There’s an elephant in the room when it comes to food, restaurants, and the way we consume.
The question begs itself—have we overcomplicated restaurant experiences? Do they cater more towards marketing and social media and what sounds good or can hype meet substance and live together harmoniously?
When I moved from Montreal to Toronto I knew I’d experience a slew of differences from city to city. Montreal does things Toronto doesn’t and vice versa.
For example, in Montreal I’ve noticed that there’s an intentional push for substance based dining when it comes to food quality and restaurant experiences. Toronto, is a bigger city and caters towards larger crowds. The drawback is that it struggles to find it’s food identity and clings on to a lot of trending ingredients and experiences as a result. The focus strays from authenticity to quantity, table turnover, and whether something performs well on social.
A clear example is a food experience I had recently at a restaurant in Toronto. The cozy and intimate atmosphere felt like my friend and I were on to something great.
Things took a drastic turn when the menus were presented in a font so unreadable I noticed even Gen Z patrons were lighting up their cell phones and squinting at the font.
“We do things differently here” the waitress said with a smile. I’m all for being adventurous with food, but this was one of those experiences that felt overcomplicated and clunky for no reason.
My friend and I made eye contact in a way that assumed we were both equally alarmed yet too intrigued to turn back.
As the evening pressed on, our food arrived in small shareable dishes. Each one seemed simple, classic with their own twist that —so far—felt on point.
Until a dish we ordered that sounded great on the menu arrived in gelatin format. Picture a coupe of jell-o you’d get as a kid on a cruise ship dessert buffet. Except this wasn’t dessert, this was shrimp, and chives, and, well things that simply do not belong in gelatin. It was the type of meal we thought was a prank.
Before we dared to give it a go, the waitress arrived promptly letting us know that the restaurant needed the table for another seating. We were aware of the time, and still seemingly had 45 minutes to finish our meal. In fact, we hadn’t even received two other dishes we had ordered yet. We asked if we could return the jello-o shrimp and if we could speed up dessert instead? “No, sorry.” Said with a smile. “Do we have time to finish eating?” The waitress didn’t sense our sarcasm and responded with “Oh, sure, I’ll get your bills too!” She turned on her heels and arrived back at our table in flash with the credit card machine.
And that’s just one example of the current state of hospitality and the ways in which restauranteurs are no longer paying attention to the things and experiences that matter the most: quality food, simple execution, above the line hospitality.
Instead the focus has shifted: confusing menus, poorly executed “creativity” and well…let’s just say the bar is in hell when it comes to hospitality.
Astonished from my experience(s) I aimed to talk to someone in the industry who could help me understand why this is the route this city has taken.
After all, there are some truly great restaurants in Toronto. In fact, most I’ve tried I would absolutely recommend to friends and family. Yet, the experience like the one I described is sadly too common for me to dismiss.
So I contacted Chef Romain Avril. Renown chef from France who has published his own cookbook, produces delicious food, and teaches cooking to students of George Brown university. You can also find him on TikTok where his tongue-and-cheek series Serve It or Trash It has gathered him an audience eager to learn about the dos and don’ts when it comes to food.
Chef Romain and I talk about his food experience, and most interestingly the cultural and practical differences between food in France and Western Europe (Blue Zones for those of you into Netflix) and food in Canada and the US. While there are some geopolitical and climate differences, fundamentally the mentality of how we eat is the same. As Romain puts it, the philosophy of how we gather local ingredients and put them together to entice the senses and increase our own nutrition is where there’s a massive disconnect between the ways the French prioritize cooking and how Canadians and Americans view the culinary world.
Through our conversation we come to realize the importance of authentic ingredients and sustainable practices. These range from everything from understanding where our ingredients come from and how to make the most of our local resources. It includes things like participating in the education system to teach kids to understand the importance of healthy consumption in every sense of the phrase. Reducing our need for importation also lends itself towards less lab manufactured food that causes long term health issues, and more of an ability for patrons to learn how to eat seasonally, participate in local restaurant consumption in a way that drives economic growth and supports the ability of artists and chefs to wax their creativity in the kitchen—in a good way.
When we look across the pond to places like France, Italy, Spain and other western European countries we can see that they’ve already solved for many of these things. While climate is an obvious supporter in these regions, one can’t help but wonder why we haven’t —in North America at least—managed to make the most of our own natural resources when it comes to food.
There’s farming and dairy of course. But our knowledge of produce and the ways in which these very simple ingredients can support our overall wellbeing seems to be lacking.
Romain and I discuss how the cultural differences between Europe and North Americans lies in the fundamental education of our food. In Western Europe it’s custom for children to take part in making meals, baking, and learning about the elements that support their most fundamental and most delicious need—eating. While in the US and Canada, most things are imported. We learn about things in a way that promotes healthy process rather than healthy habits. Who needs seasonality when you can have strawberries all year amiright?
Romain talks about how different neighbourhoods especially here in Toronto have been so focused on driving up hype they’ve forgotten why it was so important to have a space like a restaurant in the first place. “As if we need one more cannabis or vape shop.” He half jokingly explains the need for restaurants in communities and how without them, they become dystopian stretches of road that were once populated with ambiance and conviviality.
This acknowledgement that we’re losing flavour in some of Canadas most prosperous cities sets off an optimistic sense of urgency. If we don’t recognize and acknowledge there’s a problem, then of course there’s no way to solve it. So it starts there. Seeing patrons, communities, and other entrepreneurs take notice that we’re need of a re-haul supports the direction that one day Romain may fulfill his dream of opening a fine dining spot that pays delicious homage to his French Roots.
I hope you enjoy this episode, it’s full of wonderful insight and practical understanding of the hospitality and food industry today.
Romain, thank you so much for your time and insight during this podcast episode!
Catch Chef Romain on TikTok and IG where he runs his series Serve it or Trash it among many other wonderful content pieces!
Bon Appetit!
Erika xx
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