, I found a rendition that surpassed even this delectable creation. Believe it or not, the ultimate Kleftiko (admittedly I haven’t sleuthed it yet in North America) is to be had at Retsina, a family-run Greek eatery in the same vicinity as Lemonia and one I discovered when it was a finalist on Gordon Ramsay’s TV search for top neighbourhood dining spots. Read more…