Here we will pro­file peo­ple in this province who help shape the way we eat, cook and think about food.

These two gals will kick your ass if they catch you eat­ing fast food

This woman is behind almost every sig­nif­i­cant food event that takes place in Toronto. When she’s not orga­niz­ing the Picnic at the Brickworks, World Food Week, Palais D’hiver, the Slow Food Chef Dinner Series, the Craft Beer Festival and Terroir, she is also the co-chair for Slow Food Toronto. Her twelve year old daugh­ter Hannah is a her­itage apple that didn’t fall far from the organic activist tree, as you can see by this arti­cle she recently had pub­lished in one of our favourite sources for local food news GoodFoodRev.

Arlene Stein, con­nec­tor & food­ist (‘my daugh­ter coined that one!’)

Where did you start out in the food world?

I had hum­ble begin­nings.  I started as a cock­tail wait­ress and then a bar­tender and then a man­ager.  Every place I worked they kept mak­ing me the man­ager and it became more and more dif­fi­cult to leave.  I never wanted to work in food, espe­cially restau­rants, but even­tu­ally I fell in love with the pas­sion and cre­ativ­ity of the peo­ple in the hos­pi­tal­ity indus­try.  At Hart House, under the ban­ner of Social Justice, I was able to develop pro­gram­ming around issues of food secu­rity and sustainability.

What changes have you seen over the years in how the peo­ple you meet feel about local farm­ers and food?

The most sig­nif­i­cant change that peo­ple are mak­ing is the rela­tion­ships and the con­ver­sa­tions we are build­ing with our food pro­duc­ers. As a com­mu­nity con­cerned with cre­at­ing a sus­tain­able food sys­tem, we need to help sup­port each other, know the chal­lenges and under­stand how the entire food sys­tem works.

The indus­trial model of food pro­duc­tion has lead our soci­ety to many decades of no con­nec­tion or under­stand­ing of the food we are putting on the table. With all the recent health issues around safe food han­dling, peo­ple are not will­ing to sim­ply trust the sys­tem any­more. People are start­ing to ask ques­tions about where their food comes from and they want to have a con­nec­tion with the person(s) who pro­duced it.

Society is also more likely to sup­port change when they have met a farmer strug­gles to feed his/her own fam­ily, or can’t afford another piece of machin­ery. Connecting with food pro­duc­ers builds an under­stand­ing of our food sys­tem and helps to cre­ate a com­mu­nity and a richer food culture.

what is your favourite vegetable?

I have always loved arti­chokes. You don’t get much from them but they are the most divine and lovely of all vegetables.

When I was in Italy two years ago for Terre Madre we had pick­led Brindisino, which are a smaller vari­ety with a vio­let hue, sim­ply deli­cious.  My favorite way to eat them is boiled lightly and dipped in butter.

farm ani­mal?

To pet or to eat? I love rab­bit stew, but have to also admit to own­ing one as a pet.

sea­son?

Fall is the best sea­son, espe­cially in Southern Ontario. The turn­ing leaves, the lakes, chilly nights and camp­fires, and of course it’s har­vest time. How can you love food and not love the fall?

Where are some of your favourite places in Ontario for food and drink?

Toronto of course!  We have many spec­tac­u­lar restau­rants with chefs that are com­mit­ted to sup­port­ing a local food sys­tem.  They are a com­mit­ted group of indi­vid­u­als that work hard to show­case pro­duc­ers from all over Southern Ontario.

I’m in love with Stratford and I think it has one of the most dynamic culi­nary scenes in a rural set­ting.  Favorite places — Soiled Reputation, Straford Brewing, Monforte Dairy, Bijou, Rundles, The Chef School, Fosters, Down the Street.

I like stay­ing at inns and resorts.  I just came back from the Elmhirst for my third visit and each time I return more impressed with their hos­pi­tal­ity and the com­mit­ment they put into their resort. They have an exclu­sive VQA wine list and raise their own cat­tle and even use Red Fife wheat to make their own pasta.  It’s a really spe­cial place.

I also really like Sir Sams on Eagle Lake, because I love the Haliburtons, espe­cially in the fall when the drive up HWY 35 is so spec­tac­u­lar. Arowhon Pines in Algonquin park is like a lit­tle piece of par­adise in the summer.

There is no bet­ter place to watch the sun­set over lake Ontario than on the patio of the Devonshire Inn in Wellington, PEC and the Black Dog pub is worth the three hour drive to the wil­low lined streets of Bayfield on Lake Huron.

Our hero is on the left, the lit­tlest loca­vore at four years old.