TORONTO — When you’re raised in an Italian household with a near-obsessive focus on food, you know a thing or two about local and fresh produce. With that in mind, Niagara, Ont., chef Tony de Luca, who operates the Old Winery Restaurant and de Luca’s Wine Country Restaurant in Niagara-on-the-Lake, recently published his second cookbook, Simply in Season:  12 months of Wine Country Cooking.

Published by Whitecap Books, the tome highlights the farm-to-table movement with a collection of family recipes that celebrate simple, seasonal cooking.

TORONTO — A major new mixed-use complex that will feature a four-star hotel, and a series of restaurants, is set to begin construction later this year in what is becoming Toronto’s  Southcore financial district.

British Columbia Investment Management Corporation (bcIMC) announced, yesterday, July 28,  its newest development project, Southcore Financial Centre (SFC), will encompass a block in the southern part of the downtown core from York St. to Lower Simcoe St., within walking distance of King and Bay streets.

TORONTO — Looking to the future development of tourism, and its cultural implications, Toronto’s Centennial College will be hosting a symposium on Cultural & Heritage Tourism from Oct. 5 to 6.

The "Intercultural Dialogue in Tourism: 2020 Vision," which will be hosted by the school’s Culture and Heritage Institute, is in collaboration with UNESCO's International Year for the Rapprochement of Cultures and International Year of Biodiversity. It is within this framework that the fourth annual symposium will explore how knowledge, events, institutions and industries in culture, heritage and tourism can be more effective in facilitating and developing platforms for intercultural dialogue in Canada.

GUELPH, Ont. — Celebrity chef Michael Smith will lead the keynote address at a one-day foodservice seminar announced by the Guelph Food Technology Centre in partnership with Maple Leaf Foods, Inc.

The event, themed Leading Innovation: The Art and Science of Food, will be held at the new Maple Leaf ThinkFOOD! Centre in Mississauga, Ont., on Oct. 19.

Smith, who will discuss emerging global food trends, will be joined by speakers and guest panellists who will examine sodium reduction, the health-conscious consumer, sustainable foods and more.