The Edible City inspires Eatdrink Magazine

As Ontarians, are we supposed to take pride in or offence to the nickname of Hogtown for our provincial capital? What about that other section of the city known as Cabbagetown? Is there any deep meaning to these blatant food references? Editors Christina Palassio and Alana Wilcox have compiled a collection of food essays from dozens of Toronto authors to create a fascinating book, The Edible City: Toronto's Food from Farm to Fork (Coach House Books, 2009, $24.95), which not only reveals the stories behind these nicknames, but more importantly, explains how citizens can make the best choices to keep a city sustainable.

The book dishes out a wide variety of essays about how the people of Toronto connect with healthy and sustainable food ... Anyone from Toronto, or even those who spend the occasional weekend there, will recognize the landmarks, restaurants, and parks mentioned in the book and immediately feel a sense of connection with this food revolution. The Edible City suggests that Toronto is a food Mecca because it is surrounded by farmland and vast water resources; and it is not difficult to see these characteristics in other Ontario cities. If our country's largest metropolis can pull off fruit trees in public parks, urban farms on city blocks, and apiaries on hotel rooftops, then surely every city across Ontario can too.

These essays also inspire individuals who care about how cities will secure food in the future. As one writer says, 'The direct and unmediated connection between humans and food means food is more amenable to direct action by individuals or groups than any other sector of the economy. At any given time, people can choose to give up sugar in their coffee, go for soy milk instead of cream, skip meat for one day a week, pay a little more for fair-trade chocolate, and so on.' Food may be a global commodity, but The Edible City educates us about ways to relocalize the food that flows through a city.