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The Edible City:
Toronto?s Food from Farm to Fork
By Darin Cook As Ontarians, are we supposed to take pride in or offence to the nickname of Hogtown for our provincial capital? What about that other section of the city known as Cabbagetown? Is there any deep meaning to these blatant food references? Editors Christina Palassio and Alana Wilcox have compiled a collection of food essays from dozens of Toronto authors to create a fascinating book, The Edible City:Toronto?s Food from Farm to Fork
(Coach House Books, 2009, $24.95), which not only reveals the stories behind these nicknames, but more importantly, explains how citizens can make the best food choices to keep a city sustainable. The book dishes out a wide variety of essays about how the people of Toronto connect with healthy and sustainable food, including such topics as the history of Toronto?s vegetarian movement, restaurant chefs working closely with local suppliers, the financial implications to the average household of buying local and artisanal food, the rise of independent cafés and craft beer, the debate over opening up street food to healthier offerings than hot dogs, legislation to protect agricultural land, school meal programs, and enjoying the freshest food by picking peaches in Niagara and searching for the best (albeit possibly illegal) eggs in Toronto?s markets. The book also addresses Toronto?s diverse restaurant scene, with essays about international cuisine, including memories of childhood visits to Toronto?s best Hungarian restaurants and one writer?s love of Caribbean roti. As for the city?s pet name, ?We can thank the humble pork-packing business for the ?hog? in Hogtown,? one essayist writes, making reference to the pork industry of the 1800s that led to Toronto becoming the second largest food-processing city in North America. The cabbage moniker also comes from the 1800s, when cabbages were grown February/March 2010 in front-yard gardens by lower-class families, Many other neighbourhoods can be identified by the food business and the smells that waft from their factories, like Campbell?s soup, Weston bread, Redpath sugar, and Neilson chocolate. Anyone from Toronto, or even those who spend the occasional weekend there, will recognize the landmarks, restaurants, and parks mentioned in the book and immediately feel a sense of connection with this food revolution. The Edible City suggests that Toronto is a food Mecca because it is surrounded by farmland and vast water resources; and it is not difficult to see these characteristics in other Ontario cities. If our country?s largest metropolis can pull off fruit trees in public parks, urban farms on city blocks, and apiaries on hotel rooftops, then surely every city across Ontario can too. These essays also inspire individuals who care about how cities will secure food in the future. As one writer says, ?The direct and unmediated connection between humans and food means food is more amenable to direct action by individuals or groups than is any other sector of the economy. At any given time, people can choose to give up sugar in their coffee, go for soy milk instead of cream, skip meat for one day a week, pay a little more for fair-trade chocolate, and so on.? Food may be a global commodity, but The Edible City educates us about ways to relocalize the food that flows through a city. dariN CooK keeps himself well read and well fed by visiting the bookstores and restaurants of London.
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