Sittin' in the Kitchen

Susur Lee is one of Canada's most recognizable and lauded chefs, but I knew him long before his rise to fame. I will never forget meeting Susur for the first time. In 1984 (I was the food editor of the Toronto Sun at the time). Susur and fellow chef Michael Statlander visited me at work. We headed to the cafeteria to chat, where Susur and Michael spoke passionately about their food philosophy, emp...

This podcast is short and funny! My famous foodie friend @mairlynsmith and I champion underdog vegetables – brussels sprouts and parsnips. May it remind you to expand your culinary horizons and eat your greens! Tune in here:  https://www.marionkane.com/podcast/foodie-friend-champion-underdog/  

In 2016, I interviewed one of Canada's most lauded chefs, Martin Picard, known for his big personality and famous nose-to-tail restaurant, Au Pied de Cochon. Martin and I chatted about maple syrup, foie gras, and his love of leftovers. You can tune in to the full episode here:  https://www.marionkane.com/podcast/quebec-chef-martin-picard-food/ Anthony Bourdain's segment about Martin Picard gives u...

One of the sweetest moments of my life took place when I was reunited with my childhood nanny, Evelyn. Hired by my parents when I was an infant, Evelyn left her small rural community at age 17 to care for me in our Montreal home. Fifty years later, I reunited with my beloved nanny, who had spent her life on a farm near the tiny village of Brinston, not far from where she grew up. I have fond memor...

Cooking is a wonderful destressor, and I'm not alone in that belief – my kitchen cousin, Nigella Lawson, agrees with me! I loved interviewing Nigella. We chatted like a couple of old friends, swapping ideas for recipe tweaks, sharing cooking philosophy, and musing about our careers in the world of food. Nigella is beautiful inside and out, full of her signature warmth and a great deal of humility...

Big news for one of television's most popular reality TV shows! Dame Prue Leith is leaving The Great British Bake Off and will be replaced by celebrity cooking icon, Nigella Lawson. Nigella will almost certainly attract her legion of followers to the Bake Off audience, on account of her warm likeability and earnest passion for eating good food. I had the very good fortune of interviewing Nigella i...

Modena's famous Massimo Bottura approaches food and cooking with a sense of creativity that is electric. His charm and energy are irresistible, and his values of social justice and sustainability are deeply aligned with my own. I had the great pleasure of interviewing Massimo in 2017 and dove into a topic we both care about: reducing food waste. You can tune into that episode here:  https://www.ma...

In 2017, I interviewed Matty Matheson, the John Belushi of the culinary world. Heavily tattooed, irreverent and profoundly talented. Matty rose to fame with his hugely popular VICE TV show, Dead Set on Life. We talked about his recovery from addiction and a heart attack at age 29. Matty has since made a remarkable recovery and now balances a full career that includes a brand new 9,500-square-foot...

American chef Sean Brock's work is a love letter to Southern food. Raised in a small coal town on the Virginia-Kentucky border, Sean has dedicated his craft to studying Appalachian food and hospitality. A great friend to fellow culinary adventurer Anthony Bourdain, the two shared an unforgettable and comical meal at the iconic Waffle House, which you can check out in the Charleston episode of Part...

Can vegetables be the star of the show at dinner? Chef Amanda Cohen thinks so! In 2008, Amanda opened 'Dirt Candy' – a vegetable-focused restaurant – in New York's Lower East Side. Since then, Dirt Candy has earned a Michelin Star and delighted diners with creativity and flavour in dishes where vegetables take centre stage. I interviewed Amanda in 2016 at the 10th annual Terroir Symposium in Toron...

Bruno Feldeisen understands the emotional aspects of food and cooking. When I interviewed him for my podcast in 2017, we dove deep into the meaning and feelings that go hand-in-hand with preparing food for others. Bruno had a difficult childhood that, while in many ways tragic, created a path to deeper meaning in his life and work. He is a man who cares deeply about being of service to others and...

In her decade as Editor-in-Chief of Gourmet magazine, Ruth Reichl would have sifted through 1000s of recipes. These 10 are her favourites:  Ruth Reichl's Favorite Recipes from Gourmet | Epicurious I interviewed Ruth in 2015 when she published '136 Recipes That Saved My Life.' We had a candid conversation about the magic of cooking and how she found meaning in life after Gourmet magazine shuttered...

Huzzah! It's peach season in Ontario. That means luscious peach pies, cobblers or the simple pleasure of eating a ripe peach over the kitchen sink. I suggest a peach sundae at the Winona Peach Festival, August 22 to 24. I had a marvellous day recording a podcast at the event in 2014. You can tune into that episode here:  https://www.marionkane.com/podcast/sleuth-ultimate-dessert-annual/   You can...

One of the highlights of my life was bringing cooking legend Julia Child to the Toronto Star Test Kitchen in 1999. We invited some of Toronto's best chefs to cook lunch for Julia that day. In this podcast, those chefs reflect on the experience affectionately and share what it was like to meet the culinary star. The anniversary of Julia's birthday is on August 15. Julia died on August 13, 2004, jus...

The Julia Child's birthday is just around the corner August 15 - my wonderful friend and mentor. She was every bit as warm and funny in person as you would expect her to be but don't take my word for it. Listen to my podcast episode from 2012 when I interviewed three people from Julia's innermost circle - Judith Jones, Alex Prud'homme and Bob Spitz.  https://www.marionkane.com/podcast/julia-childs...

The iconic Harbord Bakery celebrates its 80th anniversary this year. I've found that they can do no wrong especially my favourites – their stellar challah, caraway rye, their chewy twister bagels and superb Florentine cookies. When the bakery turned 70, I created a podcast with owner Susan Wisniewski who shares memories of growing up in the bakery and started by her parents decades ago.   You can...

This podcast is short and funny! My famous foodie friend Mairlyn Smith and I champion underdog vegetables – brussels sprouts and parsnips. May it remind you to expand your culinary horizons and eat your greens! Tune in here:  https://www.marionkane.com/podcast/foodie-friend-champion-underdog/   

Congratulations to Matty Matheson on 11 years of sobriety! I interviewed Matty in 2017 when he was still newly sober. His joie de vivre was apparent in our conversation and today he still broadcasts messages of love for his new lease on life. Matty's authenticity is part of his charm - he is big, gregarious, tattooed,  creative, down-to-earth and principled. And I highly recommend his recipe for f...

Rosh Hashanah, Jewish New Year, is approaching on October 2 to 4.The Gefilteria is the brainchild of Brooklyn NY residents Liz Alpern and Jeffrey Yoskowitz, champions of Jewish cuisine. Their specialty: gefilte fish that far surpasses the versions that have given this dish a bad name. I interviewed the authors of The Gefilte Manifesto in 2016; tune in to hear us talk about Jewish foods and a touch...

You can count on the month of August in Ontario to reliably bring us these things: long lines of traffic headed toward cottage country, at least one big thunderboomer of a rainstorm - and juicy, luscious Ontario peaches.   I highly recommend you try my recipe for Peach Galette (pictured here). Adding a layer of almonds is a trick I learned from Jacques Pepin – it keeps the crust from becoming sogg...

Calling all-day trippers and barbecue lovers! Ross and I took a road trip last month around Lake Ontario via Kingston and Rochester. A highlight of our five-day tour was the Dinosaur Bar-B-Que lunch in Rochester. We ordered Sweetheart Deal for Two ($41 U.S.) - the full rack of ribs and four sides. The tender, smoky ribs were succulent and divine - potato salad and baked beans were delicious. The b...

The new biography on the life of book editor Judith Jones is having its moment in the literary spotlight. Judith, who died in 2017 at 93, was a publishing pioneer. She rescued "Anne Frank: The Diary of a Young Girl" from the publisher's rejection pile and famously collaborated with Julia Child. In 2012, I visited Judith Jones at her Upper East Side home in NYC. Her little dog stole gum from my pur...

Alex Prud'homme had a special bond with his great aunt, Julia Child. I found Alex an affable and warm person. Perhaps that's because we both had a special connection to Julia – I was her dear friend. In 2016, I interviewed Alex Prud'homme while he was on a book tour promoting  The French Chef in America . You can listen to our conversation here (and I highly recommend it – Alex is delightful!):  ...

Eloquent Toronto restaurateur Jen Agg is a strong woman. Her book “I Hear She's a Real Bitch” relates how the media has not always been kind, mischaracterizing Jen's feminine strength and ambition as pushy and bitchy. As a strong woman, who also had a career in a male-dominated field, I can relate. I don't find Jen to be a bitch. When I interviewed her in 2017, I found her to be passionate, princi...

Old-school fast food is in Sean Brock's blood. The Nashville-based, James Beard award-winning chef recently opened Joyland - a burger-fries-fried chicken joint that hearkens back to the 1950s. We can see Sean's love of diner food in Charleston episode of Parts Unknown clip of him with Anthony Bourdain to the iconic Waffle House. In this funny and nostalgic video, Sean waxes poetic about the virtue...