#corey mintz

Photograpy by Jens Kristian Balle (jenskristianballe.com).

How NAFTA Changed the Way We Eat

Millennials may have popularized avocado toast, but free trade made it a sensation

In 1988, Canada imported 6.9 ­million kilograms of the fruit, almost all of it from the United States. Back then, you couldn’t just write ­avocados on your ­grocery list and ­expect to find them in a Canadian supermarket. As NAFTA eli­minated tariffs and other limits on trade and investment—including America’s ban on Mexican avocados—imports grew more than tenfold. By 2017, Canada was importing almost 80 million kilograms of avocados a year, nearly every one of them from Mexico.

Illustration by Jeannie Phan (jeanniephan.com).

Eating Dinner with Canada's Migrant Workers

For the people who work our fields, food is both a livelihood and a way to stave off isolation

Canadians won’t do the back-breaking, low-paying work of picking our own produce. For the people we import to work our fields, food not only provides a livelihood but is also essential for maintaining their mental health, for surviving in isolation from their homes and families—which is why Armando and I are talking about avocados.

How to cook beets, leaves and all

It’s hard to choose a playlist for dinner with a magician. Just “Final Countdown” on a four-hour loop? I settle on the early ’70s smooth jazz sounds of Bob James. I don’t know a lot about magic but I feel that this could be the soundtrack to a Doug Henning television special.

Planning a menu for David Ben was easier. I only had to figure out how to execute the most obvious food allusion, to pull a rabbit out of a hat. My butcher sold me a whole animal, kidneys removed. I didn’t have enough duck fat on hand, so I make a confit in the smoked pork fat left over from last week’s pigtail barbecue. Rabbit, with so many small bones, is among the most time-consuming meat to pull. But once I had a pile of soft, shredded meat, I blended it with lemon zest, basil and chilies, packing the rillettes into a jar.

When Ben and the other guests arrive, there’s a cowboy hat on the table, with a note reading “Magic hat. Do not touch.” Between the wine glasses and candles I’ve add some 20-sided Dungeons and Dragons dice, for misdirection... ( TheStar.com )