A look at how the Food Bytes blog started -- and a farewell from the crew. This is our last post.

I consider myself a cook, not a baker. But I have a niggling feeling that's about to change.

It looks like soft ice cream or plastic foam. But the above photo showing a thick stream of bubble-gum pink goo spiralling out of a machine is apparently of mechanically separated chicken.

But what does that mean?

Buying local is a popular trend that's grown across North America in recent years, but it has taken on special importance in the post-Hurricane Katrina ravaged New Orleans.

In a recent trip to New Orleans for the fifth anniversary of Katrina, I spoke to celebrity chef John Besh about how the community came together in the wake of the storm.

While both farmer's markets and grocery stores are in the business of selling food, the atmosphere and purpose are infinitely different.

But Loblaw Cos. Ltd. is hoping to meld the convenience of the grocery store with the charm of the market.

In spring, a doctor discovered that my grandfather had glioblastoma multiforme, the deadliest and most aggressive primary brain tumour.

As he battled the tumour over the following months, it was food that connected the family and allowed him to still 'live' instead of merely survive. Later on, it was his inability to eat that signalled to us the nearing end.

Intrigued by what a culture's food says about its economic situation, OCAD University professor Ron Wood decided to take a week off work and blog his way through the G20.

Each blog entry contains a lesson learned - or an idea worth pondering - when the leaders congregate for their semi-annual meeting.

Easter is my favourite holiday. Halloween may have the fantastical costumes and Christmas the gifts, but Easter has the best celebration of them all: the Easter egg hunt.

It's been rainy and dreary and grey in Toronto the past few days. All signs of winter have long melted away, revealing garbage-ridden sidewalks and matted, brown grass.

But in the midst of all the monotonous colours, I did see my first sign of spring on the weekend.