KUDOS AND MEDIA MENTIONS

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2002 | 2001 | 2000 | 1999-1994

2000

CNN's Travel Now Show
Both airings featured Shirley Lum as hostess presiding over the Dim Sum meal with CNN's host Carolyn O'Neill. Check out what they were eating!
CNN, December 2, 2000 and October 21, 2000

Tour participants can have a Dickens of a time in this guided tale of one city
A new tour of Toronto based on an 1842 visit by Charles Dickens, is set to debut this weekend. In the Footsteps of Dickens, run by A Taste of the World, is a walk inspired by observations the writer made about Toronto in American Notes, a book about his travels in North America. While Dickens had some unkind words for cities to the south, he was favourably impressed by Toronto.
- Jennifer Prittie, National Post, November 17, 2000

Take a walk on the scary side
Our guide Shirley Lum, owner of A Taste of the World tours, addresses our little sidewalk group with a well-known fact: " Toronto means meeting place.” Then she throws in the kicker: "But is it a meeting place for the living - or for the dead?" The participants look at each other with a smile. We are off to find both on Lum's new Haunted Kensington and Chinatown walk... Even if you don't believe in ghosts, by the time you're seated in Grange Park with bats swooping overhead, you can sense the possibilities.
- Kate Pocock, Family Fare, The Sunday Sun, October 29, 2000

Hogtown streets? “They're all haunted” Walk them, if you dare, this Halloween season
How about a quiet stroll along King Street, east of Yonge? As you venture off Church Street, you come along a pretty garden. "Not so pretty once you find out that the spot was once a hanging square," Lum explains of theGhosts, Greasepaint and Gallowstour starting at Old City Hall. She promises "lots of ghostly energy there" as tales are told of famous hangings, "verified by a lady who's a practicing witch and ghost busters."... The Haunted Kensington, Chinatown and Grange tours start at the red pole with the black cat on Spadina Avenue. As walkers venture into the culturally diverse Kensington Market, it's fitting to have ghost stories with multicultural twists, and to celebrate a variety of ghostly festivals - Chinese, Mexican, and African - while sampling a Chinese offering from Tung Hing Bakery, Lum says.
- Jim Fox, Hamilton Spectator, October 7, 2000

Editor's Notes
... a phenomenal walking tour through the multicultural Kensington Market (I could have spent the entire day with our guide Shirley Lum of A Taste of the World)...
- Nancy Larin, Special Events & Travel, August/September 2000

City tours highlight diversity
In Toronto, Shirley Lum likes to take tourists and locals alike on her guided walks and bike tours through the city's colourful neighbourhoods. Lum and other guides in her company A Taste of the World lead small groups on a variety of offbeat tours. In Chinatown, guests eat dim sum and learn where Chinatown started 122 years ago. In Kensington market, they sample Lebanese, Portuguese and Chilean food.
- Laszlo Buhasz, The Globe and Mail, July 22, 2000

Look Who's Walking! Get your family on their feet and exploring the city
Walking tours are a great way for families to spend a few hours together and view the city with new eyes. Shirley Lum, who owns A Taste of the World, has been taking families through Toronto's neighbourhoods for seven years. Her Chinatown walk elicits a great response, she says, especially from boys. "I take them to a Chinese herbalist and there is a whole row of glass cases with trays of dried scorpions, octopuses, sea horses and lizards, which are completely flattened. The boys love that. Anything that's gross they love." She also guides several new "haunted" tours, which are receiving a positive response, she says. People see the site of the city's first jail, the stocks and the hanging square, as well as learn about ghosts connected with theatres, such as the popular Winter Garden theatre on Yonge Street. Through tours, parents can educate their kids in a fun way and learn that there's a lot more to Toronto than meets the eye.
- Doris Montanera, Today's Parent Toronto Magazine, June 2000

Off-beat on your feet, pedal if you wish
Shirley Lum loves exploring Toronto's nooks and crannies. So much, that her company, A Taste of the World, now offers an eclectic selection of guided walks and bike tours through some of the city's most colourful districts. Lum has a real knack for creating off-beat city walks - her newest tour Kensington's Culinary Roots was recently singled out for special mention by the editors of National Geographic Traveler.
- The Great Toronto Getaway, Buffalo, May 2000

Walk This Way
In Kensington Culinary Roots, A Taste of the World's Shirley Lum takes you on a gourmet prowl through Toronto's famous multi-ethnic neighbourhood. Pit stops feature Chilean empanadas, Portuguese natas, Montreal-style bagels...
- Rich Rubin, National Geographic Traveler, April 2000