Toronto Foodie: The Things Luscious Domestic Bought

Ever wonder why your dates are sold with that plastic stick in the middle?

For a foodie with diverse tastes, Toronto is a marvellous place to shop in. From the South Asian shops on Gerrard Street to the vast varieties of produce in the St. Lawrence Market, the fine bread in Little Italy or the Quebecois cheeses of the Distillery District, one only needs a fistful of cash and a large suitcase to lug the treasures home.

First stop: Gerrard Street. Also known as Little India, rumour has it that it's being taken over by Tamils. Being Tamil myself, it seemed like a logical thing to check it out.  I couldn't resist fresh dates for $3.99 a pound. Fresh dates are surprisingly good with Hendricks gin.

After picking up some fresh curry leaves I vowed to dry later, I hopped back onto the public limo and wended my way up to the St. Lawrence Market.

Curry leaves are instrumental in southern Indian and Sri Lankan cooking. Curry powder is not made with curry leaves. When they're fresh, they have an aromatic, distinct tannic scent that's unique to the leaf. The Toronto foodie series will have a feature on Tamil love food. Curry leaves will definitely be included.

Lugging my bag of fruit, curry leaves and some miscellaneous steel cookingware I picked up in Little India, walked past the Sultan's Tent and Cafe Maroc (a great place to eat in Toronto) and finally arrived at the St. Lawrence Market.

I was a little pinched for time. I was supposed to meet an old friend for dinner in less than an hour at Guu Izakaya. I had just enough time to wander for a little bit.

The St. Lawrence Market has been around for over 200 years. It is primarily known for its fruits, vegetables, meats, cheeses and other fine produce.

After longingly eyeing cataracts of jewel-toned fruit and conceding I could only purchase something small, I came across a stand that specialized in selling only mustard and horseradish.

The word "mustard" comes from the Middle English word "mustarde" which means condiment. Although mustard was first cultivated in India around 3000 BC, Canada now produces 90 per cent of the world's mustard and has the world's oldest mustard mill.

I picked up some eye-watering horseradish whose pungency won me over at first taste.

The proprietor gave me some good advice. Always store your horseradish upside down on its lid. It retains its pungency much longer this way, and lasts for about three to four months in the fridge.

A few days later, I recklessly purchased four types of goat cheese in the Distillery District.

I was so excited to share the cheese when I arrived home that I forgot to photograph them before we opened them up.

However, here are the four types: ash-cured Fromages Chaput Prestige, le Moutier, Fleur des Monts and la tomme du Haut-Richelieu. All from Quebec, all entirely amazing.

Le Moutier is my favourite with its sweet, grassy taste. It's made in the only cheese dairy in North America that's run by Benedictine monks.

The final foodie damage was committed at an unassuming Turkish bakery. There was a marvellous assortment of baklava, pastries and cookies, but as I can't eat them, I settled on lokum.

Three kinds of lokum, to be precise. All delicately flavoured, not too sweet and not too starchy. Lokum is known by many names across the Middle East, Central Asia and Southern Europe.

The sort pictured here are not the jelly-like soft and saccharine squares of Turkish Delight you might find in a North American candy shop. These pieces were almost too beautiful to share. Thanks to Gokhan and Heather for gifting an entire bagful of these to me.

Toronto. How I love your foodie friendly shops.