As an entrepreneur, David Soknacki knows how to sell product by sexing it up a little, an approach that has so far eluded him as a mayoral candidate.

Often mischaracterized as a spice business, Ecom Food Industries produces flavour additives. At the dinner table, Soknacki passes around a vial of fenugreek oil, sniffed over by a group of reporters. The seeds, from India or Turkey, have been roasted, then soaked in hexane and acetone until the flavour is leeched out, before the poisonous chemicals are rendered inert by heat and vacuum. The fenugreek extract is a component of the maple flavouring he passes around next.

Snoozes, right?

“This is pretty boring in a sales demonstration,” says Soknacki. So for a client, they’ll dress potato chips in their liquid curry or wasabi flavours. “For tonight we made up some Nanaimo bars which have this (maple extract) at eight percent in the centre.”

We can smell the Nanaimo bars from here; in fact my apartment will continue to smell of maple for three days, which is fine because everyone loves the smell of maple syrup. They’re outstanding Nanaimo bars, the centre layer a fluffy maple-flavoured mousse. As our photographer is leaving, a friendly Soknacki insists that he take some of the sweets.

Voters like potato chips and maple syrup. Voters don’t like math or science or neatly labeled bottles.







And yet, when it comes to his mayoral campaign, Soknacki and his team are marketing him as the boring policy nerd. When a young staffer asked him about musician and basketball ambassador Drake, Soknacki thought she was referring to 16th-century English sea captain Sir Francis Drake.

Recently the campaign gathered 35 participants who were actively engaged in the subject of libraries. Volunteers ran workshops, gathered ideas and, in 45 days, he expects to have a platform based on their input.

“It’s a pile of work but it’s a new way of generating ideas.”

That sounds intriguing and progressive and 100 percent less appealing than the populist doughnut-metric of Rob and Doug Ford, who dash off claims that Toronto wants subways because people in Tim Hortons say so or that we have more libraries than Tim Hortons.

This is why public schools don’t have collated data sales. They have bake sales.

But Soknacki seems content to let the Ford circus run past him.

At 6:45 p.m., he and his wife Florence had sat in their car outside my home, waiting to punctually ring the doorbell for dinner at 7.

Two of my guests are municipal politics reporters and they were going to be late, stuck down at city hall waiting on Doug Ford, who had promised proof that his brother was in rehab.

The Soknackis walked in at the stroke of seven, handing me cookies, Nanaimo bars and a bottle of wine (Ecom staff made the Nanaimo bars but Soknacki baked the cookies himself).

Asked if the Ford antics bother him, Soknacki says no, but lists the times they’ve grabbed his spotlight. When Soknacki announced his candidacy, Doug Ford made waves about running provincially (which he never did). When Soknacki spoke at the Board of Trade, the mayor upstaged him by getting stuck in an elevator. Three reporters covered Soknacki’s policy statement on land transfer tax reform, while a dozen others waited outside the mayor’s office for an appearance by magician David Blaine.

“You just keep doing what you’re doing and have fun with it,” says Soknacki, unfazed that the Fords are delaying our first course, as I wait for the others to arrive. “Is there a lesson? No. You’re assuming that getting more attention than a circus is a good thing.”

He also doesn’t appear focused on rivals Olivia Chow or John Tory, content to develop policy rather than target opponents.

After 30 minutes of waiting, I assemble plates of sea bream ceviche, avocado puree and yam chips. The thing I like about starting with a cold dish is that it’s easy to make up two more plates when guests arrive late, bearing only the news that Doug Ford tricked the media again.

We begin to discuss what Soknacki would do with Toronto. But an hour later, another Ford story is dropping, this time with the titular mayor literally declaring himself to be “the most racist guy around,” while saying horrific things about his wife and punching his friend in the face with a bag full of Big Macs (a popular brand of hamburger).

Soknacki waits patiently for the reporters to put away their phones. Without being pushy, he’d like to get back to the campaign, which he concedes most people won’t pay attention to until after Labour Day.

Running for mayor hasn’t changed his life that much yet, says the former Scarborough councillor. He’s had to give up relaxing hobbies — playing piano and weeding the garden — but mostly he says he’s just a workaholic who’s switched tasks. “If I’m awake I’m working.”

Florence, who clears plates in between courses, confirms that they rarely take vacations. “Oh I find things to do,” she says.

I ask her a few questions but her brief answers suggest that she’d rather let her husband talk. While I assemble sandwiches, she has some questions for the reporters, if they’re at their respective newspapers based on their beliefs or availability of jobs, and if they’re ever told how to write. It’s always neat to hear about how people think a newspaper is put together.

I’d already planned to make fried shrimp po boys with charred okra before finding out that Florence is allergic to shellfish and I’m kind of married to the dish. So I put pork belly in hers and make sure to fry it separately, to avoid cross-contamination.

I’ve also got a plate of fried green beans, covered in anchovy breadcrumbs, which Soknacki feels comfortable eating with his hands.

Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading...

Between bites of the sandwich that he does not finish, Soknacki finally shows some fire when getting into issues that haven’t yet been part of the campaign.

“I think we need a complete overhaul of how we look at policing. We have to change, I think, everything,” he says. “That’s why I’ll need to sit on the Police Services Board myself, rather than having a delegate. Unless you get the budget right, there’s no room for so many other things because that’s a billion dollars. Otherwise we’re in the same rut we’ve been in for a generation. Frankly that’s why I’m running. Not just police. We have to change the city.”

While declining a second glass of wine, his passion continues into a discussion of culture at city hall.

“There’s an iron fist and a velvet glove,” says a Soknacki who now sounds more like a military dad, citing a measure in the City of Toronto Act that allows council to censure and dock pay from councillors for behavioral infractions. “Do that once, and I bet you won’t have to do it twice.”

Visitors to city hall know that councillors spend a lot of time arguing, often getting personal. I ask how serious he is about docking pay. He leans back, declaring, “It will be done.”

Green Beans with Anchovy Breadcrumbs

2 lbs (900 g) green beans

1/4 cup (60 mL) breadcrumbs

4 anchovies, minced

2 bird’s eye chilies, minced

1 tbsp (15 mL) olive oil

2 cloves garlic, sliced

lemon

Trim ends off green beans. Prepare a large pot of boiling water and a large bowl of ice water. Blanch the beans by boiling them until slightly tender, about 1 minute, then transferring to the ice water to stop cooking. Strain and lay out flat to dry.

In a mixing bowl, combine breadcrumbs with anchovies and chilies.

In a large pan (a wok is ideal) on medium-high heat, sauté garlic in olive oil until lightly coloured, about 1 minute. Add green beans, stir and heat through, about 5 minutes. Season only a little with salt and pepper (because the anchovies are salty). When they’re hot, transfer to serving platter and garnish with the anchovy breadcrumbs.

Makes four servings.

Email mintz.corey@gmail.com and follow @coreymintz on Twitter.

Read more about: