Filipino-style fried-chicken biz off to a sizzling start

Before we begin, John Tadeo wants to make it abundantly clear that Popoy’s, the tag he and his girlfriend Patricia Santiago settled on for their Filipino-style fried-chicken biz, isn’t a play on an international fried-chicken chain that bears the name of a certain, spinach-loving sailor-man.

When Tadeo was a youngster growing up in the Philippines, his paternal grandmother never called him anything but Popoy, a derivative of Popo, which is Tagalog for little boy or child. His parents continue to address him by that term of affection to this day, so last winter, when he and Santiago were tossing around potential names for their fledgling enterprise, they agreed Popoy’s Golden Chicken had a better ring to it than John’s or Patricia’s.

“I guess if somebody associated with Popeyes (Louisiana Kitchen) ever tells us we can’t call ourselves (Popoy’s), we’d probably just change it to Poy’s,” Tadeo says, standing next to Santiago in the commercial kitchen at Riverview Community Centre, where they accept pickup orders on a regular basis, usually every other weekend.

“But since Popoy is my name, I’m not sure what argument they’d have.”

During World Vegan Month, vegans across generations share their reasons for embracing the lifestyle

November is World Vegan Month, an event celebrated worldwide to shine a light on what it means to be vegan.

The U.K.-based Vegan Society defines veganism as: “a philosophy and way of living which seeks to exclude — as far as is possible and practicable — all forms of exploitation of, and cruelty to, animals for food, clothing or any other purpose; and by extension, promotes the development and use of animal-free alternatives for the benefit of animals, humans and the environment.”

In other words, vegans are fully plant-powered.

While veganism was once considered an option from the fringes, it’s now much better recognized, discussed and practiced by old and young, famous and not.

Halloween pumpkin waste is a methane problem, but chefs and farmers have solutions

Don’t let your Halloween pumpkin haunt the landfill this November.

More than 1 billion pounds (454 million kilograms) of pumpkins rot in U.S. landfills each year after Halloween, according to the Department of Energy.

Yours doesn’t have to go to waste. Experts told us your pumpkins can be eaten, composted or even fed to animals. Here’s how.

Cooking with pumpkin waste

Winnipeg-based organization injects federal funds into innovative, women-powered business in Bolivia

With practised grace, Antonia Olpo slides down the bank of the long, shallow pond and plunges fully clothed into the muddy water. On the grass above, other women and their male helpers unfurl the net, stretching it across the pond from edge to edge, and let it sink below the surface.

Prolonged drought stunts the renowned wild blueberry crop in the Maritimes

HALIFAX - This summer’s prolonged drought across Atlantic Canada has had a costly impact on wild blueberry growers in New Brunswick and Nova Scotia.

Donald Arseneault, general manager of the NB Blueberries industry group, says that as this year’s harvest was wrapping up, the total yield was believed to be 70 per cent less than the previous three-year average.

“This year has been tremendously dry and we haven't really seen this in a long time,” Arseneault said, adding that this year’s crop amounted to about 20 million pounds, down from the annual average of 68 million pounds.

The industry, which ships its product around the world, was also hurt by delays caused by the provincial government’s decision to temporarily shut down the harvest as it tried to deal with a growing number of wildfires that flared up amid tinder-dry conditions.

Deepening and complex homelessness crisis pushing city neighbourhoods to tipping point

On a calm summer day, the Red River serves as a mirror, its glass-like surface masking the muddy bottom below.

Look closer and you’ll see a reflection of the city along its banks. Towering cottonwoods and elms, riverside homes, iconic postcard backdrops.

Look closer still, and the city’s scars — from the physical and psychological of individuals to the enabling and failings of institutions — are laid bare.

What begins as a trickle near Kildonan Park grows into a flood the further south you travel along the river.

Local chefs heat up culinary competition

Seven local chefs have thrown their hats in the ring for a chance to represent Winnipeg at the 2026 Canadian Culinary Championship in Ottawa January next year.

Also known as Canada’s Great Kitchen Party, the regional qualifier takes place on Wednesday, Oct. 1, at the RBC Convention Centre, and features entertainment from Spirit of the West’s Geoff Kelly, as well as Canadian musicians Barney Bentall, Kevin Fox, Matthew Harder and Rebecca Harder.

Chefs Emily Butcher (Bar Accanto), Darnell Banman (Thermea Spa Village), Michael de Groot (Gather Craft Kitchen & Bar), Ken Hoang (Le Colonial Restaurant and Bar), Norman Pastorin, (Basta! Filipino Kitchen), Chinnie Ramos (Wow! Catering) and Lauren Wiebe-Dembowski (Niakwa Country Club) will be judged on skill, creativity and technique as they vie to impress the panel of local culinary experts, led by head national judge Chris Johns, 2025 regional winner Austin Granados (formerly of Cake-ology) and Winnipeg senior judge Mike Green.

“We’re honoured to have such a strong field of chefs representing Winnipeg this year,” said Green.

Whether you prefer niblets or nu metal, we’ve got you covered in the kitchen

Cooking is about balance.

Often, this means combining opposing flavours to enhance the final product. A squeeze of citrus to cut through a rich sauce. A dash of salt to mellow the bitter bite of dark chocolate. Or, hear me out, the subtle sweetness of corn to tone down the flamboyant angst of ’90s nu metal.

Korn, a pioneer of the genre, performs in Winnipeg on Thursday with Gojira and Loathe. The California band celebrated its 30th anniversary last fall and tomorrow’s show at Canada Life Centre promises to be a night of aggressive scatting, driving guitar and dizzying headbanging.

To mark the event, today’s Homemade column pairs reader-submitted corn dishes with tangentially fitting Korn hits from the past three decades.

Reimagining the garden

Next week, close to 100 horticultural professionals from botanical gardens and conservatories across Canada and the U.S. will be in Winnipeg for the American Public Gardens Association’s 2025 Horticulture, Greenhouse, & Facilities Symposium, which will be hosted by Assiniboine Park Conservancy at The Leaf.

City non-profit inks deal with subsidiary of leader in phosphate-based fertilizers

A Winnipeg non-profit committed to advancing digital agriculture has inked a deal with the North American subsidiary of a global leader in phosphate-based fertilizers.

Leaders from Enterprise Machine Intelligence and Learning Initiative and OCP North America signed a collaboration agreement last week. They said the collaboration will focus on advancing agricultural innovation through field-based research that will take place through EMILI’s Innovation Farms powered by AgExpert.

Innovation Farms spans more than 14,000 acres across two Manitoba farms to provide demonstrations, testing and validation of agriculture technology and production practices in commercial farm settings.

The partnership will allow EMILI to give Manitoba farmers a first-hand look at new innovations, said Jacqueline Keena, managing director.

Gordon Bell students make history as first team from outside Quebec to win national finals at inter-school cooking competition

A group of local high schoolers are savouring the sweet taste of victory.

Earlier this month, five student chefs from Gordon Bell High School made history as the first team from outside Quebec to win the national finals of La Tablée des Chefs Canadian Culinary Competition, an inter-school cooking contest now in its 12th year.

“It’s a great honour,” says Matea Thiessen-Unger, who shares the win with her Grade 10 and 11 classmates Sebastian Salter, Avery Van Solkema, Yevhen Zinchenco and Cailyn Olshevski.

The competition is the grand finale of Kitchen Brigades, an extracurricular program designed by La Tablée des Chefs to foster an interest in cooking and healthy eating among secondary students across the country.

Community groups join forces to help the hungry

A handful of community groups are coming together this week for a campaign to benefit hungry Manitobans.

The food drive in south Winnipeg kicks off Monday and runs until Saturday. People are invited to drop off donations of non-perishable food items at Align, a student housing building at 2537 Pembina Hwy.

All donations will go to Harvest Manitoba, the non-profit charitable organization committed to ensuring no one in the province goes hungry.

Participating in the food drive is a way for the Winnipeg Chinese Senior Association to turn its values into action, says Songyan Liu.

Every Floridian should have a plan for this year’s hurricane season, DeSantis says

ORLANDO, Fla. (AP) — Two days away from the start of hurricane season, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and the state’s top emergency manager joked Friday that they didn't want to encounter each other again until the storm season ends in late November. Forecasts suggest that’s unlikely.

While the upcoming season, which starts Sunday, isn't expected to be as topsy-turvy as last season, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration says there's a 60% chance it will be above normal, a 30% chance near normal and just a 10% chance it will be quieter than average. Relentless storms, including Debby, Helene and Milton, which landed in Florida last year, made for the third-costliest hurricane season on record last year.

“You just have to prepare and plan that we are going to have impacts,” DeSantis said at a news conference in front of shelves of generators at a Home Depot store in Jupiter, Florida. “If you plan and it doesn't happen, you're never going to have regrets. If you don't plan and it happens, you're going to immediately be saying, ‘Why didn’t I do this?'”

Ahead of any hurricanes headed toward the peninsula, Floridians should be prepared to have seven days of food, water and supplies for their households, including pets. If they need to evacuate, they don't have to travel hundreds of miles when traveling just a few miles inland to a hotel or shelter works, officials said.

A Palestinian describes 15 minutes of terror trying to get food in the new Gaza distribution system

KHAN YOUNIS, Gaza Strip (AP) — Shehada Hijazi woke at dawn. It was his best chance, he thought, to get his hands on a package of food at a new distribution site run by a U.S.- and Israeli-backed foundation in the Gaza Strip. Thousands of others, equally desperate to feed their hungry families, had the same idea.

By the time Hijazi walked the 7 kilometers (4 miles) to the southern tip of the territory, a militarized zone that has been evacuated of its residents, it was chaos. People pushed and shoved for hours as they restlessly waited outside the site, surrounded by a barbed-wire fence, earth berms and checkpoints. When it opened, the crowd charged, rushing toward hundreds of boxes left stacked on the ground on wooden pallets.

Hijazi described what he called 15 minutes of terror Thursday at the center run by the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, the private contractor that Israel says will replace the U.N. in feeding Gaza's more than 2 million people.

Israeli soldiers opened fire in an attempt to control the crowd, he and other witnesses said. His 23-year-old cousin was shot in the foot. They quickly abandoned hope of getting any food and ran for their lives.

Residents, advocates say trust issues, strict rules, red tape keep encampments up

Tents, tarps, and makeshift shelters line the beaten path along the Assiniboine River near Balmoral Street in West Broadway — a community hidden in plain sight.

‘Soup Nazi’ actor dips ladle for victims of Vancouver festival attack

VANCOUVER - "Soup Nazi" actor Larry Thomas, best known for his guest role as a strict soup seller on the sitcom "Seinfeld," will be picking up his ladle again to raise money for victims of last month's attack on Vancouver's Lapu Lapu Day festival.

The Los Angeles-based actor said he will be serving at the Greens And Beans Deli in New Westminster, B.C., on Sunday as part of the restaurant's fundraising efforts.

Thomas said the April 26 attack that killed 11 people was a "terrible thing," prompting him to reprise his fundraising relationship with the deli that stretches back 20 years.

Leona Green, owner of the deli, first reached out to Thomas to ask him to serve soup at a fundraiser for the 2004 Indian Ocean Tsunami.

Celebrating 50 years, Winnipeg's downtown Keg steakhouse takes pride in its endurance

The Keg Steakhouse + Bar at 115 Garry St. — commonly referred to as the Garry Street Keg, or simply Garry Street — turns 50 years old in June.

Gord Howard, the owner of Winnipeg’s three Keg restaurants including the downtown locale, intends to mark the milestone in some manner, though he admits it will be difficult to match the goings-on that occurred there 40 summers ago.

Howard was a manager at the Garry Street Keg in June 1985 when his then-supervisor Griffin Tripp suggested they throw a shindig to toast the popular dining spot’s 10th anniversary. The pair arranged to have Garry Street closed to vehicular traffic between Broadway and York Avenue to facilitate a daylong block party featuring live music and free Keg-size victuals. And because George Tidball, the chain’s founder, was flying in from Vancouver to attend, Tripp suggested they present their boss with a gift upon his arrival.

“George was a horseman originally from Alberta, so Griff thought it would be a good idea to get him a commemorative saddle,” Howard says, seated in the attractive 255-seat spot that, since the outset, has boasted brick walls, oak tables and well-situated fireplaces.

36 jours en mer : récit des naufragés qui ont survécu aux hallucinations, à la soif et au désespoir

FASS BOYE, Senegal (AP) — Un mois s’est écoulé lorsque les quatre premiers hommes ont décidé de sauter.

D’innombrables cargos sont passés à côté d’eux, pourtant personne n’est venu à leur secours. Ils n’avaient plus de carburant. La faim et la soif étaient insoutenables. Des dizaines de personnes sont déjà mortes, dont le capitaine.

Le voyage de Fass Boye, petit village de pêche sénégalaise en difficulté économique, jusqu’aux îles Canaries en Espagne, porte d’entrée de l’Union européenne où ils espéraient trouver du travail, était censé durer une semaine. Mais plus d’un mois plus tard, le bateau en bois transportant 101 hommes et garçons s’éloignait de plus en plus de la destination prévue.

Aucune terre n’est en vue. Pourtant, les quatre hommes croient, ou hallucinent, qu’ils peuvent nager jusqu’au rivage. Rester sur le bateau «maudit», pensaient-ils, était une condamnation à mort. Ils ont ramassé des récipients d’eau vides et des planches de bois, tout ce qui pouvait les aider à flotter.

As elites arrive in Davos, conspiracy theories thrive online

NEW YORK (AP) — When some of the world’s wealthiest and most influential figures gathered at the World Economic Forum’s annual meeting last year, sessions on climate change drew high-level discussions on topics such as carbon financing and sustainable food systems.

But an entirely different narrative played out on the internet, where social media users claimed leaders wanted to force the population to eat insects instead of meat in the name of saving the environment.

The annual event in the Swiss ski resort town of Davos, which opens Monday, has increasingly become a target of bizarre claims from a growing chorus of commentators who believe the forum involves a group of elites manipulating global events for their own benefit. Experts say what was once a conspiracy theory found in the internet’s underbelly has now hit the mainstream.

“This isn’t a conspiracy that is playing out on the extreme fringes,” said Alex Friedfeld, a researcher with the Anti-Defamation League who studies anti-government extremism. “We’re seeing it on mainstream social media platforms being shared by regular Americans. We were seeing it being spread by mainstream media figures right on their prime time news, on their nightly networks.”

Pandemic isolation impacted our relationship with food, self-image

Food has been a global preoccupation during the pandemic. Home cooking became a necessary lockdown pastime and sourdough bread became shorthand for the many food trends that tore through social media. At the same time, one Winnipeg dietitian has seen a rise in emotional and disordered eating over the last year and a half.

“A lot of the things that people use to cope have changed,” says Raschelle Sabourin, a registered dietitian who runs a virtual nutrition counselling practice locally. “People were more isolated and there’s a lack of routine… and people’s relationships changed, so that caused more stress and people are sometimes using food to fill that void.”

Sabourin says that while using food as a coping mechanism can be a quick fix for quelling difficult emotions, the comfort of binge eating doesn’t last.

“For the short term, they might feel really good, but in the long term they’re not feeling good after emotional eating,” she says.