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A Day of Chef Selwyn’s Caribbean Food Magic Outdoors at Jamaica Canadian Association Summer officially ends in just 30 days, but the hot weather celebration of Caribbean Canadian foods continues this Saturday thanks to Award winning chef and food stylist, Selwyn Richards. On Saturday The Jamaica Canadian Association (JCA) and the Art of Catering will be showcasing his cooking at an all-day outdoor gourmet Caribbean Jamaican fete. It's billed as Chef Selwyn Taste! And, from noon until 8pm outdoors at the CJA headquarters in North York people will be able enjoy his many dishes at three food stations! "Carnival is over for this year, but, people aren't ready to stop enjoying the flavours of the Islands," explained Chef Selwyn. " I promise to re-introduce Torontonians to the riotous tantalizing dishes that truly are authentically Caribbean." "We aren't giving up on summer just yet," he continued " People are going to be jumping and saying Wo...

Jamaican Canadian chef Noel Cunningham is leading the charge Toronto diners are always looking to catch the next wave. They have gone crazy over Italian pizza, Korean Pho and French every- thing. Mexican burritos and Japanese cheese cake. But when will it be Caribbean cuisine’s time in the bright lights of Canada’s biggest resto-crazy city? According to newly arrived chef Noel Cunningham, 2020 is the year that people start craving what we have known all along: Caribbean food rocks! “It’s going to the next big thing,” said the young Jamaican Canadian chef. “And we aren’t just talking jerk!” “You know the thing about our food is that we come at you with a vibe, with a swagger,” Cunningham told me by phone from Jamaica over the recent holidays. “When you eat our food you are also eating our music and our style. Toronto is so diverse; there is no way that this isn’t our time.” “For me as a Jamaican chef who is now on the International scene I don’t want ...

Harlem Resto Is About To Be Laid To Rest   By Stephen Weir:  What a difference a week makes. Last week the Caribbean Camera was telling readers about how Carl Cassell provided a Jamaica fundraising group the run of his Harlem restaurant and now we are reporting on the demise of one of Toronto’s few downtown Black cuisine restaurant. In message forwarded to the paper, Cassell said that his Harlem Underground on Queen Street West was turning 10 years old on November 9 th .  “To celebrate this auspicious occasion, we have decided to close the restaurant.  “ “Over the last decade Harlem Underground has been an epicentre of black food and culture within the downtown core,” said Cassell. “The decision to close comes not from the restaurant itself, as I continue to be supported by the community at large, but from a personal need to see other creative endeavours grow. Part restaurant. Part music hall. 100% a world destination.  Inspired by New Yor...

  Pet Marchan and Justin Trudeau talk Caribbean food TRUDEAU COMES TO CARNIVAL BOOT CAMP By Stephen Weir Last Friday Prime Minister Justin Trudeau came to Toronto to meet with Mayor John Tory at City Hall. When he finished the tete-et-tete and went out onto Nathan Phillips Square, he got 45-minutes of Carnival boot camp training that touched on all aspects of the carnival arts, from pan, to costume making to carnival food! “I met the Prime Minister of Canada this morning!” said Noel Audain, a longtime costume maker for Louis Saldenah’s Mas K Camp. “ It was exciting to show him the art of wire bending.” “ I set up a display to show the Prime Minister the fresh fruit and vegetables that are grown in the Caribbean and used in our cooking,” explained long time Carnival associate Petronilla Marchan. “ I had it all. Peppers, mangos, yam, casaba and something he had never seen before. Caribbean Tamara,” continued Ms. Marchan. “ He was very pleasant and took his time looki...