Toronto’s ‘Famine of Quality’ Makes Brits Hungry

By Joshua Errett

Raw milk cheeses, rare roast beef, and heavy amounts of bacteria. These are a just a few retro culinary recommendations of Globe and Mail, the National Post, Chatelaine, and Maclean’s writer Gina Mallet. In her newish book, Last Chance to Eat, Mallet explains how the tasting pallet has shifted decidedly toward bland foods (number one culprit being tomatoes). Available in hardcover since September 2004, her critiques of modern dining are now making their way to tables in U.K., causing a proverbial stir and selling out in pre-orders. Mallet mostly points the finger at animal activists and nutritionists for the decline of taste in the world, while likening McDonald’s and other high-salt foods to a “White Knight.” Part memoir, Mallet’s book wants to remember the free-eating times of the 1950’s, and as it turns out, there are plenty of chubbsters that want to remember it with her. The paperback version comes out in Toronto in October of this year.