Written by Rosemary Mantini | 27 January 2010

Award-winners extraordinaire...

A while back, on November 26th to be exact, I wrote about three guys -- Chad, Clayton and Lyndon -- who call themselves Without Borders. Fearless and inspiring, they travel the world learning about native cuisine and cooking it. At the time, I wondered how they could possibly be any different from all of the other Food Network chefs, like Bourdain, Rocco or Brauch, who also visit locales near and far in an effort to show the rest of us what authentic cuisine is all about. The answer lay in the fact that these three guys from Calgary are amateurs. Granted, they know their way around a kitchen having been trained as chefs. But, when it comes to setting up shots, filming, editing and producing, they're learning on the job. Because they're not trained filmmakers, the videos they produce have a natural, gritty and honest quality about them. The guys bring a fresh, unassuming approach to food, culture and filming that seems to be somewhat lacking in the average Food Network offering these days. They're learning along with us. Learning not only how people around the world cook in their own homes and for their own people, but also learning about the finer points of filming and video production. Their efforts have been paying off in spades. They just received their very first Tasty Award.

Written by Rosemary Mantini | 13 January 2010

December 30 was a sad day for the wine industry in Ontario. It was the day that Gabe Magnotta, founder (with his wife, Rossana Di Zio Magnotta) of Magnotta Winery lost his four year battle with Lyme disease. He was 60 years old. Always an avid outdoorsman, Magnotta contracted the disease when he was bitten by a tick while birding with his dogs. The debilitating disease ravaged his body, but it could not weaken his mind or crush his spirit. Despite his illness and the stresses it placed on his family and business, Magnotta Winery, opened in 1990, grew to become Ontario's third largest winery. Throughout the '90s, the Magnottas expanded the scope of their winery to include a brewery and a distillery.

Over the years, the Magnottas successfully made wine from many different grapes and at many different price points, ensuring that consumers had a lot of wine from which to choose. But perhaps Magnotta's most notable contribution to the Ontario wine industry was born of the court room rather than of the vineyard. The Magnottas spend a good part of the winery's existence fighting what Gabe and Rossana considered to be the LCBO's draconian rules and regulations. At first, the LCBO refused to carry Magnotta's wines citing low sales and lack of shelf space. In response, the Magnottas opened their own store. The bonus for the consumer was that the Magnottas could sell their products at cut-rate prices. The years that followed saw the Magnottas in many more legal battles with the LCBO, particularly over whether or not distilled products could also be sold at the winery. A decade later, the Magnottas saw their legal efforts begin to pay off. The winery, itself, has continued to expand under the Magnotta's watchful eye, and now includes hectares of vineyards in the Niagara region and in Chile.