food star, a passionate advocate for Afro-Caribbean cuisine, got into professional cooking to address a lack of BIPOC representation in the upper echelons of the industry.
“Our food is often associated with heaping portions, cheap cuts of meat and Styrofoam containers,” he says. “There are no investors waiting in line to throw money at any Afro-Caribbean because the current narrative is that our food isn’t gourmet, refined or scalable. I beg to differ. My goal, alongside many chefs of Afro-Caribbean decent, is to reshape that narrative.”
Forte is killing it so far, reaching the semi-finals on “Top Chef Canada,” running the acclaimed Caribbean pop-up Yawd on Dundas Street West, and hiring many BIPOC chefs at his other restaurants. “What makes my food unique,” he says, “is my ability to take time-honoured techniques that have been passed down orally and modernize them for the masses, while still keeping the integrity of those dishes.
Penguin Random House has just published Forte’s first cookbook, “Yawd: Modern Afro-Caribbean Recipes,” filled with delicious meals like oxtail and cassava gnocchi and curry goat shepherd’s pie. “I firmly believe once you consume one’s culture and learn history about a community with food as the vessel,” Forte says, “you become more compassionate toward the struggle that community faces.”
Want to have what he’s having? Forte is a big fan of Kensington Market’s culinary offerings. Here, he shares his neighbourhood favourites.
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