My secret goal in life is to be a spokesperson for sake, consult on sake menus and generally spread the sake good word. That’s why I sound very excited in this segment for Breakfast Television in Montreal. I talk unpasteurized nama, alcohol-added honjozo, old-school yamahai and kimoto style, unfiltered nigori, sparkling, aged and fruit-flavoured sake.

That’s a whole lot of sake for 5 minutes. Look at me go:

In the meantime, I just drink it. Not too much. Just enough.

It’s been a busy spring and summer for me on Global Television and Breakfast Television in Montreal. I did monthly segments on each morning show, talking about everything from upcoming Caribbean festivals to the best meal delivery services you’ve never heard of to vegan popcorn made with citrus peels from one of Montreal’s top restaurants.

Here’s a little recap:

Breakfast Television January, 2017: Maple Syrup Classifications
Maple syrup got political last winter when Quebec changed the way it labels its golden nectar. I broke it down for Breakfast Television host Elias Makos.

Global Montreal Sept. 20, 2017: Montreal meal delivery taste test from Maurin Cuisine, Freshmint and Goodfood Box Need a quick poke bowl or super salad lunch in the Old Port? Or a full week of rustic, affordable homemade meals in the Mile End? How about a meal kit with the exact amount of the ingredients you’ll need to make seared haddock with a fennel, orange and caper salad? Global Mornings Monteral host Laura Casella tasted her way through the watermelon and feta salad, sweet potato frittata, Mexican rice bowls, and spaghetti and meatballs I brought her.

Breakfast Television Montreal on CityTV, Sept. 14, 2017: Martinique Gourmande – 10 days of Martinique food and culture I recommend the best of the hot and spicy Caribbean fest highlighting Martinique culture, all while managing to not spill a traditional Martinique tuna-mango tartare and ti-punch all over myself or host Derick Fage.

Global Montreal, June 28, 2017: Gourmet Popcorn Taste Test
Chocolate hazelnut praline? Vegan caramel? Pear amandine? I get Global Montreal host Laura Casella to taste test three brands of local, artisanal popcorn. All of them are available in Montreal and ship across Canada.

More than 250 exhibitors are taking over Montreal’s Palais de Congrès this weekend for the 18th annual Healthy Eating and Green Living Expo.

Follow the first day of the weekend-long event here:

Eight years ago in Toronto I wanted to make a map of all the restaurants I’d reviewed. This is what I need to do it. If only I had the latitude and longitude of each restaurant. Is that easy to find? While I figure that out, here’s a map of Canada’s historic sites, including people, districts and monuments.

[googlemaps https://mapsengine.google.com/map/embed?mid=zyhIEFby6RMY.kVB47LNWU0uA&w=640&h=480]

Just think of all the good food people could eat if I could find all those coordinates…

Update: I just figured it out. It took two seconds. So what do you want to eat?

It was really nice of you, Microsoft, to make the lives of journalists easier. We know that’s what you were thinking when you created the Data tab on Excel spreadsheets. 

All so we could calculate crime rates, left-handed people and America’s favourite brand names grouped according to state and then crunch them into fun info-graphics suitable for the front page of newspapers, websites, and best-selling social economics books that inspired one of my favourite podcasts.  

Excel isn’t that scary. I was the kid who loved quadratic equations in highschool, but my accountant does magical things with Excel that I never understood until this week. And if someone had told me that I could take take all the information on restaurant health inspections in Toronto, make friends with IT people, and turn it into a handy map, I’d have felt extra good about telling friends to lay off the fish tacos at Rancho Relaxo on College Street. 

The More Serious and Far-Reaching Implications of Data Journalism

Ex: You need a statistic that’s not listed on an official document. But you know it’d be simple enough to calculate for a large batch of data using one little equation. In this case, Excel is god.

Data journalism is important the same way any kind of investigative journalism is important. It creates awareness. But instead of having readers lost in words, it gives the bare truth of facts and figures, often packed into graphics that make the information more understandable: federal justice, provincial and municipal convictions per capita, important statistics for disease awareness and potential future funding, and the effectiveness of social programs and organizations measured in ways that pull readers heartstrings, causing unforeseen chain reactions.

Such as?

The best feeling as a journalist is knowing you made a difference in someone’s life, whether that’s by getting an article in the National Post that causes thousands of dollars worth of sales for an artisanal fruitcake baker (I didn’t make the graphic, but my editor did a beautiful job), or millions in donations for an NGO (some day, I hope). 

So in those cases, I love the little arrow in the bottom right corner of an Excel cell that lets your calculation be copied down an entire column in an instant rather than painstakingly doing each one by hand. 

And I love Microsoft. Just this once.

And I now have the utmost respect for the data journalists who sit and crunch and come up with something interesting. 

Ben Sidran is the original hipster. He’s a jazz pianist and vocalist and he’s worked with the greats. Here’s my story of him on that incorporates videos, music, photos and a timeline using iBooks.

Ben-Sidran-iBooks