Marion Kane: Food Sleuth®

Salad

My Fun Eatcyclopedia from 1989

Marion Kane: On food and cooking
EATERS’ DIGEST: Food editor Marion Kane hungers for knowledge and shares a fact feast with readers. It is young me dressed in a hat adorned with plastic fruit, sitting on pile of books and wearing carrot slippers.

I began my career in food journalism by accident. Before that, I attained B.Ed. in French and English as a Second language. I taught New Canadians for several years and I was a social worker. In the late 1970s, my journalist friend assigned me a few restaurant reviews for Toronto Life. Next, I heard that the Toronto Sun was searching for a food editor – I spent the role from 1983 to 1989. In that year, a Life Editor for The Toronto Star reached out to me – I accepted the offer. I found my calling and my consuming passion – writing about chefs, home cooks and recipes. My role as a food editor/columnist at the Star lasted 18 years. I resigned in 2007 as a freelance Food Sleuth® creating podcasts and blogs on social media. This is a feature, illustrated by the above photo of me, from the Toronto Sun appeared in 1989. Read more…

Chef Michael Stadtlander is Canada’s Father of Farm to Table

Michael Stadtlander

Chef Michael Stadtlander with his wife Nobuyo and their son Hermann in the kitchen at Haisai

Serendipity sometimes happens.

It was on a Saturday evening in November when we drove on dark country roads from the Blue Mountains in Collingwood to the little village of Singhampton about two hours north of Toronto. The small restaurant Haisai was our destination. Read more…

Greek Salad and Whole Roasted Cauliflower are Tops in “The Last Schmaltz”

Country Greek from “The Last Schmaltz” is a Salad Comprised of
the Usual Ingredients Plus the Welcome Addition of Chickpeas

What is a nice Jewish boy from North York doing with a mini-empire of quirky restaurants in a gritty neighbourhood of downtown Toronto? Doing pretty well is the short answer. Read more…

This Spud’s for You: Potato Salad from Old-Fashioned to Fancy

tater salad too

My creamy old-fashioned potato salad uses pickle juice

This feature appeared in the Toronto Star in 1996. My favourite version is the first one.

“Potato salad: A cold or hot side dish made with potatoes, mayonnaise and seasonings. It became very popular in the second half of the nineteenth century and is a staple of both home and food-store kitchens.” — John Mariani: The Dictionary of American Food and Drink Read more…

Big Apple Bites: Weird Grasshopper Tacos and Superb Brussels Sprouts at Toloache

Brilliant Brussels Sprouts at Toloache

I recently spent four glorious days in midtown Manhattan.

For two of those, I was pretty much closeted in the Roger Smith Hotel attending back-to-back seminars at a cookbook conference. Read more…

Pomegranate Seeds and Other Salad Secrets

I know the name Ruby Watchco keeps popping up in this blog – and it’s for good reason.

The meal Ross and I enjoyed there one Saturday night a couple of months ago was simply stellar, “simply” being the operative word. The uncomplicated, vibrant flavour and texture combos of each and every dish from the sensational salad with still warm buttermilk biscuits to a wondrous baked apple bathed in silky sabayon were all that good food should be.

It was the salad which was visibly being tossed to order by co-owner Lynn Crawford and brilliant co-chef Lora Kirk as they stood together at the kitchen pass that left a lasting impression. And I’ve been creating versions of it ever since. Read more…

What’s Cooking in Melton Mowbray?

MELTON MOWBRAY – It’s tough keeping up with Dr. Matthew O’Callaghan as he strides purposefully across the cobbled square in the centre of this lovely historic town, population about 24,000, located in the heart of Britain’s East Midlands.

Wearing a jaunty beige mini-version of a cowboy hat he bought in New Zealand, my guide for the day has been a town councillor here for 12 years and is a man with a mission.

This is boldly illustrated by a brand new sign he proudly pointed out at the vintage train station where I arrived after a scenic hour-and-a-half ride from London with one change at the nearby city of Leicester. Read more…

Sensational Salad

“The food production chain is really simple. We plant it, we grow it, we gather it, we cook it, and then we eat it. When this process occurs with a certain immediacy and a minimum of interference and, if it is nurtured by people who are truly passionate about what they are doing, the results can be glorious.” – John Ash.

John Ash is a chef, thinker and fantastic cook. I broke bread with him at the wonderful west-end Toronto restaurant Chiado a few years ago as a guest of my friend Bonnie Stern, foodie par excellence. We shared thoughts on food such as the ones quoted above while enjoying a delicious Portuguese tapas-style meal. Read more…

Marion Kane, Food Sleuth®

Marion Kane has been a leader in the world of food journalism for a few decades. She is an intrepid populist whose work combines social commentary with a consuming passion for all things culinary. For 18 years, she was food editor/columnist for Canada's largest newspaper: the Toronto Star. She lives in Toronto's colourful Kensington Market and is currently a free-wheeling freelance food sleuth®, podcaster, writer and cook.

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Marion Kane: Food Sleuth®