Photo by chef@isimmer from Flickr. The least processed form of tea, white tea is considered to be the healthiest of the family, with more catechin than any of its brothers and sisters. And, what with everyone and their pet giraffe on a bit of a tea kick lately, we thought we'd go for the top notch stuff. Though generally considered a Chinese specialty, white tea can also be found in India, Sri Lanka, and......

The University of Toronto has announced that Ramin Jahanbegloo—academic, author, and former Iranian political prisoner—is returning as a professor of political science and a member of the scholar-at-risk program in Massey College. Jahanbegloo is a former lecturer at U of T who moved to Tehran to lead the Department of Contemporary Studies at a private institution called the Cultural Research Bureau. In 2006, he was detained without charge (which is perhaps unsurprising seeing as we're......

For decades, Toronto has been one of Hollywood's most versatile back lots. Along the way, every specialized branch of the multi-headed film and television biz has sprouted up in the city. Camera, electrical, post production, locations and ... plane crash and natural disaster recreations? Yep, TV series like Discovery Channel's Mayday recreate the drama and the horror of famous plane crashes. Art director Adrian Greenlaw and his crew of disaster dressing specialists range across......

Tomorrow night, November 2nd, a new CaseCamp-format un-conference will touch down in Toronto. Combining two sessions from the art community and one session from a related industry, ArtSmash is a unique speaker series that will generate a room full of creative ideas. The event is being coordinated by Ella Cooper and presented by the Emerging Arts Professional Network. Each speaker will be given 20 minutes to share a case study of a project they......

Transformation AGO will soon be entering the final stages of its expansion project, estimated to finish sometime in mid-2008. But before the AGO closes its doors in order to begin reinstalling over 5,000 pieces of art into 110 galleries, they will be offering free admission to the public for its closing weekend this October 6 and 7. This will be your final opportunity to view the four exhibitions that have been on display since......

"Busker? Don't even know 'er!" jokes aside, Toronto's annual street performer extravaganza is back until Sunday with a new roster of bizarre talents from around the globe. Buskerfest, the last of the major summer street festivals, draws about 350,000 spectators over four days and it's the best place to see someone jam a sword down one's esophagus up close. Magicians and balloon artists are also present for the kiddies, and there are plenty of......

If you have ever driven up Yonge Street towards Richmond Hill, you probably couldn't help but notice the Vishnu Mandir Hindu temple and its landmark statue of Mahatma Gandhi. Alongside the temple is the unique Canadian Museum of Hindu Civilization, which is presenting an ambitious Festival of India this weekend. The festival promises to be an authentic expression of Indian culture, with innumerable local artists performaning alongside many that are being imported from the......

Maybe all these cultural festivals in Toronto aren't your cup of tea, but with the summer season nearing a close the best may very well have been saved for last. The Festival of South Asia held on Gerrard Street East (between Greenwood and Coxwell Avenue) starts this Saturday at 2 p.m. and continues through to Sunday. With a short list of sponsors and a couple of them companies that actually sell Indian products, this......

Toronto had a violent weekend with nine people shot and four of them killed, including an 11-year-old boy at a birthday party. Two more people were stabbed. Cue relatives wailing, Police Chief Bill Blair saying "this is unacceptable," and headlines like "Saturday Night Bloodbath." We’ve seen all this before. Solutions, anyone? On Sunday, about 8,000 people attended the opening of the Shri Swaminarayan Mandir, a spectacular 94,000 square foot Hindu temple near Finch and......

Two Air India flights were delayed after hand searches uncovered knives that had already passed through x-ray screening and a metal detector. In fact, the only reason they were found at all is because Air India requires manual checking of all carry-ons—something most airlines don’t do. Happy flying! Arrests for simple possession of marijuana were up by up to a third in major Canadian cities last year. Police say that many younger smokers aren’t......

Ask Torontonians for an example of Toronto food and you will have an array of different answers. One astute response may be that Toronto specializes in having everything and having it available at your doorstep. With many of our nabes named after the cultural contingent that has congregated along a specific street or in a particular area, the free admission "Taste of" events allow you to explore them among celebrations. Not only do they......

Every weekday, we pick an image from the Torontoist Flickr Pool and feature it here on the site. It's our way to give the many excellent photographers in our pool the attention they deserve! Cities are most iconically characterized by their skylines and this simple silhouette by p x highlights our recently revamped monument beautifully. By increasing the contrast of the photo, the result offers an image seemingly created with a bit of India ink......

Toronto vegetarians are mourning the closure of East-end veggie haunt Narula's Chaat, Dosa & Thali House. Recently, the windows were papered up and the exterior now displays a large "for lease or rent" sign. The owners decided it was time to retire. We'll miss the all-vegetarian fare, the sunny patio, and Tuesdays, when everything on the menu was $2.25. (Seriously: Your entire meal was $2.25!) So, where to go now? It appears that veggie options......

"I’m going to Pakistan in November to share Q&A with young theatre artists during a festival celebrating Punjabi culture. I arrive on November 17. Look for more posts then." —Darren O’Donnell Thus begins Darren's account of his time spent presenting his interactive theatre work in rural Pakistan and in Mumbai, India. Video Show for the People of Pakistan and India is a collection of footage from his journey, and will be shown at The Centre......

Toronto's overwhelming reception of Al Gore yesterday prompted David Miller to toughen his stance on climate change. Mayor Miller promised an aggressive change in policy on pollution, transit and construction, which will be formally proposed in late March. The Ontario government may have come up with a way around the new U.S.-Canada passport rules. A new super-secure driver's license is in talks, which would feature "laser engraving, holograms, currency-like print quality and other security measures......

Ghost Rider’s head is a flaming skull. Can’t get much cooler than that, eh? And yet, from trailers you’d barely know that Ghost Rider is a cinematic version of a Marvel comic book (with, as per usual, a ridiculously complex history) that stars a biker whose head is flaming skull. Having seen the film, we have to argue that the film itself almost doesn’t want you to remember Ghost Rider's awesome fiery visage, concentrating almost......

David Suzuki, Green Avenger and Captain of Awesome, says that Torontonians have the right to know what pollutants are in the air we're breathing. 75% of the industrial pollution in our urban air is not being disclosed to the public! Save us, Suzuki! Air Canada is no longer flying to India, a move which business leaders around the city say will harm Indo-Canadian business relationships. Services to India were cancelled to boost service to......

At approximately 8:38 am yesterday, Toronto-based director Deepa Mehta (above) and producer David Hamilton learned that they were Academy Award nominees for Best Foreign Language Film for their work on Water. They learned of their nomination like most of us did, watching Salma Hayek announcing a list of names live on CNN. “They announce the nominees in alphabetical order, and when they got to the fifth name without announcing Volver, we thought we were......

The International Readings at Harbourfront Centre unveiled the line-up for their 2007 winter season yesterday. A horde of authors, journalists and poets – some established and some intriguing young talent – will be coming to Toronto over the next few weeks. Book nerds, grab your pens and mark these dates down on your calendars. On February 5, The Globe and Mail’s Ian Brown will be interviewing New Yorker writer Calvin Trillin about his new book,......

A morning crash has closed off a Gardiner exit ramp and yesterday's burst water main repairs continue to block motorists. Workers will be reconstructing Lake Shore Boulevard over the next 24 hours. Burst water mains will be around for awhile: Toronto has one of the highest failure rates for water mains in Canada. Toronto's backlog of repairs to the system will take about 8 years to flush out. The number of Asian tourists in Toronto......

Jane Pitfield and David Miller are going to be seeing a lot of each other until November 13. The round of mayoral debates has started and both of them came out swinging for their first debate last night according to the Star. Incineration and David Miller's record were two of the big issues. Jane Pitfield's anti-panhandling bylaw stumbled yesterday when the Policy and Finance committee decided that the city should look into existing laws to......

A man was stabbed to death in North York at a party celebrating Ghana's victory over the USA at the World Cup. Apparently gang colours may have been a trigger for the tragic attack. A memorial to the victims of the Air India bombing has started construction in a Toronto park. Bombardier defends itself against its rivals and their claims that they can build the TTC's subway cars cheaper. Siemens acknowledges that its estimates might......

What’s that you say? We didn’t manage to give you any picks for this Monday? Ahem, well, oops? Let’s pretend there wasn’t anything really on, eh? Not that we were too busy going to screenings to write about them or something. But if we were too busy going to see screenings instead, here are a few things we might have learned. 1) Hot Docs screen just slightly too many adverts before the film starts, and......

Observant readers of the Urban Toronto forum pointed out this Aussie ad campaign that asks tourists "Where the bloody hell are you?" We're not sure how the "strong language" will translate in China, Japan, India and Europe where these ads will be translated but in the English speaking world the reception seem to be quite positive. The fact that it piqued the curiousity of foreign journalists is a step in the right direction. And as......

Welcome to our new revived self-indulgent weekly feature, Torontoist Reads, where we will blab on and on about whatever book we happen to be enjoying at the moment and it will probably have almost nothing to do with Toronto, except that you can often spot us reading on the TTC, especially at this time of year. Our inaugural title is Mary Roach's Spook: Science Tackles the Afterlife, a romp through the history of scientific theories......

If the selection of Jack Layton as yesterday's number five Parliamentary hottie wasn't music to your dance, please refer to the first female selection to this week's Ist List... 4. Ruby Dhalla Liberal, Brampton-Springdale A-hem. That's Dr Ruby Dhalla to you. Not only is this Manitoban a Doctor of Chiropractic Medicine, but she's also a former Bollywood actress and runner-up in 2003's Miss India pageant. And if that wasn't enough, she is rumoured to be......

Souvent, la langue de Molière passe pour une langue passionnée et riche qui exprime parfaitement les sentiments amoureux, les plaisirs de la vie… et la bouffe ! À Toronto il est parfois ardu de déceler les lieux typiquement francophones puisqu’il est assumé que nous tous vivons dans un Canada bilingue. Dorénavant, remerciez Krizia de Verdier, éditeur en chef du guide torontois de la communauté francophone, The French Side of Toronto (aussi disponible en version......