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Restaurant with long ties to Ryerson community members barely survived through COVID-19

by Xavier Eeswaran
written by Xavier Eeswaran
Salad King owner Alan Liu in front of the restaurant’s recently opened Queen West location. (Photo courtesy of Salad King Instagram)

Alan Liu says he can remember how rosy everything appeared as he headed into the year 2020.

It was to be a bright new beginning for Salad King, his Thai restaurant located across the street from Ryerson’s Student Learning Centre. Nearly 30 years after Liu’s family first took over the Yonge Street restaurant after moving from Hong Kong to Toronto, Liu had finally secured a second location.

That January he signed a lease to open a second Salad King location, on Queen Street West. Liu said one of his goals had always been to expand the business, so everything was looking up.

But in the months that would follow, everything would change for Salad King, all as a result of the pandemic. The launch of the second location was delayed for over a year, sales dropped 60 per cent and Liu was forced to lay off the majority of his staff in order to keep the restaurant afloat.

“It was hard laying off people. There was no time to really get emotional about it, it was just a matter of execution back then,” said Liu.

“A lot of my staff have friends and relatives in China, so they already had an early warning that something like this was going to happen,” he said. 

IN OUR COMMUNITY: One café offers a lesson in surviving the pandemic

Looking back now, Liu says keeping Salad King open was difficult, but something he managed through financial diligence, signing on with delivery services and using government support programs designed to help keep businesses alive. 

“We’ve been very, very cautious with our finances,” he said. “There was no room for error.”

For the first few months of the pandemic, Liu said Salad King offered takeout and delivery through Foodora. But the restaurant was then forced to switch over to Uber Eats and SkipTheDishes after Foodora pulled out of the Canadian market barely a month into the pandemic. However, the switch worked out well, as the new food services brought in new customers and made Salad King more accessible.

“We’re happy that our delivery programs are still strong,” said Liu. “It’s exciting to know that there is a demand for our food.”

Salad King has gained popularity in Toronto among food enthusiasts for its spice level, which is measured by chilis, and for its secret menu. All food items have the option to choose between one to 20 chilis, ranging from very mild to very spicy. The secret menu on the other hand, is not really a secret anymore as Islamic noodles, the star order off the secret menu, is a notoriously popular option.

IN PICTURES: How time and a pandemic have changed Ryerson’s campus

While the food delivery service thrived, Liu says relief packages and subsidies issued by the government towards businesses helped the business tremendously. The restaurant was eligible to receive the Canada Emergency Wage Subsidy (CEWS) and the Canada Emergency Rent Subsidy (CERS), two subsidies that were vital in the support of the second Salad King location.

“We definitely did need all of the government relief packages. In downtown [Toronto], there are a lot of overhead costs, [so] we definitely needed those subsidies to keep us afloat.”

The most difficult time period for Liu over the last year and half has been the last few months. He pointed out how the government’s rollout of the Ontario vaccine passport system has caused him a lot of consternation. 

“Most of the frustration comes from the unknown, the inconsistencies and the decision making from the [provincial] government,” he said. “When we were asked to start checking for vaccine passports, the guidelines weren’t issued until the day before we were supposed to check. Even then, it was a very sloppy document.”

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Liu said the last few months were also the most difficult because of the culmination of several challenges: his dissatisfaction with the province, most Ryerson students not being around campus and the tapering off of government subsidies, all of which contributed to an uncertain environment.

“Opening everything up and causing unpredictability is not what helps us,” Liu said. “Building that predictable environment, where we can plan ahead, that’s what is very useful.” 

Instead of reopening the province in the structured way that Liu hoped for, he says the abrupt reopening caused complete frustration.

Despite these troubles, Liu said he remains optimistic for the future and is excited about the future of Salad King, particularly about the new location and the return of Ryerson students. 

Ryerson students play a pivotal role in Salad King’s attempts to return to normalcy. According to Liu, the restaurant needs to see 70 per cent of its pre-pandemic business return in order to break even. A key portion of this target relies on Ryerson’s return to in-person classes in the winter 2022 term.

“Ryerson students are very important to Salad King,” said Liu. “They were the backbone when we started and they are still a significant part of our customer base. We’re definitely missing them.” 

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COVID-19Featured StoryFoodGreat ReturnPandemicThe Great Campus Return

Surviving the pandemic: one café offers a lesson in adapting

by Annemarie Cutruzzola
written by Annemarie Cutruzzola
Page One is a small café on Mutual Street, a short walk from the Ryerson campus. (Annemarie Cutruzzola/On The Record)

On a day in mid-March 2020, Firas Arafat remembers turning off the lights in Page One café with a feeling of uncertainty hanging over him. 

Arafat owns Page One with his partner, Jennifer Reynolds. The café is a coveted study spot for many Ryerson students. Tucked away on Mutual Street, it’s close enough to campus to be convenient, but far enough away to still be somewhat of a hidden gem. In pre-pandemic times, the tables would often be a sea of laptops and notebooks, the dim lighting, cozy atmosphere and literary-themed decor provided suitable ambience for those hoping caffeine would motivate them to complete their assignments. 

The pandemic posed no shortage of challenges for the café. At nearly every stage, Arafat says they were forced to think of new ways to stay afloat and connect with the customers they still had.

When the shutdowns began in March, the immediate concern for Arafat was how they were going to make ends meet. The café suddenly lost almost all of its customers, but bills for rent, suppliers and wages weren’t going anywhere. 

“Are we going to open in a week, a month? Nobody had any idea at that time,” said Arafat.

IN OUR COMMUNITY: Restaurant with long ties to Ryerson community members barely survived through COVID-19

Page One is located just outside the boundaries of Downtown Yonge, the closest Business Improvement Area (BIA), so they didn’t qualify for some financial incentives from the City of Toronto that other businesses just blocks away did. Arafat found it challenging to communicate with the city without the advocacy of a BIA.

“There was no support,” said Arafat. “The city was the most difficult, to be honest.”

Just before they were going to miss a payment, Arafat found out the café qualified for some federal government subsidies, which he says ended up covering about 75 per cent of Page One’s rent in the first few months of the pandemic.

“That was such a relief because we weren’t sure how we were going to pay any of the rent,” said Arafat. 

IN PICTURES: How time and a pandemic have changed Ryerson’s campus

After a few weeks of complete shutdown, Arafat reopened the café alone. The entire staff was laid off — nobody was comfortable coming to work and there was a lack of work to do. Being laid off also meant they could apply for the CERB. 

Arafat worked at Page One by himself for five days a week, around six hours a day, serving the few customers who would come in for takeout coffee.

“I remember the first two weeks you would sell maybe four or five coffees a day and just spend the whole day there in the shop waiting and hoping for something,” said Arafat, recalling how the stress of that time made him lose sleep.

Khushi Giri began working at Page One two years ago as a student. Now a manager at the café, she has witnessed its ups and downs throughout the pandemic. She recalls the confusion of the early days of COVID-19, right before everything shut down. She had a few customers walk in wearing gloves and masks and being extra cautious about touching anything. 

A selection of the gourmet groceries Page One is still selling, including maple syrup, honey, hot sauce and jam. (Annemarie Cutruzzola/On The Record)

“It felt so alien to me at the time,” said Giri.

Tired of being locked in the house and armed with sanitizing wipes, Giri returned to Page One in May. Her first day back at work was the first time she had left the house since the start of the pandemic for something other than groceries. She started out working one or two days a week, but the café’s atmosphere just wasn’t the same. She remembers not seeing anyone on the street. 

“Mutual Street was dead. Usually, it’s hustling and bustling with all the students,” said Giri. The bar and food sections of the café were closed — they were only serving coffee. “This is so eerie. This is so weird,” she recalls thinking.

“There were times where customers would come in and be like, ‘Please take as much time as you can to make coffee, we don’t want to go back home,’” said Giri.

As summer 2020 approached, some of Page One’s original staff returned. Others were Ryerson students now learning remotely and some moved back home — to Ottawa, Oshawa and even Australia. Giri says the staff stayed in touch with some of these ex-employees. “We all got on a Zoom call and sipped on wine and we were just chatting about Page One and customers.”

Even as the staff began to return, hours were extended and new safety protocols were in place, the customer flow wasn’t anywhere near what Page One got before the pandemic — and the stress of paying the bills hadn’t gone away.

Some of Arafat’s suppliers began to enforce minimum order quantities that were now too high for the café to sustain. At that point, the café’s costs were $500 a day, almost five times more than the amount they were taking in daily.

“They basically put us in a very difficult situation,” said Arafat. “We realized we have to find new suppliers who were more supportive of small businesses.” 

Page One found this support in local coffee roastery Java Roasters, who were flexible with their order quantities and made deliveries directly to the café on bicycles. 

“Because of them and the community, we actually managed to survive,” said Arafat.

LISTEN: What Ryerson isn’t telling us about the return to campus

WATCH: Ryerson unions raise COVID-19 safety concerns ahead of January campus return

Both Arafat and Giri said they found one silver lining amongst the pandemic hardships — the opportunity to get to know their regular customers and build friendships in a time of isolation.

Arafat recalls two customers who would come in for a latte or espresso, and they would stay and chat for long after their order was complete. Giri similarly remembers connecting with one customer over ideas for Zoom game nights.

Clarissa Lau has been coming to Page One since her days as a student at the University of Toronto Scarborough campus. As she’d finish last-minute assignments, her friends from other universities would join her for a drink afterwards; Page One was a halfway meeting spot. This dual concept of café and bar couldn’t be sustained at some points of the pandemic, but Lau appreciates Page One’s consistency despite COVID-19 restrictions.

“I like how their quality never changed during the pandemic. They were always true to themselves,” said Lau. “The coffee still always tasted good and the baristas were always still friendly.”

Lau, a digital marketer, suspects Page One’s social media presence helped them survive the pandemic. 

“They’re a lot more active and just trying to engage with people virtually,” said Lau. 

Giri also runs Page One’s social media accounts and noted that throughout the pandemic, it was a useful tool for connecting with customers and understanding what they liked when in-person interactions were limited. 

With the surge of delivery apps during the pandemic, Arafat thought joining Uber Eats and DoorDash could make up for the slow return of in-person customers that summer. 

“What a lot of people didn’t realize at that time was that they charged 30 to 35 per cent of everything that we sold,” said Arafat. He signed up for the delivery apps even though they eliminated additional profits for Page One.

As the second wave of COVID-19 crept up in fall 2020, increased public health restrictions meant Arafat needed new revenue streams to stay afloat. After borrowing money to invest in a pizza oven, he says their new artisanal pizzas were a hit among students. 

Then, the café began selling gourmet groceries. As the second wave worsened and only five people at a time were allowed back in the store, Page One launched a pop-up farmers market twice a week, partnering with local businesses to sell fresh fruits, vegetables and dairy products.

These initiatives also transformed the business from a mainly student-oriented coffee shop to more of a community-based space, with many residents that live in the building above becoming regular customers. Giri recalls a few residents coming down to Page One in the middle of baking sessions, aprons on, quickly buying a pack of yeast before going back up the elevator.

“It helped us drive more traffic. Those four or five people who were in the shop would buy their coffee as well when they were getting their groceries,” said Arafat.

He realized that these pandemic-era additions were taking him further away from the original idea for Page One — an indie coffee shop.

Students on their laptops are returning to Page One, as the café is now open without capacity limits. (Annemarie Cutruzzola/On The Record)

“You just realize that what you envisioned for your business is not gonna happen,” said Arafat.

But the farmers market and groceries were a necessity to keep the cash flowing. Without them, Arafat says he thinks Page One would have shut down for good.

As the COVID-19 vaccines were introduced in late spring this year, Arafat noticed they were finally back up to about 50 to 60 per cent of their pre-pandemic customer volume, an increase from around the 20 to 30 per cent they were seeing during earlier stages of the pandemic. 

Even with capacity limits lifted and more students returning, Arafat says the customer flow is at about 60 per cent of what it was pre-pandemic. But the grocery section is here to stay, and he hopes the new initiatives, like the delivery apps and the pizzas, will continue to pay off. 

The cafe’s private event services are also slowly returning. Giri said a drag show recently booked out the entire café, with full capacity and no need for distanced tables.

Even with these bright spots, Page One is still feeling the lingering effects of the pandemic. Their hours are still shorter than they were before and Arafat says the labour shortage is making it difficult to find enough staff to keep the café open later. 

He’s anticipating an influx of customers in January as Ryerson and other nearby offices reopen. But until he gets more customers back, he’s “terrified” by how his suppliers’ prices have gone up due to inflation.

Regardless, Arafat acknowledges the pandemic as a time of growth for both himself and Page One.

“I did learn a lot. [The pandemic] made me stronger as a business owner. It’s way better than an MBA program can offer you.”

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Climate change is affecting how students eat

by Rachel Parent
written by Rachel Parent
The COVID-19 pandemic has sparked a larger debate around food consumption habits amongst university students. (callum shaw/ Unsplash).

Food is one of the factors that connects us all. But what if the way we eat is actually contributing to one of the greatest environmental crises of our time?

With an appetite for change, many Torontonians are trying to address this problem, starting with what is on their plates. 

The concept of “eating for the planet” has become a common sentiment amongst younger generations and is one of the most popular reasons why so many have made the switch to plant-based alternatives and veganism. 

A 2018 Statista poll indicates that there are over 850,000 vegans and roughly 2.3 million vegetarians in Canada. Together, that is roughly nine per cent of the Canadian population and more than half of those are under the age of 35.

Graphic by Claudia Latino/ On The Record.

Unlike other diets, removing meat is only one part of the equation. Veganism is a complete exclusion of all animal-derived products, including dairy, eggs and even honey — staples in many households that aren’t generally given a second thought. So why go to such an extreme? And why is this movement growing so quickly amongst young people in Toronto?

The food footprint

With climate change becoming more concerning around the world, the carbon and other environmental impacts of meat consumption have become too great for some to ignore. 

These concerns are not without reason. According to a study by the University of Manitoba, it takes approximately 1,590 gallons of water to produce one pound of beef (or about 7,228 litres of water to produce .454 kilos of beef). And it doesn’t end there. Pollution, antibiotic runoff, water use and contamination — and notably, carbon emissions — are all side effects of the current industrial factory farming complex. 

A report from the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations says, “The livestock sector is a major player, responsible for 18 per cent of greenhouse gas emissions measured in CO2 [carbon dioxide] equivalent. This is a higher share than transport.” 

The livestock sector has greater greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions than all planes, trains, cars and ships combined. 

So how much does farming contribute to Canada’s net carbon emissions? The Government of Canada says that farming livestock and crops contributes to at least 10 per cent of Canada’s GHG emissions and this figure doesn’t include emissions from fossil fuels or fertilizer used in production. This could put the carbon number significantly higher.

A study by New York University and Johns Hopkins University points to the inefficiency of modelling used by the Canadian government to predict carbon outputs from farming. The report showed that the actual carbon output of farming could be anywhere from 30 per cent to 90 per cent higher than what is reported. 

Aliénor Rougeot, the lead organizer of the youth climate group, Fridays for Future Toronto, and a vegan herself, says young people are taking up veganism because they worry that their futures are at risk if carbon emissions aren’t drastically cut down. 

“It’s not an interest — it’s a growing fear of devastation of the environment,” said Rougeot. “There is a growing understanding that we can’t live the life that we live right now and do well and sustainably in the future.”

Environmentally, many feel they simply have no choice when it comes to going plant-based.

“I thought that it’s about me, but also about people in the Global South and people in other nations — nations that will be really facing a lot of natural disasters because of our choices here,” said David Mejia Monico, a vegan and recent Ryerson University graduate. “I thought that the fact that I knew about the choice and that it would make a difference, it was kind of like a moral imperative for me to make it.” 

As some find out about the impacts of agriculture, guilt over animal rights and the climate are motivating forces to change diets and lower carbon footprints. Asha Swann, a third-year Ryerson journalism student, says it isn’t just about guilt, it’s knowing the power of consumer choices. 

“I did feel guilty because I think as consumers, we have a lot of power to say, ‘I’m going to put my dollars towards this industry that can be exploitative and abusive or I can just not,’” Swann said. “So I found that for me, when I was feeling guilty about doing something like that, it’s easiest to just not make those kinds of purchases.” 

Swann also elaborated on what she believes is leading the diet change in Toronto. “I think consumers are more caring. They want to know where their dollars are going. They don’t want to be blindly supporting things that don’t have the ethics to match.”

Plant-based: a solution or a false promise?

Many studies point to plant-based eating habits having positive impacts on environmental health and carbon emissions. 

An analysis by the research journal Science pointed to the fact that meat and dairy only provide 18 per cent of calories and 37 per cent of protein consumed, while using 83 per cent of farmland and creating 60 per cent of agricultural GHG emissions. The report also says that a switch from the typical Americanized diet to a vegan diet could help the average person reduce their food carbon footprint by up to 73 per cent. Global farmland use could also be significantly reduced with the potential to feed more people. Even a small reduction in meat consumption could reduce overall GHG and methane release. 

But is this the solution to solve the climate crisis? 

Rougeot says veganism on its own ultimately will not fix climate change, but it does help reduce carbon emissions overall. She’s excited that it’s becoming more mainstream and available to more people, but also warns that not all food in a vegan diet is necessarily environmentally friendly. 

“I think the choices are becoming more mainstream,” Rougeot said. “Although with that, sometimes it’s taking away from some of the benefits that I see in a vegan diet. So sometimes it’s mainstream, but it’s so processed and full of GMOs [genetically modified organisms], pesticides and things like that, that it’s not much better.”

Rougeot says that while a vegan diet may not solve climate change on its own, it is a feasible option to reduce our carbon footprints, something we should all be trying to do.
“I couldn’t ever say veganism will solve climate change, but I can say a change in diet and a change in our agriculture industry can definitely be a part of the solution.” 

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Toronto kitchen provides fresh meals for homeless in the city

by Rhea Singh
written by Rhea Singh

Unity Kitchens has created a safe community for those facing homelessness and food insecurity

workers wear masks and make food in a kitchen
Steps away from one of Toronto’s largest malls is a small 173 year-old church surrounded by skyscrapers and silver buildings built in the 70’s. (Courtesy of United Kitchen).

With its walls of pale yellow bricks standing in stark contrast next to the metallic walls of the Eaton Centre, there is a place much warmer, safer and welcoming for those experiencing homelessness and food insecurity in the city of Toronto. 

This is where Unity Kitchen was born, a community service kitchen located in The Church of Holy Trinity (TCHT) which provides those who are facing homelessness in Toronto with fresh food and resources such as tents, jackets and sleeping bags. The kitchen operates out of the Trinity Square Cafe located within the church. 

Every morning, the smell of sage from the morning meeting and fresh ingredients engulf the church. By 10 a.m., head chef Tara Currie is here. She washes her hands, heats up the food for the morning service, and at 11 a.m., food service begins. 

“We’re always busy here,” said Currie. “Sometimes we have 100 people, or more than 100, but usually it’s just 100 or under.”

In March 2020, the church began offering sandwiches and soups to those living in encampments around the church, as well as  those living unhoused in Toronto’s downtown eastern core. The pandemic created food insecurity for those facing homelessness as a result of food programs around the city closing, which led to a higher demand for the kitchen’s services.  

According to research, conducted by the University of Toronto, one in eight  households faced food insecurity prior to the pandemic. Since the pandemic began, there has been a jump to over 600,000 residents in the city facing food insecurity, according to Toronto Foundation. However, for those facing homelessness, rates of food insecurity were much higher, with a 200 per cent increase in people connecting with food banks since the pandemic started. 

Unity Kitchen — much like the church itself — exudes a type of familial warmth, with the aromatic smell of freshly cooked meals, shared conversations amongst staff and volunteers, and the comfort of a safe space. 

With the help of Trinity St. Paul’s Church, St. Matthews Church, the Korean Catholic Church, Indigneous community groups, ex-prisoners and the Toronto Jummah Prayer Hall — to name a few — Unity Kitchen  began to expand. The program is a partnership between the Church of Holy Trinity and Toronto Urban Native Ministry who provide financial support, guidance, leadership and outreach work. Other outreach groups such as Toronto Indigenous Harm Reduction, the Indigenous Support Project at the University of Toronto, Equitable Action for Change and Trans Pride Toronto also provide support to the church. 

Currie initially began volunteering at Unity Kitchen before being offered her position of head chef. Prior to taking the job in THTC, she had been part of a culinary program at Christie Pitts that closed due to COVID-19 restrictions. 

Currie explained that with most soup kitchens, frozen or donated foods are normally served but those also aren’t the best quality, with the lack of freshness. By providing fresh food, the kitchen destigmatized the negative narrative around homelessness and humanizes people that need care the most. 

“People have said in the lineup that coming here and getting food from us is one of the only times that they feel validated as a human,” said Currie. 

Currie recalls an instance where her cheese tomato and egg sandwich became the favorite of a regular, a sandwich that she had grown up eating. Another regular expressed how much it reminded them of growing up and what he used to eat. 

Sinclair Bletcher-Lowman, who is an emergency community support fund project facilitator at Unity Kitchen, shares the same feeling of wanting to create a validating space. 

“Here, we try to really create a space where anybody from anywhere [can]…feel affirmed in themselves,” said Bletcher-Lowman. “It’s really about expanding what we understand ‘community’ to be and who is included in a community.”

Their journey with Unity Kitchen began 10 months ago, when the church began its emergency food outreach service. During the beginning, Bletcher-Lowman would prepare large batches of soup each week alongside their mother at their childhood home for the church. Overtime, Bletcher-Lowman found themselves spending more time at Unity Kitchen, from volunteering to do food distribution services and more recently becoming the emergency community support fund project facilitator in January.

Now, Unity Kitchen serves one meal during the day, which includes a hot fresh meal and drinks, clothing and resources for shelter, and basic necessities.

“Collectively we realized that this was going to be a long-term situation of our organization…this need is present and appears to be growing,” said Bletcher-Lowman

The City of Toronto implemented a COVID-19 response plan for those experiencing homelessness in the city, which included prevention, mitigation and recovery. However, since its inception on April 16 2020, the city has seen a major increase in displacement and homelessness. The Canadian Medical Association Journal detailed that homeless individuals were five times more likely to contract and die from COVID-19, and most recently an outbreak occurred at Maxwell Meighen Centre that included cases of a variant virus. 

Outbreaks in shelters have been reported at an alarming rate more recently with the introduction of the UK variant in Ontario. Since the start of the year, the city has seen over 274 cases, and a total of 1,118 positive cases linked to shelter outbreaks. For many, encampments are much safer and accessible.

“The city and the federal government were relying on this network of small organizations to shuffle people from place to place, from meal to meal,” said Zachary Grant, community director at TCHT. “When all of the networks shutdown, it really revealed how dismal our care for the community was.”

Grant detailed that during the pandemic, they had been told that formal agencies that provide resources were closed, revealing an absence of good policy for the most oppressed in Toronto’s community. “Before COVID-19 happened, we were already in a crisis of houslessness of a growing scarcity of public space and social policy that was being dictated by developers.”

When Grant first began working with the church, they noticed that there was an ongoing battle between those who were facing homelessness and what they called the developer class; those who were working on initiatives of policing public spaces and using it for private purposes. 

“Yonge and Dundas Square would be one of them, where it was initiated as a public gathering place,” said Grant. “Now, it’s under public-private partnership…private security firms that govern the territory there are able to dictate who can and cannot be there, this is a phenomenon that’s happening across the City of Toronto.”

These actions are also seen in public spaces. Over the past year, through the increase of encampments across the city, we have seen the city use force to remove tents and resources from public parks. On Dec. 9 2020, two white trucks removed a tiny house shelter near Lake Shore Boulevard and Carlaw Avenue. More recently, the city removed multiple tiny shelters from Alexandra Park in February, this was just after the city filed an injunction against Kahleel Seivwright, carpenter and creator of the tiny shelters. 

Recently, city officials have given encampment residence eviction notices to relocate to shelters through the Pathway Inside Program, which include shelters located in Novotel. This is currently only accessible to those in the four major encampments in the city: Alexandra Park, Moss Park, Lamport Stadium and Trinity-Bellwoods. 

However, with the cities lack of action Unity Kitchen and other folks have taken matters into their own hands. Grant remembers people who have impacted their community, such as a young woman who wanted to be a nurse, helping those with stab or gunshot wounds and going around the city helping those who need medical assistance. They also remember an Indigenous elder who started a project called Native Wishing Well, where he and a few other people would hold onto tents, sleeping bags and other supplies for people coming to Trinity Square at night and in moments of crisis.

“I don’t know if there is a magnetic draw, but if you’re in a crisis… the city seemed to funnel you here, and they were ready for it.” said Grant. “When they came across someone in crisis they would work together to meet that person’s primary needs, get them stabilized and then work to find what the next thing was for their well-being.”

Grant said that they learn a lot from these folks, and that it’s inspiring to see unhoused people coming to help and volunteer as much as they can. 

“Those folks who our society has written off and said ‘they don’t even deserve housing’ are really showing us and leading us each day in the ways that we should be in our heart…with one another,” said Grant. “(They’re) showing us that there’s no barriers to being a positive force in our communities.”

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Hungry for change: The story of Alec Thomas

by William Dixon
written by William Dixon

Chef navigates COVID-19’s disruption of the restaurant industry with street smarts

Courtesy Rup Magon

It’s New Year’s Eve 2020 and two small children play around an old, black, wooden dining table as their family look at old photo albums. Traditional Russian songs play softly in the background, as they reminisce and talk about how the children have grown since they were all together last. 

Down a long hallway and into the kitchen, a 25-year-old, laser-focused chef named Alec Thomas puts the final touches on the signature dish of the night — duck à l’orange. Hours of preparation have boiled down to mere minutes. Execution and timing are everything. First, he gently ladles the creamy mascarpone risotto. Then, he fans out the sliced duck breast, cooked to perfection with golden, crisp skin. Next comes the fragrant à l’orange sauce, dashed generously over the duck. Lastly, he garnishes the outside of the plates with candied apricots. 

The dining room in customer Tony Tikhomirov’s Toronto-area home falls silent as chef Thomas enters with dinner, a trail of steam and the sweet smell of citrus following him into the room. Murmured “oohs” and “aahs” build as he places a plate in front of each guest. 

Thomas says, “ladies and gentlemen, enjoy!” 

Now 26, Thomas has combined survival instinct with street smarts and business savvy to navigate the COVID-19 wreckage of Toronto’s restaurant industry. After they were both laid off from their restaurant jobs due to the pandemic, Thomas and his coworker-turned-business-partner Arya Hamedani launched a gourmet, home-catering business called Arya Hungry? 

Thomas, a serial adapter, has seemingly found opportunity in  the pandemic. 

Last summer and fall, before winter lockdown, Arya Hungry?’s services were booked solid every weekend. They got great feedback from clients, and word spread — they’ve amassed more than 4,000 followers on Instagram at the time of press. The chefs’ abilities to quickly adapt allowed them to survive, which is increasingly rare in the struggling food industry. The Fifteen Group, a hospitality consulting agency, conducted a Canada-wide survey of its clients in December 2020. The outlook was bleak. The survey found that 98 per cent of the company’s clients have had their revenues negatively impacted since the start of the pandemic, with three-quarters of those reporting a decline in revenue of more than 50 per cent. Half of those surveyed were unsure they would survive the winter, and 93 per cent of restaurants laid off or terminated employees.

With many local food businesses closing, Thomas and Hamedani saw an opening. People still wanted to eat great food, they realized, but didn’t want to cook it themselves. 

What sets Arya Hungry? apart from other restaurants and catering businesses isn’t just the high-quality dishes they cook, but the care they show their clients and time they spend on the experience, says Hamedani. 

“When a client sets up an event with us, they are speaking with the two chefs that will be cooking in their home,” says Hamedani, “and I think that really means something to people.” 

Tikhomirov, the CEO and founder of a digital marketing agency, says the food Thomas created on New Year’s Eve was beyond any of his expectations. “He transported us back to our times in France, to a place we loved and to the cafés we used to go before the pandemic,” he says. “It was like a small miracle.” 

Thomas’s success is a far cry from his turbulent beginnings. After ongoing conflict with his father led to his banishment from the family home at age 17, he scrounged enough money to rent a tiny bedroom in a shared house in Bolton, Ont. It felt just a few square feet larger than a prison cell. Then, he burned through his money — buying weed, booze and cocaine — until he only had only $6 to his name. Thomas says will always remember the number six. He was verging on homelessness, had nowhere to go and no one to turn to. 

He called up three different dealers who each spotted him half a pound of weed. In the span of roughly two weeks, Thomas had sold it, repaid his loans and delivered his rent. He soon had enough money to rent an apartment in downtown Toronto. Then, after roughly three years in the city, the course of his life changed in a few days. In April 2017, he got a job at Scaddabush, an Italian restaurant chain, at Front Street West and Simcoe Street. Within 48 hours, he was also accepted into culinary school at George Brown College and completed a one-year program.

Thomas’s longtime friend Justin Bailey, who’s also an employee at Arya Hungry?, watched his transformation: “It was like a switch just flipped.” He says Thomas went from “cutting up coke in our washroom,” to cooking up carbonara in the kitchen. 

The late nights in clubs turned to late nights at the dish pit or at the sauté station, where Thomas worked closing shifts ending anywhere from 2:30 a.m. to 5 a.m. Once he got back from the restaurant, Thomas continued honing his culinary skills. He worked on school assignments or pulled a random cookbook from a pile beside his stove to try a new recipe. Around 6 a.m. he would pass out wherever his beat-up office was — either in his bedroom or in the living room. Thomas usually slept in his chef’s whites so at 7 a.m., he could wake up, go to class, and repeat it all again the next day. He also stopped using or selling drugs.

His rediscovered passion for food drove the frenzy. He’d always loved cooking; his fondest childhood memories are kitchen moments. On Christmas Day his entire Italian family would go to his grandparents’ house in Mississauga, Ont. There was an unwritten rule that his mother, aunt and nonna were the only ones allowed to cook, but they had to shoo him from the kitchen almost every other minute because he wanted to join. As he got older, however, his mother began sharing her cooking secrets. By age 10, he could make a béchamel sauce, a cheese sauce, and eggplant parmigiana. 

If Thomas’s long, winding road from being that little kid in the kitchen to catering sophisticated events proved anything, it was that he could adapt. And that became important yet again this winter, when COVID-19 caused more disruption.

January’s stay-at-home order and evolving circumstances during the pandemic forced Thomas and Hamedani to adapt yet again. Arya Hungry? was put on the back burner, amidst rising case numbers and escalating provincial restrictions. And so, the duo pivoted again. Their next venture, ChickMagnet, is a fried chicken sandwich shop on Queen Street West, operating out of the Beverley Hotel. They have been consistently selling out since opening day on Feb. 2, 2021. 

While Arya Hungry? and ChickMagnet have been Hamedani’s concepts, Thomas is also working on his own brand: Covassi and Co., named for his maternal grandparents’ last name. The plan within the next five years is to open a café of the same name, with farm-to-table, northern-Italian-inspired cuisine.

Much like the days when he was sharpening his culinary skills at Scaddabush and in school, Thomas is still up until all hours creating recipes, developing menus and refining his palate. 

“I have an opportunity to seize my dream and make it a reality,” says Thomas, “and I am not going to miss my chance.”

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Ryerson students trying diet trends to improve health

by Jonathan Bradley
written by Jonathan Bradley

These diet trends involve unconventional eating habits, but they have provided students with some results

A person’s hand wrapped around a tape measure (Jennifer Burk/Unsplash)

Ryerson University students are embracing diet trends to see if they affect their health, but following through with them for a prolonged period of time has been tricky. 

Certain diet trends have been gaining popularity over the past few years. There have been documented benefits to these diets, but they might not be ideal for all people. 

Keyaan Nejad, a fourth-year politics and governance student at Ryerson, went on the carnivore diet in March 2020. Nejad has been interested in how his body reacts to different foods. 

“I heard of the carnivore diet shortly after I ran into a plateau in the gym and found it was becoming increasingly more difficult to tone up my body,” said Nejad. “I was also having trouble sleeping and waking up and felt my mental state was foggier than usual.” 

The carnivore diet consists of people eating meat, fish, eggs, and select dairy products. People on the carnivore diet cannot eat fruits, vegetables, grains, and nuts. 

It stems from the belief that the diets of ancient people were meat and fish, and high-carb diets have led to chronic health problems. 

Shawn Baker, the CEO at MeatRX, has been the most vocal proponent of the carnivore diet. Baker has reported people who go on the carnivore diet have seen improvements in body composition, strength, performance, and endurance. 

Following the carnivore diet can lead to excessive sodium intake, which has been linked to an increased risk of high blood pressure, kidney disease, and other negative health outcomes. Processed meat intake has been linked to higher rates of certain types of cancer, especially colon and rectal. 

Nejad says that on his first day on the diet he did not feel different than any other day, but he was craving foods with carbs and sugary snacks. The following week saw him experience a positive difference in his overall mood, increased energy levels, improved sleep, no brain fog, and weight loss.

However, he experienced temporary hair loss. The fluctuation in his body mass index caused physical stress on his hair. 

He followed the diet again in December 2020. It produced the same positive effects, but it did not provide him with enough incentive to cancel out every other food. 

Tim Yoon, a fourth-year accounting and finance student at Ryerson, went on the keto diet for a few months. Yoon was hoping to lose weight and improve his metabolism. 

“Within weight loss, many people find themselves in positions of plateauing,” said Yoon. “Taking the steps into trying other unconventional diets allows for some individuals that extra step they may have needed to obtain their goals.” 

The keto diet is based on taking in a low amount of carbs and plenty of fats. This increase in fats puts people’s bodies in a natural metabolic state called ketosis. 

The body produces ketones out of fat, using them for energy instead of carbs. The keto diet has been linked to weight loss and reduced risk for various diseases. 

People who go on the keto diet can experience low blood pressure, kidney stones, constipation, nutrient deficiencies, and an increased risk of heart disease. The keto diet is strict, which can cause social isolation and disordered eating. 

Boxes of red peppers
Box of red peppers

Yoon lost a substantial amount of weight. He attributes this weight loss to him having a lower intake of food rather than from ketosis. But he says that what sucked about this diet was he felt tired more often, especially when he was exercising. 

Yoon said while he loved how he lost weight on this diet, he would not try it again because of time and cost. 

“I figured that this diet method was not going to sustain me in the long run,” he said.  

Nilou Deilami, a registered dietitian, says there is no specific diet students should be on. A healthy eating pattern is one that is nutritious, enjoyable, flexible, and sustainable, she says. 

“A healthy diet could look different for everyone,” said Deilami. “The key to healthy eating is to include a wide variety of whole and unprocessed foods in your diet.” 

Deilami recommends setting Small, Measurable, Attainable, Realistic, and Timely (SMART) goals. An example of a SMART goal would be eating one piece of fruit for breakfast every day. 

She said setting SMART goals can help people build healthy habits in the long term. 

“Following a healthy diet has many benefits, including increased energy levels, potential improvements in academic performance, and the prevention of chronic diseases in the future,” she said.  

Nejad said people should be open to diet trends because they can be challenging and give opportunities to test limits. 

“I am by no means an expert, just someone who is open to trying new things and love challenging myself,” he said. “Make your own decisions and always do plenty of research.” 

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Racialized students face higher risk of food insecurity

by Ammar Karam
written by Ammar Karam

Lack of access to nutritious foods can lead to deteriorating mental health, and performance

a full shelf at a grocery store with food
(Aaron Doucett/Unsplash)

Sam Howden and Ewan Cassidy both laughed and then nodded knowingly when asked if they had ever faced food insecurity. 

“I grew up going to soup kitchens as a child and there was a period of my life where I didn’t have a formal home,” said Cassidy, who is of Algonquin heritage and is involved with the Healing Garden at the Ted Rogers School of Management (TRSM). “For me food insecurity was a part of my life but I was fortunate enough to find a job and be able to pay certain necessities, bills and such. One of the things I noticed was that it was really difficult to get good food.”

Food insecurity, as defined by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), is the state of being without reliable access to a sufficient quantity of affordable, nutritious food. On the Canadian government website, the definition adds the qualifier of “household food insecurity is often linked with the household’s financial ability to access adequate food.”

A 2018 study done by PROOF, an interdisciplinary research initiative based in Toronto, found that one in eight households across Canada suffer from food insecurity — with the highest rates being in the Northwest Territories and Nunavut (23 per cent and 57 per cent respectively). 

Multiple studies, from the University of Manitoba to Food Secure Canada, indicated that student populations are one of the highest risk population groups suffering from food insecurity, with rates up to 30 to 40 per cent. According to a report from the Good Food Centre, over 2,500 Ryerson students accessed emergency food relief in the 2013-2014 academic year.

Rates of food insecurity are even higher amongst Indigenous and racialized groups of students, due to structural issues surrounding their communities’ financial status and access to diverse cultural foods. Black communities were 3.5 times more likely to experience food insecurity, and  rates amongst Indigenous populations are reported as high as 50 per cent.

“Our traditional foodways taken away from us through not being able to hunt, not being able to fish, not being able to grow and gather based on the fact that we were put back onto reserves in particular areas,” said Howden, the first Indigenous Field Assistant at the Ryerson Urban Farm, which operates rooftop growing spaces on campus. “In the Indian Act, there were things we could not engage in and not make money off of, so even if we had the knowledge of how to skin, and to use every part of the animal and do that to support community members, it had to happen within certain boundaries.” 

This lack of access to good nutritious food can have negative effects on mental health and make it difficult for students to study and maintain good grades. Debbie Field, the co-ordinator for the Coalition of Healthy School Food and collaborator with Ryerson’s Centre for Food Security, said she hopes COVID-19 would begin to set a more robust meal plan on campus.

a woman holds a green box filled to the brim with vegetables and other produce
Debbie Field, co-ordinator of the Coalition of Healthy School Food said the food Ryerson offers students is too expensive and not healthy enough. (Laura Berman)

“Do we make it easy for students of all income levels to buy healthy food? To access healthy food during their school day at Ryerson?” she said. “I don’t think we do. I think the food is too expensive and it’s not healthy enough and it’s some private sector component of the operation rather than a component of education.” 

Food deserts are places where there is a lack of access to healthy food. In Toronto, according to a 2015 report, 31,000 households in the city’s lowest income areas were over one kilometre walking distance from a supermarket. Additionally, 9,000 of those households were one kilometre or more from any kind of food outlet. 

By contrast, a food swamp — a contested term — is a place where there is an overabundance of less healthy food options. Ryerson campus is more of a food swamp, according to dietician Leigh Merotto. 

Merotto, a former nutrition student at Ryerson also previously worked at the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (CAMH). She explained the link between mental health and nutrition in her blog, saying it is something that often gets missed when discussing food insecurity. 

Not only is the act of being food insecure mentally draining and psychologically scarring in some cases, but the food that an individual receives as a result can also further exacerbate their mental health problems. A study done in 2017 showed a correlation between the two but not enough evidence was found to pinpoint food insecurity as a cause.  

Food banks are not an effective long-term solution for food insecurity, considering that one of the causes of food insecurity is financial instability. 

One of the ways that community organizers are combating food insecurity, particularly on campus, is through food sovereignty initiatives. Food sovereignty is when the people who produce the food also control the mechanisms of its distribution. The Ryerson Centre for Food Security has teamed up with Afri-Can Foodbasket to form the Black Food Sovereignty Alliance of Toronto, with the aim of addressing food issues affecting Black communities and laying down a framework for Black self-determination in food systems in the city.

But a more pertinent question is, if someone is experiencing food insecurity, what can be done about it right now? 

a close up shot of people giving food to others across a table
Food banks are just part of the solution to address food insecurity. (Joel Muniz/Unsplash)

Fields has some advice, “It’s very hard because money is tight but yet within that tight money situation, we can put food first in your thinking. Don’t go to the corner store to buy a banana, go to the No Frills. Be wise about your own limited budget and stretching it and making better decisions with whatever limited money you have.” 

More options are: buying produce from FoodShare, a non-profit organization that delivers food to communities across Toronto, applying for food assistance from Black Food Toronto, participating in Ryerson’s Harvest Share program and, if you’re an Indigenous student, contacting the Ryerson Aboriginal Peer Support Program. 

“There’s obviously a social determinant of health that comes into play because you don’t have access to nutritious foods,” Howden said. “Even if it’s traditional or non-traditional foods, you won’t be as nourished from the space of your body which is the container that carries forth all of what you do. It’s harder to study. It’s harder to produce results.”  

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Prescribing perspectives (Ryersonian/Rosie Leonard)
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Rediscovering the joy of food through intuitive eating

by Natalie Michie
written by Natalie Michie

Intuitive eating is a lifestyle that rejects all food rules and aims to repair body image issues caused by dieting

food on a table
Intuitive eating aims to help people to remove guilt from food and rediscover the carefree and innate joy of eating. (Stefan Vladimirov/Unsplash)

For many women, keeping up with shifting beauty standards, body dysmorphia and diet culture is exhausting. Society’s ever-evolving image of the ideal body encourages people to change themselves and leaves women hyper-aware of their bodies at a young age. As a result, people  often find themselves turning to a restrictive diet.

Food rules like, “don’t eat after 7 p.m.” or “cut out carbs” are commonly found in the descriptions of different diets. New food rules are introduced every time a diet makes its way to the forefront of popular media, claiming to have the solution to all weight-related problems. As more and more food rules enter our lives, the way we think about eating becomes increasingly complicated. 

In recent years, a lifestyle that advocates call “anti-diet” has been gaining traction: intuitive eating. Intuitive eating rejects all food rules and aims to repair people’s relationship with food and their bodies.

“The goal is to reject the diet mentality, honour your hunger, and make peace with food,” said Toronto-based registered dietitian Trista Chan, who works with clients on intuitive eating practices.

“Oftentimes, after years and years of restrictive dieting, most people are very out of touch with their internal bodies’ cues.” She said this can cause people to have anxiety around food and to lose the natural satisfaction that comes from eating. “(Intuitive eating is) really about tuning out all that outside noise … and trying to place your body as its own expert.” 

Intuitive eating has 10 guiding principles — like “discover the satisfaction factor” and “feel your fullness” — which work to help people rediscover the carefree and innate joy of eating. 

Simply put, it is done by eating what you want when you are hungry and stopping when you are full.

A pink graphic that reads 10 principles of intuitive eating: reject the diet mentality, honour your hunger, make peace with food, challenge the food police, discover the satisfaction factor, feel your fullness, cope with your emotions with kindness, respect your body, movement-feel the difference, honour your health-gentle nutrition
Intuitive eating has 10 guiding principles that aim to help people repair their relationship with food. (Natalie Michie/The Ryersonian)

Listening to your body’s hunger cues sounds simple enough, but putting it into practice can be difficult to do. This is because diet culture’s prominence in our lives has led many of us to fall out of trust with our bodies, said Stephanie Cassin, a Ryerson psychology professor who specializes in disordered eating and body image. Intuitive eating aims to challenge the eating behaviours many people have adapted as a result of diet culture.

When Adrianna Chiofalo first saw posts about intuitive eating pop up on her social media timeline last year, she was intrigued. The third-year nursing student had been meticulously calorie-tracking for a year and was feeling a disconnect in her relationship with food.

Chiofalo is the student lead of The Body Project, a body acceptance advocacy program at Ryerson. She said getting started with intuitive eating was a challenge because her restrictive eating had caused her to lose her hunger and satiety cues. 

“It was a bit freaky to be like, ‘How did I lose track of something that’s so innate? Something that you’re just born with?’ I (was so) brainwashed that I lost the attention towards those signals completely,” she said.

Falling out of touch with these cues can be caused by the fact that binging and restricting are normalized as a part of dieting, said Cassin. She said that some processed foods are created with the intent of being binged on; to make the person eating them feel a loss of control. 

“When you see commercials (saying), ‘You can’t just eat one’ you know there’s some truth to that. Some of them actually have been produced or manufactured to make them really difficult to resist,” she said. 

This loss of control around food can have a harmful impact on someone’s body image. In Canada, approximately 85 per cent of women and girls are unhappy with the way they look, according to a study by Canadian Women’s Health Network. Often, this can lead someone to pursue quick weight loss through chronic dieting, said Cassin.

“If you’re feeling negative about body image, it’s hard to convince yourself to just adopt healthy lifestyle changes for the long haul (that are) actually going to make you feel better. People typically want to go for the quick results,” she said.

This leads to a “vicious cycle” of trying new fad diets that actually cause more weight gain over time and worsen body image, said Cassin. Psychologically, it’s more difficult to adjust to the weight fluctuations that come from yo-yo dieting than to eat in a way that nourishes your body and maintain a steady weight, she said — even if it’s a bit higher than what your ideal would be.

Research shows there is a clear link between dieting and eating disorders. A study done by the National Eating Disorders Association found that 20 to 25 per cent of pathological dieters — people who follow extreme food or calorie restrictions — develop eating disorders. 

For many people, Cassin said eating behaviours are a way of regulating emotions like depression, anxiety, or loneliness — all things people have been experiencing during the pandemic. 

People overeat or restrict to feel a sense of control in a situation where they might otherwise feel out of control. Intuitive eating aims to relinquish this need for control by removing the power placed on food and calories.

When starting her journey of intuitive eating, Chiofalo said it was difficult to let go of the “computerized structure of eating” that she had been following with calorie-tracking. After a year of intuitive eating, she said her body weight has stayed mostly consistent, but her mindset has changed. 

“I was constantly thinking about food and trying to fit as much food as possible into the target of calories. Now with intuitive eating, I go with the flow. I’ve learned to just kind of accept my body as it is, and eat what I want,” she said.

Intuitive eating isn’t about quick physical transformations. In fact, it separates itself from the weight loss mentality entirely and aligns with the Health At Every Size (HAES) movement, according to Sarah Berneche, a nutritionist and intuitive eating counsellor based in Toronto. 

The guiding principles of HAES are that you don’t have to wait to be thin to pursue health; anyone can pursue it at any time and at any size. 

“It’s about eating foods that feel good to you, as opposed to trying to restrict food. It’s about moving for the joy of it, as opposed to trying to punish yourself through movement,” said Berneche. “And it’s also acknowledging that we all have different degrees of privilege and that’s going to inform our ability to pursue health.”

HAES and the practice of intuitive eating make it clear that health is not always a personal choice and can be influenced by social determinants. There are many barriers in place that can make it harder for people to lead healthy lifestyles, such as someone’s income level and physical proximity to accessible healthy foods. 

Although intuitive eating may not yield the physical changes that some people are after, advocates say its physical and mental benefits are healthier than most weight loss methods. Along with providing weight stability, there are also many psychological benefits to intuitive eating, said Cassin. One of them is a reduced feeling of loss of control. 

“The research shows in a pretty compelling way that it’s actually the experience of loss of control that creates more of a feeling of psychological distress than the amount of food that people eat during a binge,” said Cassin. Intuitive eating brings people a neutral relationship with food, which she said can help improve mood and anxiety.

One goal of intuitive eating is to separate weight from self-worth, by pushing back against weight-related stigmas perpetuated by the diet industry. 

“Diet culture is all about this idea (that) everybody should be walking through the world in this thin body and anybody that doesn’t meet that sociocultural ideal (is) lazy, or there’s something wrong with them and that’s not true at all,” said Cassin. 

“Intuitive eating recognizes that people’s bodies come in different sizes, shapes and weights. And that’s okay. Body diversity is okay.”

It’s not hard to trace people’s complex relationship with food and eating habits back to society’s demanding beauty standards. If mainstream media celebrated more diverse bodies, we would struggle less with food, said Chan.

Listening to your body and rediscovering its needs is a process that starts with self-compassion. Chan said in order to rebuild a healthy outlook on eating, it’s important to remove “good” or “bad” labels from food and think of all food as neutral. Then, make it a habit to check in with your body before and after meals, to assess how hungry or full you are, and to take note of what your mood is.

Intuitive eating relies on innate hunger and satiety signals that humans were born with, but that get lost overtime as a result of dieting and disordered eating. Principles such as “honour your hunger” and “discover the satisfaction factor” refocus eating on what it should be: a natural, fun, vital part of life. 

“In an ideal world, we’d all be intuitive eaters and I think we all have that within us,” said Chan. 

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Baking your way to better mental health

by Ekaterina Giannikos
written by Ekaterina Giannikos

Some students have turned to measuring, mixing and decorating as ways to alleviate stress and anxiety

a cartoon image of a woman baking with various cakes and pies and baking supplies around her
(Ekaterina Giannikos/Ryersonian)

Some students have taken on baking as a way to relieve stress, hone in on a new creative skill and have a fun distraction from the world around them.

New data shows that isolation measures followed during the pandemic have left a negative impact on people’s mental health.  

In May 2020, Statistics Canada conducted a survey to determine how Canadians’ mental health has changed since the onset of physical distancing. The study found that 52 per cent of participants said their mental health had gotten worse because of the pandemic.

Ranilyn Amede, a fourth-year biomedical science student at Ryerson University, said that throughout the pandemic, he has experienced symptoms of anxiety; including questioning his self-worth and doubting his abilities. He said he took on baking as a new hobby because it was accessible to him. “I already had all the ingredients I needed in my pantry,” said Amede.  

Not only does Amede find success in baking, but he also finds that it boosts his self-confidence.  

“Following a recipe provides a sense of structure and makes me feel that I’m in control when other things in my life may be overwhelmingly hectic,” said Amede.

a side by side image of a chocolate chip cookie box and cookies
Following recipes can be fun and meditative for students struggling with their mental health. (Ekaterina Giannikos/Ryersonian)

Surveys conducted between May and December 2020 by the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (CAMH) identified a pattern of how anxiety levels have fluctuated during the pandemic.

The study reported that last year, the highest levels of anxiety were in the spring and late fall, and the lowest were over the summer months. 

Rosetta Rocco, a registered psychotherapist in Toronto, said that finding something new and different keeps one’s mind away from feeling overpowered by loneliness. 

Rocco said baking keeps the mind active and can be used as a tool to improve mental health.

Rocco advises when isolating alone it’s always good to “reach out to a best friend or family member or find a group of like-minded people to create quality time with.”

As Rocco suggests, Amede uses his baking hobby to connect with loved ones. He sends pictures of what he has baked to family and friends, drops off bags of cookies for them and bakes with them over video calls.

“I never thought baking would turn out to be so therapeutic,” said Amede.

Although baking may not be a helpful tool for everyone to relieve stress and anxiety, it can be a good distraction from negative thoughts as it requires total focus and mindfulness much of the time. 

a close up shot of hands kneading dough
Baking for others with loving hands may help make one feel less isolated. (Ekaterina Giannikos/Ryersonian)

According to The National Library of Medicine, mindfulness-based therapy of being conscious and aware, such as during the process of baking, is a promising way to help reduce anxiety and mood swings. 

Sue Fleming, professor and chef at the centre for hospitality and culinary arts at George Brown College, said mindfulness is key when it comes to scaling ingredients, mixing and baking. 

“Baking is tremendously therapeutic, whether it is the physicality of kneading the bread by hand, the focus needed to decorate the perfect cookie, or the reward of a smile from a neighbour happy to get a delicious treat,” said Fleming. 

Baking also improves mental well-being, because it requires creativity and can provide a feeling of calmness for the baker. 

Tawnee Ahrens, a full-time baking and pastry arts management student at George Brown College, struggles with perfectionism and said completing school work from home was like living in a pressure cooker.  She said there were some days where she felt like she was breaking down mentally.

Ahrens said that through baking she finds peace. “I never thought of myself as a super creative or artistic person, but I couldn’t see myself doing anything else,” said Ahrens.  

Julie Ohana, a culinary arts therapist, recommends baking to those struggling with mental health, if they are open to it. “There are varying degrees of benefits depending on the circumstances of the baker,” said Ohana.  

Jennifer Lakhan-D’Souza, a professor and program co-ordinator of the baking and pastry arts management program at George Brown College, believes that baking gives people the ability to create and be creative. 

She advises that if one is going to try baking as a way to relieve stress, it’s good to start with something that’s meaningful to you, like your mom’s classic chocolate chip cookie recipe. 

“Something that reminds the baker of someone they love, something that brings them comfort,” said Lakhan-D’Souza.  

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Prescribing perspectives (Ryersonian/Rosie Leonard)
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Restaurant owners reopen patios across Toronto following government announcement

by Ammar Karam and Tashon Daley
written by Ammar Karam and Tashon Daley

After just an eight-hour notice to open patio dining in Toronto amidst rising COVID-19 numbers, restaurant workers are confused about directives from the government

Pomarosa manager Luis Hernandez is happy restaurant workers are included in Phase 2 vaccination plan.  (Tashon Daley/Ryersonian)

When the Ontario government announced the reopening of outdoor dining in grey zones for last Saturday, restaurateurs were happy, but also a little surprised.

The decision came on Friday around 4:30 p.m., giving restaurant owners less than eight hours to turn around and begin service.

Many restaurant workers across the city were relieved, but frustrated at the short notice given to reopen. Setting up a restaurant requires time to prepare food for service, receive stock from suppliers, rehire staff that had been temporarily laid off and organize the dining area.

“It’s all the moving parts that make business planning difficult — if they’d just locked us down fully and said, ‘plan to be open in 90 days,’ we could have worked with that. (But) telling us with seven hours notice…was the opposite of that. It boggles the mind,” said Adrian Ravinsky, owner of popular Queen Street bar, 416 Snack Bar. “The hardest aspect for us over the course of this whole situation has been trying to steer carefully around icebergs while adapting to knee-jerk, mostly politically driven changes to what’s allowed. It’s felt like a Japanese prank game show at times.”

Among the guidelines given for reopening patios is the stipulation that only people from the same household can sit at a table together. One of the criticisms of this rule was that it places restaurant workers in a position of being at the mercy of guests’ honesty. 

Many commenters in the Facebook group Food and Wine Industry Navigator, a Toronto-based restaurant networking group, decried the idea of enforcing and checking whether or not guests actually did live in a single household. Luca Vitoli, the owner of a café in the Niagara region, posted about making guests at restaurants sign and release the restaurant from liability. According to his post, Niagara Public Health approved it, with even a health inspector calling it “perfect.”

Ryerson fourth-year creative industries student Alanna Colaiacovo said that at the restaurant where she works, they use an honour system. 

“We ask people if they are (part of the same household) and we kind of just have to take their word for it,” she said. “Even if we know they aren’t, it’s hard to turn people away at this time.”

In a media briefing, Toronto Mayor John Tory said, “It’s not going to be realistic for us to be sort of checking every driver’s licence and interrogating people, nor would anybody want to with respect to whether they live together. People should just decide if they want to help themselves and their own health.”

According to an article by Bloomberg, accommodations and food services lost 110,000 jobs in 2020 due to the pandemic, accounting for about a third of all job losses in Ontario that year. 

“We just felt like, after everything we’ve been through, (the government) didn’t care. We didn’t know what time we were allowed to close, what was the last call, what were the rules,” said Enza Ruscillo, a manager at T&M Sidewalk Café, a restaurant on the Danforth. “We just winged it. We’re like, ‘all right, let’s just operate like we did when we opened up the last time, right?’” 

In an initial announcement on March 5, the Ontario provincial government said restaurant workers would not be included in the Phase 2 of the vaccination strategy for the province, which meant that in light of patios opening up, restaurant workers would be unvaccinated while serving guests. 

The idea didn’t sit too well with many restaurant staff. Many front-of-house workers would be dealing with anti-maskers and enforcing public health policy, while in the back-of-house cooks are one of the highest risk worker groups for COVID-19-related deaths, according to a study done in California.

However, the provincial government confirmed on Monday that restaurant workers would be included in the Phase 2 vaccination rollout, which is due to start in April. According to some restaurant workers, it was more a clarification and just another reiteration of the earlier announcement.

“It was an unnecessary and disorganized way of letting us know we’ll soon have to worry a bit less about getting sick while staying in business,” said Ravinsky, regarding the back-and-forth from the government.

Luis Hernandez, a manager at Pomarosa, said he was more than relieved. 

“I’m very happy about it because we are dealing with this issue and we haven’t stopped. No vacations, no nothing. Dealing with customers who don’t want to use a mask. I think it’s very fair that we are in (Phase 2).”

According to a TVO article by Corey Mintz, a Toronto-based food writer, one of the positive aspects of the pandemic has been the focus and awareness of mental health within the restaurant industry. Initiatives such as the Toronto Restaurant Workers Relief Fund have been the result of such awareness and support for the industry. 

“I’d be very grateful to be vaccinated,” said Amy, a Ryerson student and server at a King Street bar. “I’m not worried about the numbers anymore. I just know that mental health wise, myself and a lot of other young people just cannot handle another lockdown.”

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