Raise a glass for return of Half Pints

In an industry that has navigated its share of downturns and hardships, it’s nice to see one of Winnipeg’s original craft brewers returning to store shelves.

What's Up: Clara Hughes, Moving / Still: Animation, Rumble in the Burt, Send+Receive, Lotai as Chappell Roan, Scream & Halloween

Clara Hughes book launchMcNally Robinson Booksellers, Grant Park (1120 Grant Ave.)Tonight, 7 p.m.FreeOne of Canada’s most decorated Olympians returns to her hometown tonight to launch a new memoir about her healing journey, the roadblocks along the way and the search for new beginnings.Clara Hughes, who was born in Winnipeg and now lives on Vancouver Island, launches her new memoir Learning to Breathe at 7 p.m., when she’ll be joined in conversation by Shelagh Rogers, the former host of CBC Radio’s The Next Chapter.

Learning to Breathe is Hughes’s second memoir, following the publication of 2017’s Open Heart, Open Mind. Her latest sees the six-time Olympic medallist detail her use of psychedelic-assisted therapy to deal with physical and emotional ailments, navigating menopause, forging new relationships and more.

Hughes is the only athlete to win multiple medals in both the Summer and Winter Games (in cycling and speed skating, respectively), and is a member of both the Order of Manitoba and the Order of Canada. She’ll discuss Learning to Breathe with Rogers before signing copies at the store. The free event is also available to stream on McNally Robinson’s YouTube page.

— Ben Sigurdson

B.C. restaurant Baan Lao wins best in North America award for 2026

RICHMOND - A Richmond, B.C., restaurant has been named the best in North America by a global hospitality and culinary industries group, in a first for a Canadian establishment.

Baan Lao Fine Thai Cuisine has been named North America's Best Restaurant by the World Culinary Awards, topping a group of 22 Canadian nominees and 18 in the United States.

The restaurant was also named the top Canadian restaurant for the third straight year.

The awards were established in 2020, with winners determined by weighted voting among the public and registered members of the culinary industry.

Commonwealth Members program seeks to rev up discount-driven foot traffic for local businesses

Special deals are available at dozens of Winnipeg businesses — but you’ve got to become a member first.

Local entrepreneur Nikola Maharajh launched Commonwealth Members last month. People who sign up and pay the membership fee are entitled to discounts at more than 30 participating businesses, including restaurants, a computer store and combat sports gym.

Maharajh said his goal is to help Winnipeg thrive by making it easier for people to leave the comfort of home and support local establishments.

“We want to make going out the default again,” he said. “It’s very convenient to go home and order food online and watch Netflix and not go out, but then the city dies. The streets become less safe (and) the businesses struggle to survive in that as well. We want to preserve living culture.”

Domestic competition vital in attracting investments, says Competition Bureau’s Pratt

Canada's competition watchdog says a healthy market at home is key to strengthening the economy as trade tensions with the United States worsen. 

"That is one of the key drivers to make our domestic economy as productive as possible and to make us as competitive as an international participant in trading markets as possible," said Jeanne Pratt, Competition Bureau acting commissioner, in an interview.

She said competition is a crucial lever "in the current context where we need to lock in as much productivity in our domestic economy as possible."

Canada-U.S. relations were upended with Donald Trump's return to the White House last year and the introduction of ever-changing tariff policies. The situation escalated again after trade talks between the countries faltered in August and new levies — and countermeasures — were launched.

Thousands attend a Quebec festival centred on a little-known tropical-tasting fruit

FARNHAM - All over Canada on Sunday, people prepared stuffing, began thawing turkeys and rummaged for the nice tablecloth for Thanksgiving dinner. Meanwhile, in one Quebec town, thousands gathered to celebrate a peculiar fruit: the pawpaw.

Warm October rays and bright fall colours lit up the town of Farnham, about 50 kilometres southeast of Montreal, for its second annual Pawpaw Festival, part of a larger movement honouring the sweet fruit.

With sticky fingers and bright faces, people scooped up heaping spoonfuls of yellow flesh from the mango-shaped fruit, amazed to hear some of these pawpaws were picked just around the corner from where they stood.

“It tastes like mango, banana, pineapple and caramel. It has every characteristic of a tropical fruit, even if it’s a native fruit. And it grows in our backyard here in Quebec — it’s pretty incredible,” said Vincent Renaud, founder of the non-profit organization Pawpaw Québec.

Turkey gravy brand sold in Canada recalled due to undeclared mustard

A brand of turkey gravy sold in Canada has been recalled because it contains undeclared mustard.

Kevin’s Natural Foods turkey gravy is sold in British Columbia, Alberta, Saskatchewan and Manitoba.

The Canadian Food Inspection Agency says the product contains mustard, which is not included on its label.

The agency says the recall was triggered by the company and there have been no reported reactions associated with the product. 

Getting a boost from berries: Canadian scientists on the cutting edge of food crop research

As we gather around the table this Thanksgiving, many of us will enjoy and share the local seasonal harvest. Whether the food we serve comes from our backyard garden, a farmer’s market or the grocery store, often a direct line can be traced to the work of research scientists at Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada (AAFC).

AAFC scientists and researchers play a vital role in developing nutritious food crops, testing methods to protect soil health and finding ways to boost crop resilience in extreme weather. Canadian research and innovation in fruits and vegetables is at the forefront of strengthening food security and self-reliance. In addition to enhancing biodiversity, AAFC scientists and researchers are also contributing significantly to the development of nutrient-dense foods.

Let’s start with the research by Samir Debnath, who has been working with northern berry crops, including blueberry, lingonberry, cranberry, huckleberry, raspberry and strawberry. In the interest of space, I will focus on lingonberry.

Wild lingonberry grows in abundance in northern Manitoba. It is also native to British Columbia, Saskatchewan and Atlantic Canada.

Four-star wine options from around the world

Between the Winnipeg Wine Festival and other recent tastings, I’ve been lucky enough to try some pretty darn good new/new-to-me wines over the past couple of months.

Here are six four-star wines that made an impression when tasted. And while I offered a half-dozen Thanksgiving wine options in last week’s Uncorked, all the following wines except for the big, bold Phantom Creek Petite Cuvée red blend would also be a hit at the big fall feast this weekend.

The Albariño grape is most commonly grown in Spain and Portugal; it’s rare to find one from South Africa, but if the Spier 2024 Signature Collection Albariño (Stellenbosch, South Africa — $18, The Winehouse) is any indication of what can be done with the grape there, producers should think about growing more of it.

Medium gold in appearance, the wine brings fleshy red apple, lemon zest, pear and subtle floral and nutty notes. It’s medium-bodied and dry, with a hint of viscosity from time aging on the lees (spent yeast cells); flavour-wise this unoaked white brings bright peach, nectarine, red apple and pear, plus a hint of spice and a medium-length finish (at 13 per cent alcohol). 4/5

Diesel-fuelled price hikes could stoke food inflation this fall, experts warn

Food experts and economists expect the global run-up in diesel prices will have consumers bracing for a tough winter at the grocery store.

The ongoing war in Iran has driven a global energy shock that has spurred higher prices on regular gasoline as well as diesel. The closure of the Strait of Hormuz is disrupting oil shipments from the Gulf region, as well as other critical inputs such as fertilizer.

The diesel that fuels trucks and ships is a key input for Canada's food supply chain, where high transportation costs feed directly into the price consumers see on store shelves.

Statistics Canada's dashboard tracking cost hikes across the food supply chain shows that diesel prices were up 75 per cent year-over-year in August.

Westons to buy U.K. pharmacy chain Boots for US$8.9B

TORONTO - The family behind Canada's biggest pharmacy and grocery chains is growing its empire with the acquisition of U.K. drugstore Boots.

Weston family holding company Wittington Investments said Wednesday that it will purchase Boots for US$8.9 billion (C$12.7 billion), including debt, from private equity firm Sycamore Partners.

Along with Boots' retail operations in the United Kingdom and Ireland, Wittington will acquire its operations in Thailand, franchised businesses, its optical division and No7 Beauty Co. 

Toronto-based holding company Fairfax Financial Holdings Ltd. said it will chip in up to US$2.3 billion for the purchase and after the transaction's closing, expected in the first quarter of 2027, will have a 50 per cent stake in Boots.

Taste of home: Winnipeg transplant shares Singaporean flavours at pop-ups

Anyone who lives far away from the place they consider home will tell you that while you can adapt to life in a new country, a new work culture and a completely unfamiliar climate, there’s one thing that will remain stubbornly non-negotiable: the appetite.

For Malvin Soh, 49, like so many whose lives straddle two worlds, food is a gateway to childhood memories, culture and heritage.

Originally from Singapore, Soh and his family moved to Canada in 2014 and settled in Winnipeg.

The urban designer began cooking familiar favourites to combat his own cravings when studying and working in Australia, where he lived for nearly 10 years.

Nortera, B&G Foods drop merger attempt after competition watchdog steps in

Food giants Nortera and B&G Foods Canada are abandoning their proposed deal after the Competition Bureau sought to block the move.

The two companies say Quebec-based Nortera has halted its bid to buy the Green Giant and Le Sieur brands of canned and frozen vegetables in Canada from New Jersey-based B&G Foods.

A Competition Bureau investigation in August found that the acquisition would likely harm competition through higher prices and fewer choices in the wholesale supply of those vegetables, which include freezer staples such as corn and peas.

Interim competition commissioner Jeanne Pratt has noted that Nortera is already Canada's dominant processor of many canned and frozen veggies, which it sells under the Del Monte and Arctic Gardens brands.

McDonald’s sued over AI tool that recommends prices to US franchisees

McDonald’s is facing a federal lawsuit that alleges its AI-enhanced pricing tool violates antitrust laws because it shares nonpublic data with franchisees who might be competing in the same market.

The lawsuit, which was filed Friday in Illinois, said McDonald’s pricing tool uses artificial intelligence to collect data that competing franchises wouldn’t normally share, like store-level sales. The Chicago-based burger giant has said it makes the tool available to U.S. franchisees to help them set prices at their individual restaurants.

The lawsuit also blames the pricing system for raising McDonald’s U.S. prices.

“McDonald’s has built and for years deployed its own information-sharing pricing platform, which draws on data from its millions of daily transactions to set menu prices across thousands of U.S. restaurants,” the lawsuit states. “The result is algorithmic price-fixing aimed at customers who are already stretched thin.”

Ming-Na Wen’s recipe for ‘Popo’s Wontons’ is as good as gold in her family

Wontons hold a special place in my heart. Sitting around our kitchen table making wontons is something I loved doing with my mother as a child.

Time was scarce, so the chance to make wontons with her became special mother-daughter moments for us. She always had all the fillings ready to go — my favorite was and still is pork, shrimp and vegetables. I’d carefully scoop a bit of filling onto the wonton wrapper and do my best to fold it as neatly as possible.

Years later, I’ve continued the tradition with my own children, and together as a family we make Popo’s wontons (“Popo” is the Chinese word for “maternal grandmother”). Just as it was for my mother and me, making wontons gives me and my kids the opportunity to escape the chaos of daily life and bond while we fold 34 together.

It also gives me the chance to share more about our heritage. For example, the Chinese revere wealth (like most people!). Wontons are a symbol for gold — when folding, your goal is to create a wonton shaped like a Chinese gold ingot. I suppose that’s one way of getting rich. My kids thought it was the silliest, most fun thing to eat “gold.”