My McGill degree was in Humanistic Studies, with a concentration in Anthropology and Spanish language. During my third year at McGill I studied abroad in Spain for a semester. Living there really inspired me to learn more about food and cooking as a way to get to know the culture. When I returned to Montreal for my final year, I started cooking more seriously for myself. It was then that I visited the Atwater and Jean Talon markets and started exploring restaurants beyond the borders of the McGill ghetto.
Food is a window into culture, into history, traditions, and rituals. How people gather around a table together says so much about who they are and where they are from.”
Writing about food didn’t occur to me until that last year at school, when I realized there were no restaurant reviews in the McGill Tribune. I went to the editor and asked if I could try my hand at writing some to show students how much there was to do and eat in Montreal that they might have not already known. Montreal is such an international city and I wanted to experience more of it. Seeking out interesting, student-accessible restaurants around the city introduced me to a whole new world of food, ethnicities and flavour.
Food is a window into culture, into history, traditions, and rituals. How people gather around a table together says so much about who they are and where they are from. I really believe I learned all of this through my studies and adventures at McGill. And I will forever see food as an anthropological vehicle to learn about other cultures and the greater world around me.