South Saint Lawrence Market

It was a beautiful morning of April, when after I decided to have an impromptu “expedition” through random streets in Toronto, I came across an old building, whose location seemed at first quite unfortunate, considering that it is surrounded by sky scrapers and office buildings. 

Being intrigued by its simple and old architecture, I decided to go into the building whose name was engraved in granite on one of the side walls – Saint Lawrence Market. 

The market, which looks at first glance more like a warehouse, is the home of many small and quite unique businesses. Most of the shops are specialty shops like Cheese shops, Wine Shops and Meat Shops. I was quite surprised of seeing an independent shop that sells Wine, considering that in Toronto, one can only buy alcohol from a shop called LCBO ( Liquor Control Board of Ontario). 

I really like small, independent, family owned shops. And this market is full with them. One of the shops I adored is called Scheffler’s. Opened in 1955, the shop offers a big range of cheese from different countries, as well as old bottles of wine, many types of olives and Italian salami. Curiosity made me buy and try out cream cheese with olives. I must say, eating this was one of the simplest, cheap and delicious lunch I had in Canada. 

Another shop that got my attention was a meat shop called Upper Cut Meats. Within this shop, one can find any type of meat. Besides, by being a retail, I believe that many restaurants are buying the meat they serve from this shop.

What I like about this market is that I was able to also find things that I wouldn’t necessary expect to find. In the basement of Saint Lawrence Market, I was able to find a family owned jewelry shop that was selling semi-precious stones, a shop selling hats, a shop selling specialty food for vegans, as well as a shop claiming to sell traditional gypsy clothes and jewelry. Besides, in the basement of the market, there was a Polish shop, a Chinese shop, few bakeries as well as a couple of shops selling souvenirs. A flower shop and a fruits and vegetable shop were also there. 

Another thing that I really liked about this market is that even though there are many shops selling the same type of products, each of the shops is special in its own way. As a visitor and a client, I did not get the feeling that the shops are competing with one another, but that each shop is having its own loyal clients. The only restaurant of the market was actually a Fish restaurant. There were a lot of business people having their lunch there. 

When I got home and did my research about St. Lawrence Market, I found out that the building of this place served as Toronto’s first city hall from 1845 to 1899 and its Toronto’s premier market. Besides, I also found that that the actual market is split in the South Market ( which is the one I visited) and the North Market which is also called the Farmer’s Market. 

In the end, I enjoyed a lot discovering such a wonderful building which is the home of more than 50 specialty vendors. I recommend to future exchange students to definitely visit the place and even have a lunch there. The market is very close to Sony Centre, as well as CN tower, which are also a must see places in Toronto. 

My Top 5 restaurants in Toronto

Comida, thực phẩm, yemek. Words said daily in Mexico, Vietnam or Turkish. Words that simply mean food. 

I am proud to say that I am one of those people that loves eating. I simply do. There is simply nothing better than trying out different dishes from different countries every week. I get tired easily eating the same thing all over again. For me, life is simply too short not to try out new things. I am not saying that I am a big fan of eating weird things like cockroaches and other “delicacies”, but trying out different dishes every now and then makes me feel more worldly about international cuisine. 

One piece of advice that I have to give to future exchange students is to try and eat something new weekly. When you are in Toronto, its not worth going to McDonalds or other fast food chains. Toronto is known for its multiculturalism. And at the heart of any multicultural society… there is also an abundance of ethnic food that is worth being tried.  

In my time in Canada, I tried out many ethnic restaurants and in those 4 months I tried out more ethnic food that I did in my entire life. I am not going to write about all the ethnic restaurants that I’ve been to, but I am going to make a Top 5 of my favorite places to eat in Toronto. 

Here is my top 5 restaurants in Toronto : 

5. PhỚ Bistro – Vietnamese/thai restaurant 

PhỚ Bistro is a restaurant worth going if you want to enjoy a Europeanized thai or chinese dish in a casual décor.  The reason why I am saying that the food is Europeanized is because it is not as spicy as a traditional thai/chinese dish. Although on their website, this restaurant appears to serve only Vietnamese food, in its menu one can find also Chinese food. Furthermore, their menu offers a wide variety of dishes. The only down side of eating there is the distance. Both restaurants are situated in retail parks, and one can only get there by car. I am not sure if they offer a delivery service, but I recommend this restaurant for someone who wants to enjoy a not so spicy thai dish. Here is their website - http://www.phobistrova.com/ . Even though their website only displays a few dishes in the menu section, their menu is far more diverse. 

       4. El Trompo – Mexican restaurant

This restaurant is one of my favorite Mexican restaurants I’ve ever been to. Situated in Kensington Market, near China Town, this restaurant hides between a Mexican market and an abandoned building. The design of the place is not fancy at all, yet the food is absolutely delicious. They advertise themselves as serving the best Taquitos in town, and I must say, they really do serve the best tacos I have ever had. What I really like about this restaurant is that they serve affordable Mexican food, in a welcoming environment. The must try food, in my opinion, is the guacamole, as well as Bistec Tacos. When it comes to drinks, I would recommend Tamarind, a sweet and sour drink. The design of buildings that surround the restaurant look also very “mexican”, as the street has a combination of old buildings, modernized quite wonderful by graffiti’s. Here is the web page of the restaurant - http://www.eltrompo.ca/menu.html . 

3. Sofra Istanbul – Turkish restaurant 

Sofra Istanbul is a Mediterranean Grill restaurant really close to Keele campus. I would recommend this restaurant whenever someone has a craving for meat. One thing that I was really surprised when I got to Canada is that meat is a bit expensive. Of course, one can buy nuggets from any food shop, but they are very unhealthy and I personally got tired of eating them. Therefore, when I went to Sofra Istanbul it was like I arrived in Heaven. They serve any type of meat and kebab, as well as many other traditional Turkish dishes such as mousakka, yayla soup, tzatziki, hummus with tahini and sarma. Besides, their dessert menu is also traditional, serving baklava, Kadayiph and pistachio rolls. The design of the restaurant is not traditional, but the food certainly is. Besides, they also do deliveries. Here is the website of the place - http://sofraistanbul.com/ . 

2. Smoke’s Poutinerie 

Montreal Poutine

This take away restaurant, located in many areas in Toronto, has a very rich menu of poutine. Poutine is the traditional dish of Canadians. The traditional poutine contains fries and eastern township cheese curds, topped by gravy. However, this take away took the traditional dish and upgraded it, making the dish almost customizable. One of the poutine I had here is called Montreal Poutine and it contains shaved Montreal smoked meat ( a traditional Canadian meat, only made in Montreal), a pickle slice and yellow mustard, on top of the traditional poutine. Although the combination might seem unfortunate, the taste is absolutely delicious. Another poutine I tried from them is the Bacon Poutine which has a lot of bacon. So, this poutine would be perfect for any British person that is missing his bacon from home. What is more is that you can customize any type of poutine by adding extras such as vegetable gravy, meat sauce, spicy curry sauce, chili, mushrooms, caramelized onions, as well as any type of meat ( pork, chicken, beef). I personally loved this place. Besides, the staff is very friendly. Here is their website - http://smokespoutinerie.com/

                       1. 360° Restaurant at the CN Tower

If you like fancy food, then this is the place to go. The main attractions of this restaurant is not only represented by the amazing food, but the restaurant also rotates 360 °, therefore one can see the amazing view of Toronto more than 351 metres below. However, although the restaurant is fancy, it does not mean that you pay a lot as well. The restaurant offers lunch and dinner prix fix menu (containing a large choice of appetizers, mains and desserts). The prices for this prix fix menus differ from 48 Canadian dollars to 68 Canadian dollars, and the price difference is set by the time you come to eat there as eating dinner is more expensive than eating lunch. The menu is diverse, from Cesar Salad to Pan Seared fillet of apple wood smoked Atlantic salmon.  Besides, according to their website, 360° restaurant received the Guinness World Record for World’s highest wine cellar.

Here is the website of the restaurant - http://www.cntower.ca/en-CA/360-Restaurant/Overview.html

Furthermore, after dinner, one can also visit the rest of tower. By going a level below the restaurant, you can stay on a glass floor, seeing more than 300 metres underneath you.

I personally recommend this restaurant for anyone that wants to have a memorable lunch or dinner, in such a great city as Toronto.

Toronto, minorities and Roma Community Centre

After arriving in Canada, I was absolutely amazed as to how well minorities have been integrated into the community, without losing their own cultural identity. When I first heard that Toronto is a multicultural city, I replied – “Well, so is London”. However, I later discovered that in Toronto, people are keener to keep their family values alive, to continue speaking their language on a regular basis and to promote their culture, food, music etc. On the other hand, in London, I think that people are more a product of British citizenship plus own ethnicity, while in Toronto, people from minorities identify more with their ethnic background than they do with the Canadian culture or the Canadian citizenship.

 There are many organizations dealing with ethnic minorities. These organizations are celebrating minorities by creating events, music festivals or simply organizing programs that would help people from minorities to integrate better into the Canadian society.

As I am a Romanian, I was very interested in finding more about the Romanian community. However, to my disappointment, it turned out that as many of the Romanians are integrated very well here, there aren’t many Romanian organizations that promote the Romanian culture, as integrated Romanians are not keen in expressing their culture through a big event/festival. They would rather celebrate their customs within their families.

During my time in Canada, I have been in touch with a Romanian family that was kind enough to show me Toronto and to teach me more about this city. After expressing to them my disappointment with the nonexistent Romanian community, they explained to me that many of the Romanians that came here wanted at first to find a job, a house and to integrate within the society rather than being part of a community. Apparently, in their opinion, the ones that are being part of an organization or a community (defined as an institution, not as people with common interests living in a particular area) are usually the ones that were not able to integrate very well in the society, and this is why they might seek help in first place at the Romanian Organizations that are relatively active.

As there are not many Romanian organizations ( or the ones that exist are not really extensive or particularly active), I decided to have a look at organizations that are promoting and taking care of other minorities.

One minority that came to my attention is the Roma minority, better known as gypsies. As Roma people are still facing major racism and were not able to fully integrate in any European country, I was curious to see how the Romani people are integrating here, in Toronto. 

As I was searching on Google about the Roma Diasporas in Toronto, I came across an organization called the Roma Community Centre -  http://www.romatoronto.org/ -  whose aim is to assist Roma refugees from different countries (especially those from the former Soviet Bloc) to integrate more easily into the Canadian society and to raise awareness about the issues that are making many Roma people seek asylum in Canada. Moreover, the Roma Community Centre (better known as RCC) is trying to change some preconceptions that people have towards Roma people through educational programs. The Centre opened in September, 1997 and operates in general in the Greater Toronto area. 

Here is a summary of RCC and its activities: 

-    RCC provides settlement services ( information, support, advice, translation services and legal advice) to Roma immigrants in partnership with Culture Link

-    RCC works with Metro Shelters Committee who houses refugees when they arrive in Toronto

-    RCC operates a Public Education and Awareness Program whose role is to destroy stereotypes behind the term gypsy and replace it with a genuine understanding of the Roma people as an ethnic minority. The way RCC is doing this is by creating an educational program that is taught in schools, high schools and universities. By presenting an unbiased image of who the Roma people are, their history and culture as well as showing the discrimination that they face in their home countries, Canadian public will learn to value this minority in the Canadian society.  

The only down side of this whole organization is that sadly, because there is no funding in this area, the social settlement operation requires volunteers or help from social agencies. However, the Public Education and Awareness Program is supported by a grant from Heritage Canada. Another down side it that the only way one could contact this organization is by email, as they do not have yet a permanent office in Toronto. However, establishing a Social Centre and a permanent office is one of the immediate goals of RCC. Other goals include – expanding the existing programs, to start a radio program for Roma people in English and Romani (which I think would make Roma people exercise their English as well as maintain a connection with their mother tongue) as well as creating textbooks about Roma people with Canadian content.

I find their website (which, since I done my research changed its layout and became more modern and easy to explore) – very interesting and very organized. On their webpage, one can find the history of the organization, the educational part (lectures and presentations) as well as different resources (books, periodicals, poetry books) that are promoting the Romani culture and history in a positive and very authentic way.

The most interesting part of their website I find to be the RCC Facts Sheets, where one can learn the myths and facts about the Roma people. The reason why I like this section is because it destroys the stereotypes that surrounds this minority ( such as “Roma are lazy and unwilling to work” ; “Roma are dirty and do not wash often”; “Roma have the ability to do magic” or that “Roma are Rumanians and that is where the words Roma and Romani come from”) and it gives unbiased facts of who the Roma people actually are.

After exploring this website, I would definitely recommend to the future students participating in this exchange to volunteer with this organization and help them change the perceptions that some Torontonians have towards Roma people as well as help the organization  to promote the culture of this minority better. Moreover, the volunteers could also help the organization to plan an event as the ones they did in the past. For years, the organization planned and threw Christmas parties, New Year parties, art projects and many other events for its members, but they stopped doing this in 2007, probably because of the lack of money and volunteers.

Ultimately, the website has changed my views towards this minority and contributed to my learning and understanding of the Roma people. In Romania , Roma people are not really integrated within the society, because of their nomadic background and customs, but also because Romanians are experiencing xenophobic reactions towards this minority. On the other hand, Roma people were not able to integrate well with other European countries that ought to be more open minded giver their membership of the E.U.  . According to the Copenhagen Criteria established by the European Council, all member states should have among other criterias “respect for and protection of minorities”. Despite this, even though this is a must for all the E.U. countries, in the case of Roma minorities is barely coming through.

However, this issue requires more depth and thought than I can go into here. In the end, I am very happy to know that the Roma minority is received and promoted better in Toronto that it is in Europe and it makes sense since Toronto is seen as the home of a “cultural mosaic environment”, while other cities in Europe, such as Bucharest, Paris, and even London are, in a way, transforming the people from different minorities into Hybrids citizens of two cultures, the ones of the home country and the host country. 

Jack Fellows - The Gypsies

Paul Hitter -  We like gipsy music but we don't like gipsies