by Tara Kimura, CBCnews.ca

Ever wonder when pizza became a mainstream dish in Canada? Or ponder who invented the lobster supper? The answers can be found clicking through CBC's robust Digital Archive site, which features archived radio and television reports.

There, a reader will uncover an ode to poutine, the debate over genetically modified food, a showcase of Canadian food and a feature on the country's growing wine industry.

A homemaker featured in the CBC Archives website chats about a new meal called the pizza pie. (CBC)

by Jessica Wong, CBCNews.ca
I’m a homebody and don’t usually venture out on what I still think of as “school nights.” But when I do, it’s usually a mad dash from the office to find some decent grub before heading to a ballet or opera performance (I figure they balance out with my love for trashy magazines and American Gladiators).

Squeezing in a nice dinner before a show, however, can sometimes be problematic. Time is always an issue — I like to have at least 90 minutes to enjoy dinner, even if it’s a cheap and cheerful meal.

by Amber Hildebrandt, CBCNews.ca

A bunch of Chiogga beets, which date back to the mid-1800s. (Sheryl Nadler/CP).

Call it the zero-mile diet. Call it a victory garden. Even call it a potager if you want to sound chic.

But the fact is more and more people seem to be mucking around in their yards, patio containers and on apartment rooftops to plant vegetables, herbs and other edibles.

by Andree Lau, CBCNews.ca

It was a dreary, wet and cool weekend in Calgary – perfect for a nice cup of hot cappuccino. Even better, I went to the Prairies Regional Barista Championships and watched the best in the profession pull shot after shot of espresso.

It's a serious event with bright studio lights, half a dozen cameras (two streaming the event live online), and an audience staring at the baristas' every move. Like a glossy infomercial, the barista is hooked up to a microphone headset to sell themselves and their creations.

by Andree Lau, CBCNews.ca

Last fall, I was flicking through TV channels when I saw Wendy Mesley pushing a shopping cart onto an dairy farm. "That certainly looks intriguing," I thought.

As she pushed the cart from the farm to a grocery chain's corporate office and from Parliament Hill to Lunenburg, N.S., Mesley, in her inimitable way, uncovered that the ingredients in items boasting "Product of Canada" stickers aren't really from Canada at all.

by Andree Lau, CBCNews.ca

It's been a dismal last few years for Canada's pork producers, culminating last month in the beginning of an unprecedented cull. But the industry's collapse is giving Prairie food banks a helping hand.

by Jessica Wong, CBCNews.ca

Hundreds of vegetarians, vegans and their supporters took to the streets of Manhattan on Sunday to raise awareness of and promote the vegetarian diet.

Dubbed Veggie Pride, the event was based on a similar event that takes place in Paris each May and included a parade of participants marching along in a variety of costumes as well as a faux wedding ceremony in Washington Square Park between a "seven-foot-tall pea pod and an outsize carrot," according to the New York Times.

by Amber Hildebrandt, CBCNews.ca

Gary Vaynerchuk is no stuffy sommelier. His thundering voice reaches cork-popping levels and always at his side is a New York Jets spit bucket.

But this football-loving, rough-talking oenophile has risen from underground phenomenon status to perhaps one of the most well-known wine critics in the U.S. thanks to his online video blog.

by Tara Kimura, CBCnews.ca

What are we to make of calorie counts and suggested sodium and carbohydrate intake recommendations? Is an appetizer containing 700 mg of sodium too much? How long will it take to burn off that side of fries? For the average diner, the numbers may seem abstract and theoretical.

by Andree Lau, CBCNews.ca

My father, as with many people his age who have discovered the internet, loves to forward me amusing photos and jokes. This week, it was a slideshow of outdoor food stands in China.

It immediately brought me back to my first street stand experience.

by Amber Hildebrandt, CBCNews.ca

Remember that clink-clunk as a case of milk bottles was delivered to your doorstep back in the olden days? Me neither.

But what’s old may be new again. Instead of perishable milk, though, the latest may be glass water cooler bottles coming to a front door near you.

by Jessica Wong, CBCNews.ca

Love 'em or hate 'em, high profile weddings can be fun water cooler fodder. I admit it: I got sucked in and clicked on this story after a handful of photos and a few details were officially released about Jenna Bush's wedding this weekend.

While some go gaga over a celebrity bride's dress, her ring or the picture-perfect setting, I usually skim right on down to specifics about the menu and the cake.

by Jessica Wong, CBCNews.ca

Each year, as soon as I begin thinking about spring — tulips and hyacinths, longer days, seasonal farmers' markets returning — my fantasies are quickly overtaken by a bit of anxiety: what to do for Mother's Day?

For my family, when special occasions roll around, we eat out. We're not the only ones: according to the U.S. National Restaurant Association, Mother's Day is the busiest day of the year for the industry (despite some worry about sagging economy and rising food and gas prices this time around).

by Tara Kimura, CBCnews.ca

I was warned before my February arrival in Paris of the charming cheese man, who winks and smiles at his customers while rolling up long logs of ash-coated goat cheese in brown paper. As I stood before him, with my friend who is living in Paris for a year, she elbowed me and whispered, 'this is my cheese guy, the one I told you about.' And then we both swooned and blushed a bit as hurried shoppers rushed past us at the busy farmers' market packed with vendors selling fancy pastries, tins of foie gras and impossibly beautiful flowers.

I was not, however, given any counsel about the bossy bean man who when I approached said I would need at least two kilos of green beans for dinner.

by Andree Lau, CBCnews.ca

Eight years ago, culinary student Quentin Glabus was coaxing his Cree grandmother to share her bannock recipe with him. This month, he's bringing that secret flatbread formula to his new job as executive chef for the Canadian embassy in Tokyo.

If it wasn't for the fact that I work in the media, I'd have no idea food prices were rising catastrophically around the world. My grocery bill, last I checked, seemed about right. And that's likely the case for most Canadians.

But analysts warn that our protective bubble is about to burst.