Guess who’s not coming to dinner: Why Canada’s influential Terroir talks needs to diversify – The Globe and Mail

A reminder that we have a way to go. Starts with awareness:

Of the 89 presenters named on Terroir’s 2104 program, I count just eight who might not check the box for “white” on a census. It’s worse if you look at the contingent of Canadian chefs. Of the 28 listed, by my count there are no blacks, no Arabs, no Filipinos, none of the Sri Lankans who staff at least a third of the kitchens in this city – the list could go on and on and on. That program has just three non-white Canadian chefs on it. Only two of them, Torontonian Scott Vivian (his mother is from India), and Duncan Ly, a Vietnamese-Canadian chef from Calgary, have been given speaking roles.

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And so this isn’t about who’s coming. It’s about who’s not. It is not so hard to find top chefs and restaurateurs with stories and skills worth sharing and who also happen to not be white, especially not when you’re sourcing guests from around the world. It’s not hard at all if you look.

Guess who’s not coming to dinner: Why Canada’s influential Terroir talks needs to diversify – The Globe and Mail.