A Toronto content creator is taking “buying Canadian” to a whole new level with a daily series spotlighting local eateries that offer menus rooted in the North.
Aashim Aggarwal is bringing his more than 57,000 Instagram followers along on a 20-day food tour across Toronto, showcasing the best eats Canadian culture has to offer. Prompted by the ongoing trade disputes between Canada and the U.S., he says the series is intended to both unite Canadians as well as bring our world-class cuisine to the forefront.
“I honestly can’t remember the last time I felt this way about Canada, and I think a lot of people feel the same way – that desire to come together,” Aggarwal said in an interview with Now Toronto on Wednesday.
From a Halifax donair representing the East Coast to the Nanaimo bar repping the West Coast, Aggarwal showcases all the hearty classics and everything in between each day. But in true Canadian fashion, first up on day one was our most popularized (and subjectively, most delicious) dish: the poutine.
Aggarwal headed to NomNomNom Poutine for a heaping serving of fries, cheese curds and gravy.
While the dish hails from Quebec, one of Aggarwal’s favourite things about the poutine is how Canadians have shapeshifted the dish to make it their own. With Canada being a mosaic of cultures, the savoury dish has been altered to fuse flavours from around the world. From jerk chicken to shawarma, the options atop a cheesy poutine are endless, which is just one of many reasons he says makes the food scene here “special.”
“There’s just kind of a welcoming of the world’s food in Canada, and I think that’s awesome,” Aggarwal said.
“I think when you bring the ingredients… and you bring all the immigrant communities that have had an impact on the country, plus the general attitude we have, I think you get a really, really special food scene.”
Read More
In another installation of the series, the creator also gives a nod to the sole Indigenous-focussed restaurant in the city, Tea-N-Bannock, serving generational cuisine like bannock, bison, and wild-rice dinners.
“Before Canada was ever a country, Indigenous people have been living on the land for a very long time, and know how to use the incredible land and sea ingredients that are available to us… so that was a really great episode that I got to do,” he explained.
Aggarwal’s food journey has also become a local history lesson, he says. His most recent video, on day 13 of the series, takes viewers to the renowned St. Lawrence Market for a peameal bacon sandwich, a beloved signature dish representing the city’s rich history as a pork processing hub which at one point was dubbed “Hogtown.”
Aggarwal says he would be remiss to not also highlight the abundance of cultural foods, hard to find anywhere else in the world, that have left a mark on Canadians’ hearts.
Butter chicken roti, for example, was created right here in the city by Indian immigrants who remixed their South Asian flavours with Caribbean-style roti. Even Chinese cuisine has its own variations from region to region, Aggarwal highlights, with ginger beef having roots in Calgary, and soo guy stemming from the Windsor-Detroit area.
As he continues into the final days of his series, Aggarwal emphasizes the importance of supporting local Canadian businesses.
“Just change a little bit about how you consume to be a little bit more intentional. Go to a smaller, independent grocery store twice a week, if you can, shop according to what’s available there… Buy a coffee from a local cafe for once instead of your go-to larger corporation,” he said.
Read More
“If there’s a cuisine that you haven’t tried before, go and seek out a restaurant for it. Show support to your fellow Canadians.”
As a visible minority, he also expresses the significance of living in a city that blends cultures, where diverse backgrounds are not only accepted but celebrated, fostering a sense of unity and shared identity.
“With everything we’re seeing in the world, I think Canadians should double down on our strength being the diversity we have,” Aggarwal said.
“We’re a mosaic of immigrant cultures… I think what makes us special is that we embrace that, and that we try to support one another. And if this can be a moment for us, like as a country, to reflect – because I think we were heading down the wrong path just before this happened – I think that would be a really great outcome of this.”
