Sittin' in the Kitchen

I chat with Susan Wisniewski whose family has owned and operated the glorious, vintage Harbord Bakery in downtown Toronto for 70 years.

Chef Alida Solomon owns a busy Italian restaurant in downtown Toronto. Its name, Tutti Matti, means "everybody's crazy" and she admits she must be to have chosen this adrenaline-charged career.

I go to the source when sleuthing the hot topic of Southern food. Charlotte Observer food editor Kathleen Purvis relishes the chance to give her take on grits, cornbread and, of course, barbecue.

I chat by phone with Julia Child's longtime personal assistant Stephanie Hersh from her home in New Zealand in 2012.

I interview Judith Jones, Julia Child's longtime editor and good friend, at her Upper East Side apartment in 2012.

I'm in Memphis talking with Tony Geraci, Executive Director of Memphis City Schools Nutrition Services, about his amazing work feeding school children.

Greg Couillard began his career as a chef in Toronto in the early '70s. With a reputation as an unpredictable bad boy he's back at age 61 from his home in Mexico with plans to open a restaurant.

A peach sundae is the big attraction at the midsummer Winona Peach Festival in southern Ontario.

I chat with Ryan Brooks at Brooks' House of Bar-B-Q - the hugely popular restaurant in Oneonta, New York. They have been dishing out their delicious version of Cornell barbecued chicken for more than 50 years.

I chew the fat with owner Chris Corrigan at his vintage tavern turned eatery, the Lancaster Smokehouse, about the best way to barbecue ribs and his experience judging competitions in the southern US. His large restaurant in Kitchener, Ontario, Canada is always packed due to the delicious food.

After a delicious lunch at Rochelle Canteen, the East London restaurant co-owned by British chef Margot Henderson, I chew the fat with her in the kitchen of the flat she shares with her celebrity chef husband Fergus and their three children.

Two underdog vegetables, Brussels sprouts and parsnips, get a bad rap mostly because they have been victims of overcooking. My friend Mairlyn Smith and I rush to their defence with recipes and cooking tips that bring out the best in these wrongly-maligned foods.

Kerstin Rodgers aka Ms Marmite Lover - queen of London's underground restaurants - chats with me in her kitchen in Kilburn, North London. Topics du jour: the Aga oven, homemade Marmite and women's relationship with food.

Toronto pastry chef Joanne Yolles and Marion Kane Food Sleuth® discuss apple desserts in general and that delicious French confection Tarte Tatin in particular.

In mid-June, 2013, I sleuthed the inaugural butter tart festival in Midland, Ontario, and chatted with the contest judges including artist Charlie Pachter, Midland’s mayor and police chief and the fest’s honourary Queen of Tarts. The winning tart, out of 80 entries, was baked by Nancy Dillen of Barrie.

"Where Chefs Eat" is a collection of 2500 places - from high-end restaurants to hot dog stands - recommended by 450 chefs from around the world. Its editor is British restaurant writer Joe Warwick.

In this podcast, I’m talking cookbooks: Why they’re so popular, why we hold them so dear and why I was so devastated when many cherished volumes from my 1,000-plus cookbook library went missing. I tell that story and speak with two people who know plenty about this subject: retired librarian Alison Sutherland and manager of The Cookbook Store in Toronto, Alison Fryer.

In the early 1980s, British chef Michael Quinn was at the height of his game. A celebrity in his own right, Michael oversaw the kitchen at London's Ritz Hotel and was internationally renowned. But a few years later, everything vanished. Michael's struggle with alcoholism eventually cost him his job, his home and his family. Now sober for many years, he is dedicated to raising awareness about addic...

John Higgins is a Scottish chef who, despite his rapid rise to fame, has both feet firmly planted on the ground. Now, as director of George Brown College's Chef School in Toronto, John helps prepare young students for the fine balance that's crucial to health and success in the high-pressure hospitality industry.

French-born celebrity chef Marc Thuet starred in a reality TV series called Conviction Kitchen, wrote a cookbook and was at the helm of many successful restaurants. He now owns Petite Thuet bakeries in downtown Toronto. But for years, this tattooed chef with the spiky blonde hair had a secret that ruled his life - and nearly destroyed it. His drug addiction is something he says will always be wait...

I chatted with executive chef David Garcelon as he prepared a Waldorf Salad on the 18th floor of the Waldorf Astoria Hotel in midtown Manhattan. With clips from Cole Porter’s famous song: 'You’re the top' and the hilarious bit from Fawlty Towers about the renowned salad.

There's a battle going on for the soul of Kensington Market in downtown Toronto. The closing of landmark butcher European Meats caused a stir this April (2012). Many old-timers felt it was a sign of gentrification. I investigate the issue in this personal story about a place I love and call my home. Hear from old-time merchants and the new wave of food entrepreneurs coming to the market, along wit...

Tanya Steel is editor-in-chief of the grande dame of online food sites: epicurious.com. It has a huge database culled from magazines Gourmet and Bon Appetit along with recipes from chefs and home cooks around the world. Now 17 years old, it was the first site I consulted for recipes and is still my favourite. She is also the author of The Epicurious Cookbook. I talked with her on the Toronto leg o...

Marion Kane, Food Sleuth interviews Dr. Robert Baker, the man who invented the chicken nugget