Sittin' in the Kitchen

I first met Susur Lee more than 30 years ago when he and chef Michael Stadtlander were newcomers to Canada. His idealistic philosophy about food struck me as ahead of its time; as it turns out, he was. Now the high-profile owner of five successful Toronto restaurants, his Asian fusion food is refined, elegant and delicious.

Helen Antonopoulos owns and operates a Toronto food truck called Food Cabbie with her husband Spiro. Her version of the famous Greek egg dish called Strapatsada caught the attention of celebrity chef Nigella Lawson who used a rendition of the recipe in her book: Simply Nigella. It made the perfect lunch when Helen cooked it for me in my kitchen.

John Catucci and his fork travel far and wide boosting the popularity of local eateries on Food Network's "You Gotta Eat Here". He's funny, endearing and - what can I say? - you gotta listen!

I highlight a few of my favourite places to eat in the culinary melting pot of South Beach Miami: Haitian food at Tap Tap, in particular goat tidbits; a Kobe burger at the Delano Hotel; pigs' feet stew at Puerto Sagua and people watching at the News Cafe.

Lidia Bastianich came to the USA at age 12 with her family as a refugee from the former Yugoslavia. Her heritage is Italian and so is her cooking. I chatted with her at Felidia, the flagship restaurant she opened 35 years ago. Lidia's Mastering the Art of Italian Cuisine is her 10th and most recent cookbook. Don't miss her description of cooking for the pope.

Tim Everett, prepared foods team leader at the Yonge and Sheppard Whole Foods Market in Toronto, explains their popular hot and cold food bars. I enthuse about this - my favourite way of eating. Although self-serve food may have a bad rap, I point out the virtues of choosing what, how much, when and where I eat.

Nigella Lawson has bounced back better than ever after much-publicized personal troubles. She was recently on tour to promote her 10th cookbook and accompanying BBC TV show, both called Simply Nigella. I spoke with her in Toronto. It turned out we have a bond in our shared passion for food and cooking. In particular we both take a casual approach to recipes allowing for experimentation and even fa...

Cooking, eating, and sharing food can be deeply therapeutic. Ruth Reichl takes that to heart in her new book My Kitchen Year: 136 Recipes That Saved My Life. She is a renowned restaurant critic, author, and editor. She was editor-in-chief at Gourmet Magazine for a decade until it was abruptly closed in 2009. Her latest book was born out of the crushing day when she lost her job along with a part o...

Roger Mooking is a Juno award winning hip-hop artist - and when he turns his talents to food, the results are no less entertaining. He is a star of Food Network and Food Network Canada who appears on Man Fire Food, Heat Seekers, and Chopped: Canada. He co-created Everyday Exotic and penned a cookbook by the same name. Between writing, TV, opening restaurants, and recording music - he is a very bus...

Peter Neal and his brother Chris started their food company making croutons by hand in their mother's Aurora, Ontario kitchen. Now they distribute salsas, chips, salad dressings and more around the world. I had fun tasting Neal Brothers kettle chips at All the Best Fine Foods in Toronto.

In the summer of 2010, Globe and Mail feature writer Ian Brown drove across Canada eating whatever came his way. That included poutine, chicken wings, breakfast and lunch at a nudist colony and a prairie feast of Mennonite sausage and meat.

I visit Gelato Fresco's factory in Toronto. Owner Hart Melvin specializes in ice cream desserts for restaurants including The Keg's Billy Miner Pie. He got into the ice cream business 30 years ago to make people happy.

Fred Austin, an owner of Katz's Delicatessen on New York's Lower East Side, kibbitzes with me amid the lunchtime hubbub of this huge vintage landmark. The place is famous for its oversized pastrami sandwiches and for being a survivor in this gentrified neighbourhood that was once a hub of Jewish culture.

I visited Olivia Chow at her home in downtown Toronto just a few weeks before she announced her NDP candidacy in the federal election. We chatted about our mutual passion for food and cooking, in particular our wish for a Canadian national program offering nutritious food for all school children. Like her late husband, Jack Layton, she has a message of hope.

I visit the village of Dundela, Ontario, in the St. Lawrence valley where John McIntosh discovered the McIntosh apple in 1811. He and his son cultivated Canada's most famous apple and its popularity grew. I speak with Nancy McIntosh, John's great-great-granddaughter, who grew up in the Dundela farmhouse. She and I are determined to celebrate the McIntosh apple by making Dundela a tourist attractio...

I attend the third annual Best Butter Tart Festival in Midland Ontario and discover the tart's latest incarnation. The deep-fried butter tart is nothing short of sublime. I chat with fest founder Barb Rowlandson and inventor Cathy Moreau about how it came to be. Nobu Adilman, a judge in the butter tart competition, also offers his take on this all Canadian dessert.

Douglas Quint and Bryan Petroff are partners in life and in business. They started their Big Gay Ice Cream enterprise with a food truck in New York. Now they operate several ice cream shops and have a snazzy book called Big Gay Ice Cream.

I chat with Francis Lam at the Terroir Symposium in Toronto about his childhood food memories, his appearances as a judge of TV food show ‘Top Chef Masters’ and his unusual, delicious rendition of ratatouille.

I chat with Daniel Young of the award-winning website youngandfoodish.com about his passion for fish and chips. Formerly a restaurant critic in New York, he now lives in London where we met at Camden Town's upscale eatery 'Hook'.

I first met Vikram Vij two decades ago and visited his hugely popular Vancouver restaurant Vij's in January 2015. We met a few weeks later at CBC in downtown Toronto and chatted about his mini-empire comprising two restaurants, cookbooks, a line of Indian food products and gigs on television.

I interview Michael Schwartz in the lobby of The Raleigh South Beach. He explains why he moved to Miami from Philadelphia 20 years ago and how he has been at the helm of a food and beverage empire that includes a lovely restaurant at this hotel. Esther Williams performed her famous swimming scenes in the hotel's stunning pool.

Dr. Vera Tarman is medical director of Renascent Treatment Centre in Toronto and a confessed food addict. In her book, Food Junkies, she outlines her controversial approach to food addiction. Tarman advocates abstinence from trigger foods such as sugar, fat, salt, flour and caffeine.

A chef and her husband leave the city of Toronto to restore a vintage farmhouse near the village of Creemore in southern Ontario. Their focus is locally-grown seasonal food carefully prepared at the lovely bed and breakfast Mad Maple.

I helped organize three gala fundraisers for which a team of Toronto's top female chefs donated their time and food. The money raised helped renovate and equip Sistering's wonderful new kitchen. We celebrated with a kitchen party.

I chat with Danny Zimmerman about how his father Zoltan was one of the first Jewish merchants in downtown Toronto's Kensington Market. Decades later, in early 2015, they are handing the torch to Potsothy "Pots" Sallapa and a new group of food vendors.