31 May 2022 | 1: 00 p.m. EDT | City Hall Library | In person
Event poster
Opening Remarks:
Mr. Justin Poy, Honorary Patron, Asian Heritage Month-CFACI
Presenters:
- Professor Chef Leo Chan
- Hana Kim, Director, Cheng Yu Tung East Asian Library, University of Toronto; President, Council on East Asian Libraries
Photo by Ms. Sandy Li, Branch Head, City Hall Branch, Toronto Public Library
Professor Chef Leo Chan and Ms. Hana Kim will take you on a culinary memory journey through Toronto’s Chinatowns, the growing Asian food experience, and pay tribute to six individuals from the turn of the last century to the successive waves of Asian immigration in the 1960s.
The title is inspired by Ernest Hemingway’s book A Moveable Feast. It is the memoir of his younger self as an unknown writers living in Paris in the 1920s. He recalled his friends and his happy time during the “Lost Generation.” The talk will take the participants on an memory journey through Toronto’s Chinatowns, the growing Asian food experience, and pays tribute to six individuals of our “Lost Generation” from the turn of the last century to the successive waves of Asian immigration in the 1960s.
The six incredible individuals are: Lee Sew and Wong Dong Wong, two Chinese men who had worked as house cooks with prominent non-Chinese families in Toronto and four women who had been associated with early Chinese restaurants. Agnes Lor operated the New York Restaurant in Brockville; Victoria Yip was a part owner of the Peerless Restaurant on Yonge Street; Jean Lumb was with the Kwong Chow Restaurant, and Cathy Chin was the first Chinese female Executive Chef of a major Chinese restaurant, Sai Woo, in Chinatown.
Held in conjunction with the Asian Heritage Month Art and Photo Exhibition on Food Themes from 23 May to 6 June 2022, organized by Tam Kam Chiu and Lien Chao
Presenter Bios
Professor Chef Leo Chan enjoys sharing his stories and first-hand experiences as a speaker and Chinatown tour guide. He spent over 30 years in the culinary world, most notably as the Director of Operations for the Mandarin Restaurant Franchise Corporation and Professor Chef at George Brown College and Humber College. The recipient of numerous awards from the hospitality industry, Leo has appeared on CFTO, TVO, CITY-TV and OMNI.
Born in Macau and raised in Hong Kong, Leo came to Canada in 1966 and is a graduate of Political Science (York University), Hotel, Restaurant and Resort Management (Toronto Metropolitan University, formerly Ryerson University), and the Cornell School of Hospitality (Cornell University, New York). He is Chairman of the Chin Wing Chun Tong of Ontario (Chan Family Association), a member of the 8 Precious Pearls Research Group of Chinese food history in Toronto, and Co-Founder of the Cambridge Food and Wine Society of Canada.
Hana Kim is the Director of the Cheng Yu Tung East Asian Library at the University of Toronto. Previously, she was the Head of the Asian Library at the University of British Columbia (UBC).
She has published and presented on a wide range of topics, including Asian Canadian heritage, diversity and East Asian studies librarianship. In 2009, in collaboration with the UBC, she launched a nationwide Korean Canadian Heritage Archives Project. She is the recipient of the 2018 Korean Canadian Heritage Award. She served as the President of Council on East Asian Libraries for the Association for Asian Studies.
Event co-Organizers: Asian Heritage Month—Canadian Foundation for Asian Culture (Central Ontario) Inc.; Toronto Public Library; York Centre for Asian Research, York University; Asian Institute at the Munk School of Global Affairs and Public Policy, University of Toronto; York University; Richard Charles Lee Canada Hong Kong Library, University of Toronto; Chinese Canadian Photography Society of Toronto; WE Artists’ Group; Social Services Network; Cambridge Food and Wine Society
Asian Heritage Month Festival is partially funded by the Government of Canada through the Department of Canadian Heritage and the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council. Asian Canadian Artists in Digital Age is funded by Canada Council for the Arts Digital Strategy Fund