Downtown Toronto’s lunch rush + food bank lineups swell as grocery prices rise

Good morning. This is the Monday, May 15 edition of First Up, the Star’s daily morning digest. Sign up to get it earlier each day, in your inbox.

Here’s the latest on changes in the downtown restaurant industry, increasing food bank use and a man’s mission to reunite newlyweds with their lost ring.

DON’T MISS:

Has the downtown Toronto lunch rush returned? The Star’s food writer ventured to find out

Toronto’s food industry was hit hard by the onset of the pandemic. But as workers slowly return to the city’s offices, the lunch crowd is making something of a comeback. Is it enough to match Toronto’s pre-pandemic lunch rush? The Star’s Karon Liu checked out three downtown lunch spots — a food court, a fine-dining restaurant and a casual eatery — to find out how the industry is dealing with the changes. Here’s what he uncovered.

“A system that’s breaking” — Toronto food bank lineups swell as grocery prices spike

Maggie Herdman, 31, commutes one hour every Saturday to the Fort York Food Bank on College Street, Dhriti Gupta reports. Before the pandemic, she could sit down and read as she waited inside for her turn to shop. But now, the line stretches outside and towards Kensington Market. According to the food bank’s chair and co-founder Devi Arasanayagam, the location is assisting record numbers of people — more than 3,200 each week — which she believes is due to inflation and the city’s high cost of living. Here’s what we know about the dramatic increase in food bank use.

This Alberta man found a wedding ring in Mexico — then, he found the newlyweds in Italy who lost it

While in Mexico for his 30th anniversary with his wife, Keith Bratt made an unexpected discovery. As he swam with sea turtles, the Alberta man spotted a gold band laying on the sand in the clear waters of Akumal Bay, on the Riviera Maya. It had a woman’s name and “April 24” engraved inside. Determined to find the couple who it belonged to, Bratt defied the odds and ultimately reached a newlywed Italian woman 4,000 kilometres away. Sheila Wang reports on the touching story.

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CLOSE-UP:

YONGE ST.: An estimated 16,000 people run, walk and roll in the Sporting Life 10K in Toronto on Sunday to raise $1.7 million. The money raised goes to Campfire Circle, a charity that provides outdoor, indoor and even in-hospital camp experiences for children with cancer or other serious illnesses.

Thank you for reading First Up. You can reach me and the First Up team at firstup@thestar.ca

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