What it's like to be multiracial and eat in Toronto: How cultural backgrounds and foods make you
Photo of Melis Mete
By Rose Hetherington
Having more than one cultural background can change how an individual interacts with food. It’s time to see what people of biracial and multiracial backgrounds have to say. Three young adults with different cultural backgrounds are sharing their experiences with food, culture, and living in Toronto. Here’s what they have to say.
Jessica Poirier
While being white and black may be a more common ethnic mix, Poirier is half French-Canadian and half Rwandan, giving her a leg up on the rest of us Canadians when it comes to nationalistic French foods. She was born in Repentigny, Que. She moved to and currently lives in Toronto, to study at the University of Toronto.
“On my dad's side of the family, we always use real Québécois maple syrup when making desserts or pancakes/crepes,” Poirier says. “I never buy nor eat American maple syrup from brands like Aunt Jemima.”
She also says that she likes to eat “real Québécois cheese like ‘le P'tit Québec’.” While living in Toronto, she misses the Québécois cheeses and maple syrups only sold in that province. Poirier says there is also a lemon-flavoured Fanta drink that is only sold in Rwanda that she would like to be available here. Despite her missing certain foods and drinks, she appreciates what Hogtown’s diverse food scene offers.
“Toronto is such a diverse city that it's relatively easy to find fellow biracial kids,” Poirier says. “I guess we just have to embrace our cultures and the way of life in Toronto to make our tastebuds happy.”
Poirier currently lives with Rwandan relatives and eats African foods with them. She usually eats rice with vegetables, beans, various sauces, potatoes and meats.
“I would say a pro [to being biracial] is the exposure to various foods, but a con would be adjusting to such foods, especially when traveling to Rwanda, for example,” Poirier says. “I have gotten sick a few times from eating something that was cooked in a different way than it is cooked here.”
Poirier appreciates what her cultural backgrounds have to offer. Living in Toronto has accentuated her eating habits and food experiences. She likes how Toronto has cultural foods from around the world, within one city. When not eating Canadian or Rwandan meals, you’ll find her scoping out Asian foods. She enjoys Korean and Indian cuisines the most; both aren’t too difficult to find in Toronto. Poirier is conquering food and multiculturalism, one bite at a time.
Matthew Oakes
Oakes has lived in Toronto his whole life and currently goes to school at Centennial College. This multiracial Torontonian has ethnicities from around the world. He’s Japanese, Peruvian, French, English, Scottish and Irish. With such a diverse background comes a diverse eating palate. Oakes eats foods from all cultures, whether he descends from them or not.
“One day might be shawarma, the other could be ramen,” Oakes says. “It's all homemade food by my mother, and I am not a picky eater so I’ll eat whatever's in front of me on the dinner table. I drink water because I'm a health nut and it’s thirst-quenching, and the food is always different in my house.”
When it comes to eating practices, different cultures’ meals may require different utensils. He adapts to the current meal situation, as every food champion would.
“When I eat Asian food I use chopsticks and when I have western food it’s with a fork and knife,” Oakes says.
He says that being multiracial gives you a better understanding of different races and you have “respect” and “love for the other culture and their food.”
“I respect all cultures and if in someone's home I would respect their culture or beliefs,” Oakes says. “I'm Catholic, by the way.”
Oakes says he will eat anything and he doesn’t have a hard time finding cultural foods.
“Toronto is so multicultural that I can find either different food vendors or ingredients fairly easy.”
Melis Mete
Mete’s a Turkish-Filipino Torontonian. Her family has diverse meals and different traditions that surround food.
“Usually I eat Turkish/Mediterranean food — Turkish style rice, Mediterranean salad, stuffed peppers — with a few Filipino dishes — adobo chicken, pansit noodles,” Mete says. “And a lot more Filipino desserts like cassava cake and rice pudding.”
She likes having multiple options when it comes to cultural fare.
“What I love about being biracial is the diversity and wider selection of food.”
She has Turkish citizenship and says that the westernized versions of some foods just do not compare to the foods made in Turkey.
“What really bothers me are those Big Turk candy bars because they are the most disgusting things in the world and are trash compared to authentic Turkish delight,” Mete says. “Whenever I go to Turkey, I also always make sure I come back to Canada with a large amount of Turkish loose tea leaves because they come fresh from my dad's hometown and again, the westernized version of them cannot compare.”
Her family’s ethnicities and religions have different traditions and practices when it comes to food.
“My Filipino family members are Catholic so we always have to say grace together before we eat, but since I chose Islam I don't give thanks the same as my Filipino family,” Mete says. “Instead, before eating we say our thanks individually and say thanks to whoever cooked or bought the food, if we go to a restaurant.”
The practices of saying thanks and dietary restrictions exist, as Mete doesn’t eat pork. However, one thing that she says is the same with both her cultural backgrounds is that food is important to family life.
“Both cultures have a lot of socializing when it comes to food and that's where we do the most story-telling,” Mete says. “Another tradition that they both share is that they take eating together very seriously. No matter how busy or how late we are home, we always make time to sit as a family and share a meal.”
Mete, like Poirier and Oakes, believes being mixed and living in Toronto has benefits for food and culture in general.
“I am grateful for being biracial because I think that it made me more culturally sensitive and open-minded and I think that's what makes Toronto so special,” She says. “It welcomes everyone and it takes pride in their multiculturalism and diversity.”
