From roti shops to jerk stops to high-end culinary destinations, Caribbean immigrants have been bringing the flavour of their homelands to the GTA for decades.
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It’s Friday night and patrons are nestled at Mona’s Roti in Scarborough, waiting to get their orders in, the line extending past the doorway. The sounds of soca and chutney music occupy the air, seemingly dancing with the rich smells of curry and paratha that are being made lovingly in the kitchen. Some patrons sway their hips to the rhythm while waiting to hear their order number, while others find a seat, anxiously waiting to take their first bite of the familiar foods they’ve been enjoying since their youth.
Like Mona’s, a plethora of Caribbean restaurants in the Greater Toronto Area – including Rap’s on Eglinton West, Rhum Corner on Dundas Street West and Ali’s West Indian Roti Shop on Queen Street West – are cultural staples for Caribbean people who live in and around the city, as well as those who are visiting. These eateries aren’t just a place to find the flavours that are widely known and loved in Trinidad and Tobago, Jamaica, Guyana, Haiti, Barbados and other islands; they also offer an authenticity that has remained intact since the migration of Caribbean people to Toronto.
Reminiscing on fond memories of learning how to jerk chicken with his late father and watching him build a smoking pit and a grill with a repurposed oil drum as a child, Jamaican-Canadian journalist Vaughn Stafford Gray says Caribbean food has always been a way to connect throughout the diaspora and has been a means of survival. “According to the World Bank, the Caribbean has the ‘most highly skilled’ diaspora globally. Immigration has allowed the Caribbean diaspora to become one of the largest in the world. But immigration isn’t without its difficulties. Someone has to stay behind to keep us connected. Yet, for many, it isn’t a person keeping them connected to home – it’s a dish.”
That’s certainly something Simone Lawrence tries to keep in mind. Born in Kingston, Jamaica, Lawrence is the proud owner of Simone’s Caribbean Restaurant, a Danforth restaurant that is approaching its 10th anniversary. She’s very committed to making her patrons feel like they’re back home.
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“You can eat from somebody’s kitchen and… they bring you as close to home as possible and that’s what we try to create here as well,” she says, before revealing the lengths she goes through to acquire ingredients Jamaicans are known for. “Our food is [as] authentic as the ingredients allow. Sometimes it’s hard to get things like callaloo, or ackee straight from the tree. We sometimes have it sent and we have to freeze it. But it’s just not the same. A little bit gets lost in translation, but we get it as close to home as possible.”
That’s not to say that Caribbean food has always been taken seriously.
“Caribbean immigrants in cities like Toronto open restaurants and bakeries as paths to entrepreneurship, financial independence, and, in some cases, citizenship. Toronto is blessed with multiculturalism and people with adventurous appetites. Caribbean food now ranks among the top cuisines in the city, but it wasn’t always that way,” Stafford Gray says, pointing to the Toronto Patty Wars, a 1985 clash between Jamaican food vendors and the Canadian government, which demanded they rename their beef patties since Canada’s Meat Inspection Act at the time classified hamburgers as the only real beef patties. (The two sides reached a compromise at a February 1985 ‘patty summit’ where the vendors agreed to call their pastries Jamaican patties.) “Caribbean people have long had to fight to take up space in predominantly white spaces that have benefitted from their cultural contributions.”
Still, in recent years, restaurants offering cuisine that thoughtfully maps out the beauty of Caribbean food with a twist have emerged in the city. Take SugarKane, which is owned by sisters Donna Charles, Renee Charles and Nicky Charles-Page.
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Born to Grenadian and Trinidadian parents, the sisters operated a catering business for six years before opening SugarKane in June 2019. The menu boasts sweet and spicy flavours from the Caribbean with a bold Cajun kick; fusion dishes like jerk chicken fettuccine, fish cakes and creole jambalaya quickly became their signature offerings. Charles-Page says SugarKane tries to emphasize the importance of community. More importantly, the sisters want to see the diversity of Caribbean food showcased on a wider scale. “I think that’s coming, I really do think that’s coming. And that’s exactly what we’re trying to implement as well,” she says. “There is so much variety within the different Caribbean islands and it deserves to be seen.”
Gourmet personal chef Kareema Beckles agrees. A lifelong food-lover – she jokes her mom has had her cooking since the 80s – Beckles has found success as a caterer and media personality by cooking both gourmet versions of the dishes she’s loved since childhood and new takes on these beloved flavours. That’s why, even though her own restaurant closed its doors during the pandemic, she’s optimistic about the future of Caribbean cuisine in Toronto and is pushing for chefs to offer a wider range of dishes and delicacies from throughout the Caribbean.
“I just want us, especially our generation or even younger, to be like, ‘Let’s push and let’s get it out there. Let’s do it a little bit better than the last generation. Let’s get up. Let’s really try to get our food into the hearts, mind and bellies of the rest of the world.’”
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