Toronto doesn't have an authentic street food scene, blackmarket chicken is safe to eat, Susur Lee is our golden boy, eating out after the bar is great, and bottled water is better than tap water. Here's a roundup of recent Toronto food "fallacies".

Toronto Does Not Have an Authentic Street Food Scene
While this isn't really a fallacy (it's pretty much a total sausage fest of street food at the moment), Toronto street food is about to change. With the "A la Cart" program slated to start in May, Toronto's street food will soon be as diverse and interesting as it should be. After two years and a mountain of red tape, there will be 8 new street food vendors scattered across the city, with fare ranging from kimchi to Caribbean.

Chicken from Wing Zhing Trading Ltd. is Safe for Human Consumption
Generally, black market chicken is not something that I would recommend to the discerning cook, or even the living breathing human being.

That's why chicken from Wing Zhing Trading Ltd is probably best avoided. After 12,000 kg of boneless skinless chicken breasts were stolen from a Paris, Ontario, distribution centre in early March, they were traced to a warehouse at Kipling Avenue and Rexdale Boulevard. Toronto police warned consumers to purchase chicken breasts from reputable suppliers, and avoid any packages sporting small "Wing Zhing Trading Ltd" stickers on them.

Oh, and while you're at it, you should probably avoid Maple Leaf Foods, peanut products, and Canadian lobster tomalley too.

Susur Lee is Toronto's Golden Boy of Haute Cuisine
What Toronto food critic has not been wooed by Susur Lee's long, flowing, and shiny locks? It seems he can do no wrong in this city. But he is not fairing so well in the Big Apple. Is this already translating back to the Toronto die-hards? Is this a myth in the making?

Eating After a Night at the Bar is a Good Idea
Actually, it is probably never a good idea. You can hit places like Swatow, Reggie's Old Fashioned Sandwiches, Sneaky Dee's, Zorba's, Smoke's Poutinerie, or your local street meat vendor and be drunkenly satisfied.

Some might even recommend upscale late night eats like the Black Hoof that stay open until 2am, but if you're not even going to remember the experience the next day (or lose your lunch shortly thereafter), it might not be worth the cash or calories.

And yes, late night eats might never be a good idea, but it will always continue to seem that way at 3am.

Bottled Water is Cleaner than Toronto Tap Water
Actually, there are fewer government regulations guiding the bottled water industry as compared to Toronto's tap water purification. For bottled water, bacteriological quality varies from brand to brand. And while all bottled waters should meet the Guidelines for Canadian Drinking Water Quality, monitoring requirements aren't as stringent as are those for tap water.

And tap water is just plain affordable, with the trend hitting several Toronto restaurants. Recognizing that the city's purification standards are stringent but not perfect, restos are putting in their own filtration systems and ditching the expensive bottled water imports.

Photo by jeff caires from blogTO's photo pool