Listen to CBC radio’s archival tapes by clicking on play buttons in the audio players below. Read more…
My Croqueta Quest in Miami
Croquetas are a breaded and fried snack food with various fillings that are extremely popular in Miami
Carlos Frias, the food editor at the Miami Herald, is my buddy and guide to all things delicious in his Florida home. Read more…
Cup of Joe: a Coffee Story Going Strong for More Than 100 Years
Martinson coffee, founded by my great-uncle Joe Martinson, and a cake to go with it
This appeared in the Toronto Star in 2002 and it is included my book “Dish” – a collection of my columns with recipes. I was reminded of it when I was at a Wegmans supermarket in New York State and bought a can of Martinson’s coffee. There are a few theories about the origin of the phrase “cup of joe.” I prefer this one.
By Marion Kane
A cup of joe.
Who would have thought I am related – albeit distantly – to the “Joe” of that famous culinary phrase.
It all began, as is often the case, almost by accident. Read more…
The Sleuthing Begins in my Brand New Digs at the Centre for Social Innovation

It took me a while to figure out an answer to the question: “What do you want to be when you grow up?” (By the way, I’m not sure if I have grown up in spite of being what is politely called “middle-aged.” When people claim I don’t look – or act – my age, I have this answer: “Hair dye and immaturity keep me young.”) Read more…
Sleuthing Chicken Nuggets and Dr. Robert Baker in Ithaca, NY
Here is a link to my audio podcast “Nugget Man” – including, at the end, the song “Nugget Man.” This blog post was written in 2011. Jackie Baker, the late Dr. Baker’s widow, died a few years after I interviewed her. More sad news: The Baker’s family’s stand The Chicken Coop, opened 70 years ago at the New York State Fair in Syracuse, has permanently closed in 2021.

ITHACA, New York State: Recently, Ross and I mulled over ideas of where to take a much-needed one-week vacation.
Melissa Leithwood Names This Year’s “It” Meat – No Kidding

As I write, my kitchen is filled with the luscious aroma of goat curry warming in the oven. And I have Melissa Leithwood to thank for that.
I met this lovely young woman several years ago when she interviewed me over tea at the Royal York Hotel for her master’s thesis on how chefs grow their businesses sustainably and support local food. Her case study is a leader in this field: well known Toronto chef Jamie Kennedy. Read more…
Avocado and Cactus in Kensington
Mexican chef Francisco Alejandri at his eatery Agave y Aguacate in Kensington Market.
I don’t need another reason to rave about my favourite Toronto ‘nabe and longtime home: feisty, gritty and never-dull Kensington Market. But hey, now I have one. Read more…
Save the date (March 8, 2011) for Kitchen Sisters: A Fundraiser Feast
For 18 years, as food editor and food columnist for the Toronto Star, I shared my passion for things culinary. Most important and gratifying was the joyous connection it gave me to people who enjoy and prepare food – from the Filipino taxi driver who enthusiastically described how his mother makes Chicken Adobo to the firefighters with whom I cooked and then ate a luscious, convivial meal of grilled chicken and rhubarb crumble at their downtown Toronto firehall one lovely evening. In addition to writing about the latest balsamic vinegar and the best way to deep-fry calamari, I used my platform with Canada’s largest newspaper to discuss social, cultural and even political issues associated with food. This includes the disturbing issue of those who go hungry in a land where there should be plenty to go around. When I resigned from my job in 2007 having written Julia Child’s obituary, after interviewing Joe “Dogs” Iannuzzi about his role as cook for New York mobsters while he was under the witness protection plan and feeling that I had new fish to fry, I turned my hand to radio, blogging and working with non-profit groups – always with the focus on food. And thus was born Kitchen Sisters: a fundraiser feast at which some of Toronto’s top women chefs will join forces at Mildred’s Temple Kitchen on March 8, 2011, the 100th anniversary of International Women’s Day, to raise money for much-needed expansion and renovation of the kitchen at Sistering, a drop-in for homeless women. 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…
Eggless Latkes a Hit at Chanukah Feast
When asked by me some years ago why our nutty nuclear family always celebrated Christmas, my mother gave the usual explanation for her and my late dad’s often bizarre parenting decisions: “Well dear, we did it for you,” meaning me and my two younger brothers Eric and Jonny.
The reason I call this bizarre is that both my parents are Jewish. My mother Ruth Schachter is a holocaust refugee whose oil tycoon father Aaron Nisse led the family’s escape from Riga, Latvia, when she was 16 years old in the fall of 1939. A year later, she, her sister Dita and my grandparents finally settled in Montreal after taking the trans-Siberian railway through Russia, crossing the Pacific on a Japanese liner, being sprung from jail in Seattle for not having the right papers and then living in New York for six months. Quite a story and more of it when I eventually write my memoir. Read more…