By Yaime Delgado Arcaño, PhD
Canada’s Multicultural Foods
Since early civilizations, cuisine has been a fundamental aspect of societies around the globe (Norenzayan et al., 2024). Culinary habits and food diplomacy provide a special peek into various cultures, historical backgrounds, and community customs. Canada’s highly diverse ethnic mosaic and multiculturalism have led to an explosion of restaurants serving international cuisine. Megadiverse cities like Toronto, Quebec, and Vancouver offer the unique possibility to embark on a global gastronomic adventure that includes sushi, masala ramen noodles, samosas, guacamole, tamales, burgers, various kinds of pasta, fried rice, kebabs, and tabbouleh in the same week without going out of the city. Undoubtedly, there is something for everyone, from single-family-run eateries to establishments offering regional specialties, ethnic restaurants, and big global chains.
Ethnic food is increasing and diversifying in Canada as the immigrant population settles in the country where one in four in Canada is foreign-born (Statistics Canada, 2024). Immigration will continuously grow as the Canadian government intends to approve 1.5 million new permanent residents between 2024 and 2026 (IRCC, 2024). It’s anticipated that the percentage of immigrants in Canada’s population could reach 30% by 2036 (Morency, J. D.; Malenfant, E.C.; MacIsaac, S. 2017). The growing number of immigrants and refugees, the globalization of food supplies, and more international travel have led to a wider acceptance, greater consumer demand, and broader availability of ethnic foods.
In 2016, the Market Intelligence Agency Mintel conducted a survey that showed ethnic food acceptance among Canadians. The more popular traditional foreign foods are Chinese, Italian, and Latin American, with Mexican food standing out above others from the same region. Other foreign cuisines such as African or Southeast Asian food remain less popular for Canadians. Despite many in Canada saying they are interested in tasting African food, only a fifth of those surveyed have tried it. Similarly, one-third of consumers surveyed have eaten Southeast Asian food (Powell, 2016).
The Relationship between Immigration and Food Services
The fundamental factor in the growth of Canada’s food and beverage businesses has been the rise of immigrants, who will continue to be a vital link in the labour force. According to IRCC (2021), immigrants comprise more than one in four employees in the food and beverage industry, and 53% of business owners employing paid workers are immigrants. This fact demonstrates how immigration contributes to the country’s economic development, and how foreigners get involved, interact, and become part of Canadian society. In Ontario, immigrant business owners represent 59% of the food and beverage sector. However, the report does not specify whether those establishments are ethnic food, franchises of large chains, or fast food.
The graphic above shows the relationship between immigration and sales in Canada’s food and beverage sector, from 2019 to 2024. Both showed similar trends in the analyzed period. The drop in sales is evident during the period of confinement due to the pandemic, a time when many businesses had to stop offering their services including restaurants. Once the free movement of people was allowed, with in-person commerce reopening and growing and the arrival of more immigrants, starting in the second half of 2021, sales in this sector have increased significantly. However, the number of businesses that declare profits greater than 10% is three times less than before the pandemic, signalling a lot of work ahead for this sector to truly revive. Moreover, in 2023, restaurants operating at a loss were almost five times higher than before COVID-19 (Macgregor, 2023).
Many Canadians see both phenomena positively: the growing influx of immigrants and more small food businesses within the country. According to studies from 2016, 73% of Canadians enjoyed exploring other cultures through cuisine (Powell, 2016). Most recent studies, such as the 2023-2024 IRCC Annual Tracking Survey’s final report by Ipsos, revealed that 55% of Canadians have a positive view of immigration stating it benefits their communities. However, concerns about public services and housing make 27% of Canadians believe that immigration is negatively affecting their country.
Mad Mexican Restaurant: Foreign cuisine in Toronto
According to Campbell (2024), there are 9,378 restaurants in Toronto. The following restaurant types are the most popular (in no specific order): coffee shops, hamburgers, pizza, fast food, Greek, bubble tea, Chinese, Indian, and Mexican. Of this last category, Smartscrapers (2024) counted 1892 establishments in Canada. It is striking that Mexican food is so popular in the country when the number of immigrants from that country is not even among the Top 10 countries of birth of people living in Canada. This fact may be due to the proximity between Mexico, Canada, and the United States and the free trade agreements between these nations.
Mexican cuisine has a rich culinary history that spans over 10,000 years, blending native Mesoamerican and Spanish influences. The vibrant and diverse Mexican food culture highlights unique ingredients like corn, chili peppers, cacao, and traditional utensils such as the molcajete. Key points include the social aspect of food, typical mealtimes, and common dishes like moles and tortillas (Ortiz, 2023).
Let’s now enter the world of Mad Mexican, a restaurant where I am working part-time as is allowed for international students in Canada. Despite my educational background being in a different field from culinary, this stage in my life is an important part of my personal development. There I started my involvement with Mexican foods, and it became a place to meet new friends more than co-workers. And, as a sample of the Toronto foreign Kaleidoscope, a rich mix of workers from different citizenship makes it more attractive to me. I am the only Cuban there. I interacted with people from Mexico, Colombia, Ecuador, Chile, Argentina, Canada, Iran, Bangladesh, and India. During my working time there, I have learned and understood the Mexican passion for transmitting their ancestral cultural heritage through food and how much time they dedicated to elaborating on each specialty. Besides, it was clear how much appreciated by other nationalities is their food.
Mad Mexican has served its customers for over 15 years with its exquisite gastronomic offering, creating gourmet Mexican food using premium, fresh, natural ingredients. This ethnic food restaurant specializes in salsas, nachos, and burritos that capture the bold flavors of Mexico. Their passion is delivering artesian, fresh, all-natural, preservative-free, gluten-free, dairy-free, and sugar-free salsas. The menu features a selection of tasty tacos, tortas, burritos, enchiladas, chips, guacamole, and other classic Mexican meals, such as tortilla soup and choriqueso – a sizzling pan of pan-fried chorizo and Oaxaca cheese. Another sensational experience is testing moles, madding from scratch with over 20 ingredients each, served with organic Mad Mexican corn tortillas, offering a truly exceptional culinary journey. For dessert, they have a panna cotta de mango (a creamy mango custard beautifully topped with fresh berries and cranberry sauce), delicious churros with cajeta or champurrado, and Tres leches cake. Food delivery is one of the great options for this restaurant.
Located at 405 Jane St, Mad Mexican is in an area close to the highest concentrations of Latinos within Toronto. The eatery appears well-received by its customers from all the visitor reviews and ratings on websites such as TableAgent, Restaurantji, Google, Tripadvisor, and Yelp.
The place recreates very well how Mexico is recognized throughout the world, for its bright and cheerful colors. On the label of each product, you can recognize distinctive features of this Latin American country’s culture, which include the clothing, boots, hats, and horses of those people who work hard in the fields to bring traditional food to the table.
Furthermore, Mad Mexican has participated in fairs and events in the city, for example, a food festival at Fort York, Summerlicious and Winterlicious. Now, there is a new challenge for commerce and manufacturers: to offer genuine, relatable, and familiar products. Another defiance is to meet the consumer´s expectations and desires. Mad Mexican is very clear about their purposes. As their owner, Jose Hadad says: “Our goal is to share fresh and authentic Mexican flavours, from our kitchen to your dinner table“.
References
Campbell, T. (2024). How Many Restaurants Are in Toronto – Report. Snappy. https://gosnappy.io/blog/how-many-restaurants-in-toronto/#:~:text=9%2C378%20Restaurants%20in%20Toronto,Bubble%20Tea%2C%20Chinese%20and%20others.
IRCC (2021) Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada. Infographic: Immigration matters to Canada’s food services sector. https://www.canada.ca/en/immigration-refugees-citizenship/campaigns/immigration-matters/growing-canada-future/infographic-food-services.html
IRCC (2024) Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada. 2023-24 IRCC Annual Tracking Study. Final report. https://publications.gc.ca/collections/collection_2024/ircc/Ci4-183-1-2024-eng.pdf
Macgregor, T. (2023). Foodservice Facts 2023 report. Restaurants Canada & Ontario Restaurant Hotel & Motel Association (ORHMA). https://www.toronto.ca/legdocs/mmis/2023/ex/comm/communicationfile-174127.pdf
Mad Mexican restaurant web page. https://madmexican.ca/
Morency, J. D.; Malenfant, E.C.; MacIsaac, S. (2017). Immigration and Diversity: Population Projections for Canada and its Regions, 2011 to 2036. Statistics Canada (Catalogue number 91-551-X) https://www150.statcan.gc.ca/n1/en/pub/91-551-x/91-551-x2017001-eng.pdf?st=gKm2gSNe
Norenzayan, A.; Ting, S.; Hanser, A.; McCormick, K. (2024) The intersection of culture and cuisine: How food shapes our identity. The University of British Columbia. Faculty of Arts. https://www.arts.ubc.ca/news/the-intersection-of-culture-and-cuisine-how-food-shapes-our-identity/
Ortiz, D. (2023). 20 Essential Things to Know About Mexican Food Culture. https://heyexplorer.com/mexican-food-culture/
Powell, C. (2016). Canadians are craving ethnic foods. Canadian grocer. https://canadiangrocer.com/canadians-are-craving-ethnic-foods
Smartscrapers (2024). List of Mexican restaurants in Canada. https://rentechdigital.com/smartscraper/business-report-details/canada/mexican-restaurants
Statista (2023). Number of immigrants in Canada from 2000 to 2023. Statista. https://www.statista.com/statistics/443063/number-of-immigrants-in-canada/
Statistics Canada (2024c). Food Services and Drinking Places Sales. https://www150.statcan.gc.ca/n1/pub/71-607-x/71-607-x2017003-eng.htm
Yaime Delgado Arcaño, PhD has a Master’s degree in Renewable Energy (Spain), and a Ph.D. in Chemical Engineering (Brazil). She has over ten years of experience in environmental protection, and sustainability as a Professor and Researcher. She is finishing up her co-op term as a student at the Research Analyst program at Humber Polytechnic where she was also a former student of Professor Arundati.
