Mark Bittman returns to Toronto, compares it to Queens (in a good way)
Author and New York Times food columnist Mark Bittman passed through Hogtown for a brief visit on Tuesday. Last time Bittman visited was for a book tour hosted by The Stop Community Food Centre; it was on that trip that he discovered that in Canada, we sell milk in a bag. After the jump, four things we learned from his visit this time:
1. Bittman’s affection for Toronto is growing
But only when the weather is nice: “One reason I liked it more yesterday than on previous visits was because, for at least half the day, the sun was out.”
2. Toronto reminds him of Queens
Bittman makes the comparison because of our diversity, not because we’re a “beta city.” He’s particularly impressed with the diversity at Brampton’s McVean Incubator Farm.
3. Bittman’s into food security
The purpose of the visit from the James Beard Award winner was to check out Toronto’s urban agriculture and food security activity. He met with the city’s leading food policy strategists over a lunch of nettle soup, pizza with greens, roasted asparagus with eggs, potato pancakes, smoked trout and local white beans, radishes, fiddleheads and ramps, all cooked at The Stop.
4. He doesn’t like waste
Bittman stopped to chat with Laura Reinsborough of Not Far from the Tree, the volunteer-based organization that harvests fruit from backyard trees that would otherwise go to waste and splits it equally between the homeowner, food banks and the pickers themselves.
