March 31 2025 - Novel New Food

 

Every year the CNE has its strange foods that attract attention - rainbow grilled cheese sandwiches, pickle ice cream, and so on.  But RethinkX - the future think tank organization - doesn't mean weird and strange food when they use the term "novel foods." They are talking about PF and CA.  PF is precision fermentation - the claim is that it will make protein production five times cheaper than existing animal proteins by 2030, and 20 times cheaper by 2035.  CA is cellular agriculture and it will create food-as-software.  Can you imagine the ReThinkx prediction?  That by 2030 these modern food products - like "milk" will be higher quality and cost less than half as much to produce as the animal-derived products they replace?  That is five years away. On one hand, plant-based milks are a normal feature in grocery stores. But plant-based milks are only around 10% of total milk sales (that was in 2022.)  That seems to me a long way to go in such a short time.   There are news stories that reinforce the plant-based movement.  Maybe there are a lot more we don't know of:   "A Canadian dairy producer has reopened a former milk processing plant as a plant-based milk facility. Lactalis Canada will now use the site to produce unsweetened, high protein oat, almond, and hazelnut milks under its new brand, named “Enjoy!”. Lactalis shut down the Ontario plant in 2022 after six decades of processing milk there. At the time the company cited the “decreased profitability and economic sustainability” of producing milk in the facility. Dairy products remain the core business of Lactalis, which is the world’s biggest dairy company. But Nathalie Cusson, General Manager of Lactalis Canada’s Fluid Division, said in a statement that “Enjoy! responds to a growing consumer demand for plant-based options that taste great and have positive health impacts.” There are so many pressures today. Our eyes are on the tariff wars.  Could it be that Science leaps over politics when it comes to dairy farming in Canada.   The supply management system was designed to protect farmers and produce a stable and predictable prices for dairy, poultry and eggs. It has been under criticism from the U.S. and now the tariff wars have added more. I wonder how things will play out.  We might be watching the tariff wars only to realize that is  PF and CA developments that replace dairy cows.   I can buy a 3d cake printer on Alibaba.com now.  How much would that price have to come down to make it worthwhile.  It is priced at $1,299.  And are there any eggs in a 3d printed cake? Here's one answer from Smithsonian Magazine: "Their printer-friendly recipe requires seven ingredients—graham cracker paste, peanut butter, strawberry jam, Nutella, banana puree, cherry drizzle and frosting. The technology built the slice by squeezing each element out of a syringe in thin lines, forming the layered dessert."

This is the house at the end of Elizabeth Street in Grimsby where Forty Creek flows into Lake Ontario.  Isn't this a garden picture from a time  long ago?  It is hard to find quaint fences and garden gates these days.  Not to mention such gorgeous roses.   Read more daily posts here: marilyncornwellblogspot.com Purchase works here: Fine Art America- marilyncornwell.com Redbubble - marilyncornwellart.ca

Jan 2 2024 - East and Be "Prosperity"

 

Food to bring in a new year - what would it be? One could choose a dish to bring good luck.  That's one of the New Year's Traditions:  in Germany and Eastern Europe it is some form of cabbage - such as sauerkraut - supposedly the strands of cabbage in sauerkraut symbolize long life, and can represent money.  No one in my German family ever mentioned these reasons to eat sauerkraut. If one is in the American South, it is eating black-eyed peas on New Year's Day.  Supposedly during the Civil War when Union soldiers raided the Confederate army's food supply, they left behind only these beans.  How is that part of New Year's?  Another story is that a when newly-freed enslaved people celebrated the January 1863 Emancipation Proclamation this was one of the few foods available to them.  And then other theories say it is Ancient Egypt was a way to show humility to the gods.   Supposedly, though, one serves black-eyed peas and collard greens.  Collard greens symbolize money and prosperity - being green.  Black-eyed peas are round so represent coins. And add cornbread to that.  Why?  Because it is the colour of gold.  Rich dinner all around. That's why lentils are part of the Italian household tradition - the round legumes look like coins.  And in China, Japan and other Asian countries - noodles are the thing to serve - their length symbolizes longevity.  Oranges are served in various countries- because they are gold.  Dumplings are served because they resemble money bags.  Scandinavian countries consider silver-scaled fish to resemble money - hence herring is considered good fortune.  Bring in a New Year by eating your way to prosperity.

Yesterday's Globe cartoons had a cartoon about a dog's New Year's resolution.  This perfectly describes our Millie, so here it is.   Read more daily posts here: marilyncornwellblogspot.com Purchase works here: Fine Art America- marilyncornwell.com Redbubble - marilyncornwellart.ca

Dec 31 2023 - New Year's Traditions

 

This news came out mid-December, and spread as one of those mystery stories. It is about a woman who bought an antique silk dress and found messages in the secret pocket.  It is one of the top 50 cipher mysteries that was unsolved until last year.  I guess it made good Christmas time reading. Here's the story:  “My first thought was maybe a writing exercise? Or some kind of list,” she wrote in the February 2014 post detailing her exciting find. Rivers-Cofield went on to add: “[...] I'm putting it up here in case there's some decoding prodigy out there looking for a project.” The post made its way into the orbit of cryptographers around the world who relish the challenge of cracking codes. University of Manitoba researcher Wayne Chan took on the project and, ten years after Rivers-Cofield stumbled upon the dress, published the answer in Cryptologia, a scientific journal devoted to cryptology. Turns out "Bismark Omit leafage buck bank" was a weather observation for May 27, 1888, in what is today Bismarck, N.D.   At the time, the U.S. and Canadian governments had an agreement to exchange weather information by telegraph. That's how names of Canadian cities got into the Silk Dress cryptogram. It includes observations from stations in Calgary, Minnedosa, Man., Winnipeg and Prince Arthur's Landing — modern-day Thunder Bay, Ont. — which all shared a telegraph line that connected to Milwaukee, Wis., and routed messages to Washington through New York. This line described a cool spring day at the Fort Garry weather station in Winnipeg:  "Garry Noun Tertal lawful palm novice event." HERE's an article that is detailed on the dress and what makes the code so interesting.  The author talks about them being similar to the "semi-improvised (yet complex) rum-runner codes).  And a second one here with the locations mapped.  Everything about this story is fascinating. The picture shows the notes.  The second article maps the locations across Canada and the U.S. of the silk dress cipher code.  Some of the analysis is included.

This was sidewalk chalk art I found years ago in Liberty Village.  It comes from the early 1700s when children worked in the daylight hours and play happened late in the evening.  It has appeared in nursery rhymes and dance books since then.  There are more verses and are numerous variations.   Read more daily posts here: marilyncornwellblogspot.com Purchase works here: Fine Art America- marilyncornwell.com Redbubble - marilyncornwellart.ca

Oct 27 2023 - Fun Food

 

What would make food fun?  Is that something for children?  Like Minion Rice Krispies. What about Easy Homemade Funfetti Cake?   I guess Funfetti is edible confetti as the cake is multi-coloured like confetti.  Looks cute.  I have to scroll down a bit to get to the Pink Pickled Devilled Eggs. Devilled eggs are never left over at a party.  I usually ask a person to bring double.  But would you want to eat pink-tinged devilled eggs and it isn't Easter?  I don't think that's the kind of fun I have in mind. Maybe we adults are not slated for fun food. I think it might be the word "fun".  We are focused on weird things so let's consider that.  It might be that adults think weird is fun. Here's one:  chocolate-covered cheese with black sea salt.  Here's the scoop:  "Every time I make these for guests or for a cooking demo about real food made simply, people rave about them. They're surprising as an addition to an appetizer table—or even served after dinner paired with a nice cabernet or port. —Dorothy McNett, Pacific Grove, California" And the next one: Fries dipped in honey: "This weird food combination does taste good, and it’s a great way to balance a salty snack with a healthy dip. Honey is extremely good for you, so why not take those fast-food fries and dip them in some local honey to see what you think about this weird food combination that actually tastes good." This turns into American fast food and processed food stories.  Put peanut butter with burgers, or with mayonnaise, or with bacon ... And then put Coca Cola in milk.   There's an AI app called Plant Jammer - it finds recipes based on whatever food you input, or have lying around, according to the article's author who had three tomatoes, a sweet potato and asparagus.  It searches three million recipes to find often-paired items. It then consults a library of ingredients that the company has hired professional chefs to group by flavour - salt, umami, sour, oil, crunch, soft, sweet, bitter, spicy, fresh and aroma. I don't need AI to figure out a recipe for our author's ingredients.  They actually go together well. At the same time, maybe there will be an AI food app for adults having some fun with food.

I just loved that Red Velvet birthday cake at Pearl Morissette - made with beets, no chocolate.  It was delicious and a fun surprise.  Fun food for adults! Read more daily posts here: marilyncornwellblogspot.com Purchase works here: Fine Art America- marilyncornwell.com Redbubble - marilyncornwellart.ca

Sep 19 2023 - Love it and Hate it Food

 

There's a love and hate list for everything.  Cilantro has brought forth both lists.  What are the 10 most hated foods? Did you know that Marzipan shows up as number 10 on one list?  I went on to another and got these items: Beets.  Olives.  Cilantro.  Mushrooms.  Tomatoes.  Durian.  Bitter Gourd.  Eggplant. Other lists include members of the cabbage family like broccoli, brussel sprouts, and then slimy okra, also turnips, raisins, blue cheese and anchovies. As I look through these lists, I start to think they have questionable origins or sources.   The BuzzFeed article included candy corn and circus peanuts!  You could vote and contribute to the study.  I don't know what circus peanuts are. Would the farmers market be a nightmare for those who hate all these vegetables?

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Aug 18 2023 - CNE Food

 

When did the CNE become the hot spot for strange food combinations?  This year there's quite a line-up covered extensively by blogTO HERE  "Choose from dill pickle fries, pickle cotton candy, and peanut butter pickle dogs; Fruity Pebble-topped mini pancakes and deep fried cheese curds covered in the cereal; and pink champagne mac and cheese, pink stuffed chimney cones, pink dragon fruit fluffy pancakes, pink pina colada sauce-covered nachos and an extra pink strawberry milkshake full of extravagant fixings. Continuing on the sensational side, there are also Korean fried frog legs, a whopping four-pound taco that is hard to carry with two hands, a burger with watermelon slices for buns, foot-long fries, bacon-wrapped chicken wings, a Krispy Kreme blueberry chicken sandwich, peanut butter jelly corn on the cob and street corn lemonade. The stars of this year's foods will definitely include the deep fried pizza slices from Pizza Pizza, which come in three varieties: classic, buffalo sauce, and hot honey-pickle-creamy garlic-Doritos. Another is the cheeseburger and street corn soft serve cones from So Cute Ice Cream, which is the same company behind the ketchup and mustard-flavoured desserts last year. If you can stomach them, the cheeseburger option comes with a pickle and pretzel in a cheese-coated waffle cone, while the street corn flavour includes lime, cotija cheese and chili seasoning on top." Do you want to see pictures of this weird stuff?  Here's the National Post coverage with pictures HERE.  I didn't find any history of the  CNE's weird food - it doesn't compete with a roller coaster or a ferris wheel, I guess.   Here's another watercolour image - this one of leaf pressings.

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Oct 15 2021 - Cozy and Warm Food

 

This is the time of year when we shift suddenly from outside grilling to inside stewing and roasting.  We need soups, stews and roasted potatoes and squash.   Fall food recipes contain a lot of pumpkin, followed by apple. Not that we really want to bake all that pumpkin - it just seems so comforting.   Huffington Post got my attention with its 22 foods you must cook this fall - and it too comments on this contrast between summer cookouts and fall baking.  My guess is that mac and cheese will be on its list.  This seems to me to be the 'back to school' dish of university students.  I was rewarded.  Theirs is a no-boil mac and cheese with crispy bread crumbs on top.   The pictures are absolutely wonderful.  There are so many photographs of everything.  Are there iconic food pictures that we all recognize?   What a surprise! I didn't find any famous pictures.  Instead I found a most notable one. Here is Julia Child, on the set of the French Chef in the 1960s, with her studio "helpers".  When I looked up this image, the actual title is "Julia's Posse".  I like that they are all so formally dressed - like they work in an office.   I was very interested in photographing food when I took courses at Ryerson.  Here are two of the images from then - on Instagram this is a recent image from one of the downtown Toronto food halls.

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July 4th 2021 - Love Food with Bertha Skye

 

What is Canada's cuisine?  We have lots of well-known chefs and restaurants.  What about our Indigenous cuisine?  One of our most celebrated chefs is Bertha Skye. This is an excerpt of her biography at the Hamilton Public Library site: "Skye was born in northern Saskatchewan where she began to hone her passion for traditional cooking. At the age of 17 she began her culinary career as a cook for the Prince Albert Residential School. At the 1992 World Culinary Olympics, Skye competed on a team of Indigenous chefs that won 11 medals, the most of any team, including the Grand Gold Medal.  For over a decade, Skye has served as an Elder for McMaster University, Sheridan College and Mohawk College, which recently recognized her as a Distinguished Fellow. She has guided students through the sometimes turbulent and delicate experience of post-secondary education, with support, guidance, laughter, friendship and, of course, healthy meals.  She moved to Six Nations of the Grand River more than 50 years ago, after meeting her husband Hubert Skye, and today she is the mother of three daughters and two sons and the grandmother of six grandchildren and two great-grandchildren. She is also a volunteer board member with the Six Nations Health Foundation. Throughout her lifetime, Skye has educated, supported and fostered understanding among Indigenous and non-Indigenous colleagues, earning wide respect in all her communities." At the Culinary Olympics one dish she made was the Three Sisters Soup.  Who are the three sisters? Corn, squash and beans. The term “Three Sisters” refers to the three main crops of some North American tribes: maize (corn), squash, and beans. The three plants were planted close together and like close sisters, aided one another in their respective growing processes. There's a recipe that references her in the description HERE.

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Marilyn's Photo - Feb 29 2020 Leftover Leap Year

The Times of Israel says that it has been 28 years since February 29th fell on Shabbat (the Jewish day of rest).  The writer imagines the Leap Day phenomenon could be food neutral - power ourselves on leftovers.  I wonder about this linkage so go checking on Shabbat in Wikipedia.  I find that Shabbat is very much a day with food traditions and rituals: "Shabbat is ushered in by lighting candles and reciting a blessing. Traditionally, three festive meals are eaten: The first one is held on Friday evening, the second is traditionally a lunch meal on Saturday and the third being held later in the afternoon. The evening meal and the early afternoon meal typically begin with a blessing called kiddush and another blessing recited over two loaves of challah. The third meal does not have the Kiddush recited but does have the two loaves. Shabbat is closed Saturday evening with a havdalah blessing." There is such diversity now in everyday living.  Religious rituals are followed by some that are unknown to others.  I hadn't thought about what it means to "cease work", but there are rules on this.  One cannot weave two threads or separate two threads.  No sifting, kneading, or baking.  No plowing sowing or reaping. What about no erasing two or more letters?  That seems bizarre to me. I am fascinated by "the erasing of two or more letters".  There is no breaking the letters when cutting the cake. Not knowing the context of this, I think of birthday cakes with names and happy birthday on them - put the names on with block letters so one can cut the cake (what about candles?  I bet they are a problem).  And what about writing on the side of books and letters on packages?  Again I visualize a cereal box that needs to be opened for breakfast and chaos erupts.  Don't open a book before checking it out. These imaginings are perfect for Leap Day. I have "leaped" out of my first world secular bubble for a little bit.  I will climb back in and continue my own repeated activities of a Saturday. The Mega Squall occurred yesterday - it was north and west of us - so we were spared yesterday - sunshine and cold weather was our fate. Supposedly the snow flurries that didn't arrive yesterday will come for a visit today. Here's an image with the "light beyond" - my version of the mystery of life and the universe.  This one is a hotel window curtain.

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Feb 21 2020 - When in Eataly...

Yesterday I visited Eataly at the Manulife Centre.  The Manulife $100 million dollar renovation is on display, mostly.  There are still sections under construction, but it is shiny and bright, full of white marble walls and floors. I wonder if they are the same marble or if it is new marble. It has the same pristine appeal. I wonder where Ashley's is when I look left and remember it's just down the street now in the Colonnade.  I took a 'virtual walk down Bloor Street' with this 2018 update from Urban Retail HERE. It is easy to understand now how the streetscape has changed and continues to change - everything has been up for renovation. What I wanted to experience is Eataly - the new food emporium that has Toronto buzzing.  It is massive (50,000 square feet (with 4 restaurants, 7 eateries and 3 bars) and amazing (10,000 local and imported).  My check on locally-sourced products was positive. As we move into a time of attention to climate change and travel, Eataly offers the visitor an Italian experience. No need to take a long plane trip to Italy to see Italian food or shop Italian. The copper pots in the entrance form the shape of Italy if you stand at the entrance below.  It boasts being  the largest Italian marketplace in the world.  It certainly feels that way.  I circled around a few times enjoying more each time.  It was early in the day before the crowds of lunch, so everything was accessible and viewable. Lots of staff making things orderly (300 people employed).  People were at the espresso bars enjoying a chat. There is still more to see and experience there.  It is a perfect match for Bloor Street West.  Holt Renfrew across the street is undergoing a big external facelift.  Must keep up with Eataly. If one has an overwhelm experience while there and can't decide on what to buy - here's an articleon the 12 foods to buy at Eataly Toronto.

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Plant Evidence

We woke up this week to the transformed Canadian Food Guidelines.  Truly transformed.  There's no 'meat' section and no 'dairy' section.  I don't have to feel guilty about not drinking milk anymore.  Fruit juice is no longer recommended - we're allowed water as something normal again.   The Canada Food Guide was introduced in 1942, meant to help during a wartime ration period. Canadians have become fatter and sicker since then. Here's what the Senate said about the food guide in April 6, 2016:  "It took Health Canada 15 years before it revised the 1992 Food Guide, and it has already been eight years since the launch of our 2007 version. Canadians deserve an evidence-based food guide. We deserved one back with the launch in 2007, and we still deserve one today. From my vantage point, however, I am unaware of any official energy, interest or plan to update our current non-evidence-based Guide any time soon." - This quote comes from the Senate, April 6 2016. So we enter the Canada Food Guide debate.  The old 2007 guide is a pyramid.  Here it is.   This is meant to be a visual guide on what to eat more of and less than.  But I see a clear message of moving up the 'food chain.' As we move up the pyramid, it is the top half of the picture that you focus on - meat, fat, processed food.   There are many messages like this.  The 'glass' of orange juice at the bottom of the pyramid?  That's gone in the new guidelines.  See the separate dairy category?  That's gone in 2019.  And the dominance of animal-based proteins - that's gone too.  The 2019 picture below says what it is - proteins.  They are all equal size in the plate picture below. On the plate above are huge hunks of meat.  In another version there are  whole fish and chickens shown.   You can imagine that the reaction was mixed. This 'same size' presentation is interesting. The beef industry representative says that beef as an 'efficient' protein.  "The amount of plant protein you would need to consume to have even one serving of lean beef is considerable".  The 'food war' can be subtle. Below is an unsubtle criticism of the Food Industry's perspective on the 2007 Rainbow Pyramid.  There has been loud criticism of the 2007 food guide being overly influenced by producers.   So let's move to our pictures of the day.  The little no dogs sign attracted my attention at the Kaufman Garden in Kansas City.  And below that is the well-known chapel at the Powell Garden.  It has been given an infrared treatment.