Food features available to editors Cinda Chavich is an award-winning food writer with many years of experience as staff food editor for major Canadian newspapers and three (soon to be four) cookbooks. Her latest book, High Plains, was named the best English language cookbook in Canada in 2002. While Cinda's books focus on topics as diverse as regional Canadian cuisine, cowboy cooking and pressure cooking, her newspaper and magazine food stories take her into kitchens around the globe. Most recently, Cinda has traveled to India on a spice tour, to Greece to explore the world of olive oil, and to the Pacific coast to delve into the controversial story of wild vs farmed salmon. Her weekly food column on CBC radio covers seasonal and topical food stories, including a regular foray into restaurants to uncover the recipes for listeners favourite dishes. She write food features regularly for the Globe and Mail, and Chatelaine magazine, and has recently written on such topics as bison, the making of traditional balsamic vinegar in Modena, Montreal smoked meat and poutine, environmental issues and caviar, Spanish tapas, Canadian artisan cheese, potato chips, celery root and the physiology of the sweet tooth. Read examples of her award-winning writing and see a listing of stories recently published and available for sale. If you would like to purchase one of Cinda's stories, assign a story or send her information about a new food product or restaurant, please contact her directly. Ranging Free: Alberta ranchers are getting their beef off drugs, producing new organic and 100 per cent grassfed versions of classic Canadian beef. (1,960 words including sidebars on where to find and how to cook the new lean beef) Schmoozing Spanish Style: A look at Spain's little bites and how to recreate them instantly at home with the proper pantry items, from olives to anchovies. (812 words, 450-word sidebar, three recipes) Mad for Masala: The latest flavours to fuse into Canadian cooking is coming from the Indian sub-continent, and there are new trendy restaurants across the country adding Indian ingredients to creative contemporary cuisine. Interviews with top chefs and Indian spice doyenne Meena Pathak. (1,249 words plus recipes) Munch a Bunch: Canadian chefs are growing hundreds of spring flowers for their menus, adding crisp and colourful tulips to salads and other specialties. (832 words plus one recipe) Sweet Surrender: Find out why our brains are hard wired to make us eat those Christmas candies and cookies. (1,046 words) Setting the Scene in Sin City: Top American restaurant designers talk about how they created the hottest new restaurant spaces in spare-no-expense Las Vegas. (1,500 words) Loving Latin: Nuevo Latino food styles are popping up in Canada's top restaurants, from mojitos to yucca, black beans and salsas. Interviews with Latin chefs across the country with a sidebar that demystifies Latin ingredients and recipes. (1,486 words plus 450-word sidebar and recipes) Power Lunch: A look at the kind of lunch that will make you look good and feel good all day, with a sidebar about how to choose smart entrees high in protein, zinc and Omega 3's and avoid the carbs and simple sugars that will put you to sleep by 3 p.m. (834 words, with 250-word sidebar) Indigenous Eats: In western Canada, it's all about beef, wild game like venison and elk, saskatoon berries, mushrooms, exotic grains, birch syrup and rainbow trout. What to look for and where to find the best Alberta ingredients. (1,347 words) Hot Behind the Grill: A day behind the scenes at Catch, named Canada's best new restaurant in 2002 by Enroute Magazine. The author spends a 16-hour day with the team of 20 young chefs who make this trendy seafood spot sing. (2,200 words) Behind Balsamico Tradizionale: Cinda spent a week in Modena, Italy, during the annual balsamic vinegar festival and visted several families who make the most expensive condiment in the world. There are two versions of this feature. (1,246 words) (1,479 words plus tasting notes on several locally-available vinegars labeled Balsamic) Cooking Under Pressure: Find out about the hottest new kitchen appliance, the best way to make slow food fast, the new generation of safe, sleek pressure cookers. Cinda Chavich is the author of The Best Pressure Cooker Recipes (Robert Rose, 2001) (884 words plus three recipes) top of page Seduction on the Half Shell: Vancouver is home to dozens of different oysters, from Sinku and Royal Miyagai to Kumamotos. A look at some of the city's best oyster bars, the history of slurping raw bivalves and oyster oddities. (1,350 words with 575-word sidebar, tasting notes from different varieties and two recipes) Onions: An exploration of the world of onions, including a sidebar with tips for cutting without crying, peeling and storing onions, plus tasting notes on various varieties from Washington's Walla Walla and Spanish Fuentes to GeorgianVidalias. (1,167 words) Handmade Christmas: Olivier's is the last candy company in Canada to still make all of their candy canes and colourful ribbon candy by hand using 100-year-old equipment. A look at the elves who create Christmas one cane at a time. (1,100 words) Great Goat Cheese: Alberta's Natricia dairy is making hand-ladled goat cheeses that rival any in the world despite the fact that their maker grew up making industrial mozzarella in one of the biggest cheese-making families in North America. Her story, her cheese. (1,432 words or 2,100 words, with recipes) My Big Fat Greek Meal: An evening in a tiny Greek village with a family cooking a dozen delicious dishes, too much homemade wine and tsiporo, shots were fired. Care to hear more? (1,500 words plus three great Greek recipes) Heirloom Tomatoes: Back to the future - a look at old-fashioned heirloom varieties of tomatoes from Brandywine and Golden Girl to Green Zebra and White Beauty. (550 words with five recipes) Lent - the Vegetarian Season: A look at the Greek diet that's high in olive oil but low in saturates, especially during the religious fasting periods like Lent, and why this may make them one of the healthiest populations in the world. (1,100 words with 3 recipes) That's Barbecue, Bubba: Slow barbecue, the kind they do from Texas to North Carolina, is getting big in western Canada, with sanctioned competitions that send Canadian cooks to the big show in Kansas City to show their stuff. Learn to the secrets of true 'que. (1,100 words, 500 word sidebar and recipes) Taking Tea: The lastest trend is to high quality tea, both for health and serenity. A look at the new upscale tea shops in Canada and what's being poured. Two versions of this story available. (1,450 words with 350-word sidebar) (1,000 words with 500-word sidebar) Connoisseur Beware: Beluga caviar is on the endangered species list - find out why and what the alternatives are for the champagne season. (1,379 words plus 286-word sidebar) The New Red Meat: Clean, lean and trendy, bison is popping up on menus across North America, including in Ted Turner's new chain of casual bison restaurants. Alberta is Canada's top producer of buffalo, a trip to the ranch and the meat counter, plus instructions on how to cook bison. (1,184 words, plus sidebar and recipes) Diner Trend: A talk with Jann Arden about her funky new age diner, The Arden, and a look at this trend in casual, retro restaurants that serve the ultimate in Canadian comfort foods. (965 words, 450-word sidebar on the history of the American diner plus a meatloaf recipe from Jann's mom). Chestnuts Roasting on an Open Fire: The classic mid-winter snack is turning up in sacks at the Italian markets and we need to know how to deal with them (with recipes for delicious dishes like braised chestnuts and creamy chestnut bisque). (328 words, 160 word sidebar on how to shell, and 5 recipes) top of page In the Bag: The fastest growing segment in the supermarket is precut and washed lettuces and other vegetables. But where do these prepped fresh foods come from and are they safe and healthy? (1,250 words with 250 word sidebar ) Mincemeat: Whoever decided to combine fruit and meat in a pie anyway? Cinda explores the history of our favourite holiday pie filling and reveals that there's really no meat in most modern mince. The Smoked Meat Saga: Montreal is renowned for it's smoked meat sandwiches. Cinda takes a trip to Schwartz's to find out what's so special about this Canadian classic. (690 words with 165-word sidebar on where to source real smoked meat) Ode to the Short Rib: The ultimate slow food and "this year's osso buco" says the New York Times - succulent, unctuous short ribs are turning up on the best menus. A look at how to find, cook and create magic from this inexpensive peasant cut of beef. (797 words plus a short how-to sidebar) Comfort and Joy: how to host a great party with tips from the pros to take the heat off. (900 words including tips/bullets) Knife Skills 101: How to choose, buy, care for and properly use your knives. (618 words with 190 word sidebar) Curry in a Hurry: Indian and Thai food relies on combinations of spices and flavorings called curry paste. Find out what to buy and how to use these convenient combinations in traditional and non-traditional dishes. (465 words plus 280 word how-to sidebar) A Passion for Potato Chips: The author, a confirmed potato chip addict, visits a factory where they're frying and bagging buckets of her favourite food and explores bother her own personal history and the broader roots of this popular snack food. (2,000 word feature including sidebars on the history of chips and the hottest new flavours) Celery Root: An ugly knob with a soft and creamy heart, this bizarre-looking root vegetable is making it onto the top tables. How to buy, cook and store it with recipe ideas. Classic Canadian Christmas: Imagine riding the train through the Rockies 100 years ago. This story recreates those heady days, when riding the CPR train meant elegant dining with linen and silver, aboard the historic Royal Canadian Pacific, Canada's own Orient Express. (500 words with recipes for complete Xmas dinner) Going to the Dark Side: The story of the darkest and best quality chocolate with interviews with Bernard Callebaut. (1,460 words with 440 word sidebar on how to buy and taste chocolate and recipes) Fear of Pie-ing: The author explores her own (and others) fear of making pie pastry and learns, through an interview with a top pie purveyor, what to do to make that perfectly flakey pie crust. Side bar on pie pointers and recipes. (1,219 words, 250-word sidebar plus recipes) top of page