Eating

Saturday June 20, 2020

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Saturday June 20, 2020

The end of the buffet as we know it?

December 4, 2013

The COVID-19 pandemic may be the end of the restaurant buffet as we know it. 

With concerns over the spread of the virus heightening concerns around food safety, the fill-your-plate dining concept is facing serious challenges.

Some Alberta restaurant operators believe that long after anxiety around the spread of the virus subsides, customers won’t have an appetite for self-serve eats. 

Some buffets shuttered by the pandemic may be gone forever, said Oscar Lopez, the founder of Pampa Brazilian Steakhouse, a chain of five Alberta restaurants. 

“That’s the $2-million question,” Lopez said. “This is part of a huge industry.

December 13, 2013

“We’ve been thinking about it a lot.” 

After months of public health messaging about virus prevention, customers may have become permanently put off by sneeze guards and shared spoons, Lopez said. 

He wonders how long the world-famous buffets of the Las Vegas strip will remain closed, or if now-docked cruise ships will ever serve their food in the same way again. 

Even when Alberta health restrictions prohibiting buffets are lifted, his chain of restaurants may never operate them again. 

June 11, 2014

“An emotional scar has been left on people,” he said. “I’m skeptical. I don’t know. 

“When Alberta Health Services allows us to reopen our salad bar operation, I’m not quite sure that we will. I think that will have to do a lot with what the public’s reaction is, what their memory of this whole situation is.

“We may just keep doing what we’re doing.”

Pampa is known for its rodizio-style service. Customers sample from shared plates and meat skewers served by waiters circulating from table to table. The salad bar is also a huge draw, Lopez said.

Coronavirus cartoons

Since reopening, the restaurant is now plating its food individually in the kitchen. Tables are carefully spaced two metres apart. The salad bar is closed indefinitely. 

Lopez considered having an attendant for the buffets but said he was advised by health inspectors that it would be too difficult to keep customers a safe distance apart from each other. 

“Almost overnight we had to reinvent ourselves and sort of reteach our team on our new style of service, so we’re kind of learning as we go.” 

Most customers have been accommodating, he said, but some reservations have been cancelled.

“It looks empty. It looks sad. We have lost a lot of the ambience in the restaurant.” (CBC)

Letter to the Editor, Wednesday June 24, 2020

June 20 cartoon missing racialized customers

I want to thank The Spectator for giving us a great example of systemic racism: A cartoon with seven people at the buffet table and not one racialized person. I guess only white people in Hamilton go to buffet restaurants. Despite the fact that systemic barriers exist everywhere, people continue to be blind to them.

Jorge Lasso, Hamilton

Wednesday January 23, 2019

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Wednesday January 23, 2019

New food guide set to challenge prominence of meat, dairy industries

Health Canada unveiled a radically new food guide Tuesday that eliminates food groups, encourages plant-based foods over meat and dairy products, and is likely to force changes across the country’s agricultural industry.

December 13, 2018

“I see the food guide as a challenge for many industries,” said Simon Somogyi, a University of Guelph professor studying the business of food. “How they adapt will be of interest.”

Meat enjoyed a dominant position in the previous food guide, with a meat-and-alternatives category and a recommended two to three servings daily for adults depending on their sex and age. It now features much less prominently. The new guide encourages people to “eat protein foods,” but choose those that come from plants more often.

March 18, 2016

It’s a win for plant-protein farmers, like those growing beans, chickpeas and lentils, but a potential threat to meat producers.

Somogyi believes consumers will favour high-quality beef when they choose to consume red meat, and farmers will likely want to shift to producing niche products.

If Canadians eat less meat, there may be opportunities to export to Asian markets, where a middle-class consumer wants safe, high-quality cuts.

“If the Canadian beef sector can provide that then their future looks bright,” Somogyi said.

The industry may also want to collaborate with plant-protein producers, said Sylvain Charlebois, a Dalhousie University professor who researches food. (Source: CBC) 

 

Saturday May 5, 2018

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Saturday May 5, 2018

Ontario gas prices approach record high as election looms

The high price of gasoline is a concern right now for many of Ontario’s drivers and voters, giving it the potential to become an issue in the provincial election campaign.

The average price of regular unleaded gas across the province is sitting just shy of $1.37/litre according to data compiled by the Ministry of Energy. That’s just six cents lower than the highest-ever average price that hit the province in late June 2014, shortly after Ontario went to the polls the last time.

PC leader Doug Ford is trying to convince voters that gas prices will soar even further if the Liberals are re-elected.

“We all know that paying $1.50 for gas is what would happen under the Kathleen Wynne government,” Ford told a news conference at a gas station last week. “Kathleen Wynne will have her hand in your pocket every time you fill at the pump. I can tell you, that’s not going to happen on our watch.”  

Ford says his government would bring down gas prices by ending the Liberals’ cap-and-trade program. That would knock 4.3 cents a litre off the price.

However, Ford is not promising to scrap or reduce the provincial gasoline tax, which adds 14.7 cents to each litre. The gas tax brings $2.7 billion into provincial coffers each year, with a portion allocated to municipalities for local transit. Only three provinces have a lower gas tax than Ontario.  

“We were very clear when we took action on climate change that there was a small increase in the price of gas,” Premier Kathleen Wynne said this week in response to a question from CBC News.

She argues that this latest spike is a result of market forces.  

“There’s a very significant vacillation of gas prices,” Wynne said. “It’s very challenging, it’s a private market.” (Source: CBC) 

 

Tuesday, March 5, 2013

Tuesday, March 5, 2013By Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Tuesday, March 5, 2013

Ban junk food ads to fight childhood obesity: Report

They’re calling it a crisis: childhood obesity. Here’s why. One in three Ontario children now is considered overweight or obese. Those numbers are on the rise. Now an expert panel says the Ontario Government should ban some advertising aimed at kids and force convenience stores to change their displays.

At indoor gym class for Grade 6 students at St. Marguerite d’Youville School in Ottawa’s southeast, it’s the key to a long healthy life: exercise and good nutritious food.

“To keep your body healthy is a good virtue in life especially as you gets older in life,” says student Klariza Juntilla. “When you exercise it adds more years on your life. You get to live longer.”

“We need to teach kids that junk food isn’t good for them,” adds student Warner Jaworski, “It can make them obese and you won’t lead a very happy life.”

The proof, sadly, is in the pudding. One third of our children are now overweight or obese and only 7 percent get the required amount of exercise they need.

“There is a consensus that childhood obesity is a crisis,” says Kelly Murumets, co-chair of the Childhood Obesity Panel that authored called “No Time to Wait; the Healthy Kids Strategy. “There is not a consensus on a solution” she adds. This “Healthy Kids Panel” presented its findings to Ontario’s Health Minister today, recommending the province take a number of steps to chop childhood obesity. Key among them, focussing on pregnant moms and babies before obesity becomes an issue.

“The prenatal care that women receive in an environment that allows newborns to thrive,” says Alex Munter, panel co-chair and chief executive officer of the Children’s Hospital of Eastern Ontario, “those two things will shape a baby’s entire future.” (Source: CBC News) http://ottawa.ctvnews.ca/ban-junk-food-ads-to-fight-childhood-obesity-report-1.1181180

Wednesday July 25, 2007

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, Editorial Cartoonist, The Hamilton Spectator – Wednesday July 25, 2007

Hamilton eyeing 2015 Pan-Am Games?

At this point, it’s still in the very preliminary stages. But tourism and sporting officials in Hamilton are discussing the possibility of Hamilton making a bid for the 2015 Pan Am Games.

Tourism Hamilton’s David Adames says no formal discussions have taken place, but that could change in the next couple of weeks if the Canadian Olympic Committee decides to back a bid for a Pan Am bid.

Those in favour suggest the city would benefit from the hundreds of millions in federal and provincial dollars for sporting infrastructure.

But those opposed point out it will cost the city as much as 200-million dollars of its own money. (Source: CHML News)

Commentary

I know it’s the summer when I draw back to back on local news — when little stories are the fodder for editorial cartoons, simply because of a dearth of news on the national and world fronts.

Today’s subject is the mulling over by city officials to make a bid for the 2015 Pan-American games. “Here we go again” — I utter defiantly against the predictable enthusiasm of my colleagues in this editorial page room. Just as the current Pan Am games are being played out in Brazil with virtually no television coverage and scant knowledge that they’re even going on a few bright lights in Hamilton are aching for the event to be played out here.

As with the city’s earlier bid for the Commonwealth Games the thinking seems to be more about a blatant opportunity to grab a lot of provincial and federal funds to fix up existing arenas and stadiums than really understanding the traditions, history and spirit of what’s behind certain international games.

At least with the second Commonwealth Games bid we were demonstrating perseverance by going after the games for a second time. Along the way we were learning what the Commonwealth games were all about, and became aware of the fact that the games had it’s origins with the first Empire Games being played in Hamilton back in the 1930’s. Our bids were not only just about fixing up our crumbling arenas, we had a genuine desire and connection to the games.

The politics of the bidding process screwed us, but at least we learned. More persistence could get us a Commonwealth Games sometime down the road.

But a Pan Am games bid? Now we’re back to the old federal/provincial cash grab without really knowing what we’re getting into.

I sketched the cartoon below but thought it really went beyond how I feel about the potential of hosting a big international games event. I’m not a bread not circus’ advocate, just suspicious of Hamilton’s tendency to put off fixing crumbling buildings and infrastucture with the hope that one day this city’s going to win the lottery.