Photo C/O Motel
By Adrian Salopek, Staff Writer
News of the first COVID-19 related death in Hamilton came just two weeks ago. The outbreak has had devastating effects on communities across Canada, and Hamilton is no exception. Local businesses and members of the Hamilton arts community have suffered economically, as many have had to shut their doors to prevent the spread of the virus. However, in the midst of this stress and uncertainty, community members are coming together through acts of generosity and resourcefulness.
As all non-essential businesses were recently forced to close, most businesses across Hamilton have indefinitely closed their doors. Small businesses like Big B Comics (1045 Upper James St.), a local comic book store, have suffered major losses and so have their entire staff. For many, the COVID-19 outbreak has meant disappearing paychecks or even sudden unemployment.
“Our staffing needs were cut dramatically in the blink of an eye,” said Dylan Routledge, manager of Big B Comics.
However, businesses are not losing hope. Many businesses, Big B Comics included, have implemented new methods of serving their customers while taking all precautions to avoid spreading the virus.
“[We had to] be innovative and inventive in our approach to business,” explained Routledge, “We instituted a ‘door pick up’ system, wherein customers can collect their products at the door but aren't allowed to enter the store.”
Businesses within the food industry have also been stepping up. Motel (359 Barton St. East), a local brunch restaurant, created take-out packages for their customers. These allow customers to still enjoy their food while trying to give them a taste of the experience that they would have had in the restaurant.
“We created brunch packages that mirror the fun you would have in the restaurant,” said Chris Hewlett, owner of Motel. Hewlett and his team are now offering specials that include two entrées and a side dish. To further push the limits, the brunch restaurant is also including decorative tropical decor, including palm leaves, cocktail beach umbrellas, and a light-up neon sign of your choice. The special and regular menu items can all be picked up curbside to help reduce contact between customers and employees.
Businesses and community members alike are not only being resourceful in this dark time, but are also coming together through acts of generosity. It is often said that in the hardest of times, the best in people is revealed, and the actions of many in Hamilton have lived up to this. Vintage Coffee Roasters (977 King St. East), a local family-run coffee shop, has witnessed this in both their own customers and the wider Hamilton community.
https://www.instagram.com/p/B9__Wq-Hjjc/
“I have been seeing so many posts on social media of [both] our customers and community members reaching out to neighbours and helping out with food purchases or other errands,” explained Lisa Stanton, Vintage Coffee Roasters owner. “Many of our customers were buying beans to be delivered to their friends who may be in quarantine.”
Some businesses have even attempted to give back to the community by making tangible efforts to help those at the front lines of the fight against COVID-19. A notable example of this is Motel with their generous support for healthcare workers.
“We also decided that at this time we wanted to do business mixed with ways to help our community,” said Hewlett, “We offer call ahead free coffee for healthcare workers. We are also using our suppliers to get produce packs to people so they can purchase eggs, bread and fresh produce.”
While local businesses have suffered major financial losses, the arts community has also suffered due to the outbreak and closures. Hamilton Artists Inc. (155 James St. North), an art gallery downtown, had to close its doors to the public and spring exhibitions had to be cancelled. This was a blow to not only the gallery and the Hamilton community, but also to local artists.
https://www.instagram.com/p/B5kudmaFi5L/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link
“I want to remind people that nonprofits and charities are struggling too, and that even small donations towards these organizations can go a long way,” stressed Julie Dring, Hamilton Artists Inc. Executive Director. "Many of the artist-run centres and arts organizations in Hamilton support artists by paying Canadian Artists’ Representation rates to artists. Donating to your local artist-run centre is a great way to aid artists who are experiencing lost income during this time.”
McMaster’s very own Museum of Art has also suffered in this stressful time, having to close its doors and cancel all events. This has not only affected the museum and its staff, but also McMaster students.
https://www.instagram.com/p/B2ww7_JnE23/?utm_source=ig_embed
“One of the most significant cancellations at this time is the annual student studio programme (SUMMA) graduation exhibition,” explained Carol Podedworny, the museum’s director. “[It is] cumulative, following four years of study for the students . . . We engage a guest curator for the project from the Canadian arts community — this year, local artist Stylo Starr. It is disappointing that the students will not experience this event.”
Much like their business counterparts, the arts community has had to become resourceful in order to survive the pandemic.
“I think art can be a balm,” said Podedworny. “I think in the COVID world, art museums through a virtual presence (exhibitions, programs, inter-actives, didactics) can provide answers, reflections and opportunities for wellness and self-care.”
It is saddening to see so many businesses, art services and community members negatively impacted by COVID-19. On a positive note, much good has come from this dark time as Hamiltonians make efforts to support one another. Here’s hoping that we don’t forget the lessons learned and the efforts that people have made to help one another.
The bread episode of The Great British Bake Off is notoriously difficult. Every season, contestants struggle to capture that perfectly crunchy crust with a light and fluffy interior. For something with so few ingredients, bread can be extremely finicky. Just one wrong move and you’ll be left wishing you’d never started. As one example, if it’s undercooked it can wind up doughy and inedible. But fear not! With this short recipe and a dash of patience, you’ll soon have your very own freshly baked bread to enjoy.
This recipe is adapted from Edna Staebler’s “Neil’s Harbour White Bread” from her book Food That Really Schmecks.
The Ingredients
1 cup lukewarm water
1 teaspoon white sugar
2 tablespoons yeast
2 cups lukewarm water
1⁄2 cup white sugar
1 tablespoon salt
1⁄2 cup canola oil, or substitute vegetable oil
8 cups all-purpose flour
Part One — Making the dough
Part Two — Proving yourself
Once you’ve finished kneading the dough, it needs a chance to rest and rise—also known as proving. To do this, place the dough in a large bowl that’s been lined in oil. Flip the dough to cover both sides in oil. Loosely cover the bowl with a damp cloth and leave it to prove in a warm spot for 1-2 hours or until it has doubled in size. Leaving it by a sunny window is generally your best bet. Here is a trick to know when you’re ready to move to the next step: when you stick your finger in the dough, your imprint should remain.
Punch the dough down until it has deflated a bit, and divide into 4 equal-sized loaves. Place the loaves onto parchment-lined sheet pans and let rise for another hour in the same sunny spot, covered in a damp tea towel. Make sure to leave room between the loaves.
While you’re waiting for the dough to rise, go enjoy spring days that will hopefully be here soon. You could go for a hike, grab coffee with a friend or maybe catch up on the Netflix show you’ve been binging. Better yet, invite someone over for a date and impress them with your incredible baking skills. You could even make the dough before class and then finish it when you get home.
While you’re waiting for the dough to rise, go enjoy spring days that will hopefully be here soon. You could go for a hike, grab coffee with a friend or maybe catch up on the Netflix show you’ve been binging. Better yet, invite someone over for a date and impress them with your incredible baking skills. You could even make the dough before class and then finish it when you get home.
Part Three — Let’s get this bread
Take the same four loves on the parchment-lined pans and bake at 400 degrees Fahrenheit for 20-30 minutes, until both the top and bottom of the loaves are golden, and the loaves sound hollow when tapped on the bottom. After you’ve removed your loaves from the oven, let them cool on a rack. This is the hardest part, but trust me, if you try to eat it right away you’re going to burn your tongue.
Voilà! You now have four delicious loaves of bread, perfect for any kind of sandwich you can think of. If you try this recipe, make sure to tag the Silhouette, we would love to see your baking adventures!
Voilà! You now have four delicious loaves of bread, perfect for any kind of sandwich you can think of. If you try this recipe, make sure to tag the Silhouette, we would love to see your baking adventures!
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By: Elisa Do, Staff Writer
CW: death
A lot of people hear the word “allergies” and think of seasonal allergies. Maybe they think of a sniffling nose or an itching skin rash. Maybe they think of watery eyes and sneezing; something that comes and goes. However, an allergic reaction can be much more severe than just that. Anaphylaxis is an allergic reaction that is severe, life-threatening and terrifyingly common. In 2015, Andrea Mariano, a student from Queen’s University, passed away from a serious anaphylactic reaction. At the time of her passing, Andrea was a first-year student in her first week of classes. Adjusting to new environments always comes with challenges, but for individuals such as Andrea, there is the added obstacle of avoiding allergens in an unfamiliar place. Sadly, a lack of allergy awareness is still ongoing in our community today.
Post secondary education is often associated with busy schedules and inconsistent meal times. For most students, double-checking food ingredients before they eat is something that can easily slip one’s mind. Because of this, it is important for students at McMaster to take allergies more seriously on campus, regardless of whether or not they have allergies themselves. Compared to elementary or high school, university is comprised of a much larger population and therefore also becomes much more difficult to control for certain regulations. However, as an institution, boundaries should still be placed. For example, faculty members can promote allergen-free spaces in the classroom by asking students to notify the instructor of any food allergies. In addition, students themselves can also be more cautious when choosing to eat a snack (especially ones containing common allergens) in a place with students they don’t know, such as a large lecture hall. Currently, students can choose to eat just about anything they want, anywhere on campus. This could mean cross-contamination through objects in libraries, residences or any other shared space. However, something as simple as a five-minute announcement on the first day of classes from professors reminding students to be more cautious or the addition of allergen-free areas on campus can help to minimize these risks.
Furthermore, many folks without allergy restrictions complain about the lack of food options on campus. However, for folks who do live with dietary restrictions, campus food becomes more than just a barrier to food enjoyment. Limited food options prevent allergic students from being able to purchase meals without the presumed risk of allergens. Although McMaster Hospitality Services has made notable changes to increase its accommodation for dietary restrictions in recent years, such as including SMPL, the allergen-friendly station in Centro, greater improvements are still waiting to be made. With SMPL being the only specified source of allergen-friendly food on campus, students are limited in their food choices, and for most first-year students, this proves to be especially difficult when they are often restricted to purchasing meals on campus with their meal plan. If a wider selection of allergen friendly stations can be included in other parts of campus, it would not only enable students to purchase meals more conveniently between classes, but would also provide allergic students with the opportunity to choose from menus they feel safe eating from.
Finally, it is also important that both staff and students remember to provide an empathetic understanding towards folks with allergies. Individuals with allergies live with the added barrier of having to constantly disclose their personal information to strangers. This can mean receiving supportive responses, but it can also mean hearing discouraging remarks from those who lack understanding for allergies.
Alyssa Burrows, co-president of the McMaster Food Allergy Club, remembers her first disappointing experience with campus hospitality staff, where the staff member remarked that Burrows was “just like [Andrea Mariano] who died at Queen’s.”
Many students like Burrows need to disclose their allergies to front-line staff when ordering food for their own safety. Unfortunately, the lack of empathy from staff members can discourage many students from disclosing this information, when it is so crucial and life-saving.
Allergy awareness on and off campus starts with each student understanding the severity behind allergic reactions. It requires compassion and empathy across all members of the community. When we are able to empathize with others, further considerations can be made: campus food options can be expanded, better preventative measures can be taken and communication between all folks can be improved. Put simply, it requires each and every one of us to think of more than just ourselves to keep everyone alive.
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On Dec. 5, 2019, a video titled “Cockroaches at Centro (McMaster University)” was uploaded to YouTube. The video compiles several sightings of cockroaches at Centro cafeteria.
“McMaster University must decide when to address these issues and stop pretending that they don’t exist, like they have been for the last couple years. Just because health inspections are passed does not mean the facility is clean,” reads the description of the video.
On Dec. 9, 2019 another video, titled “More cockroaches at centro” was uploaded to Youtube. It shows a cockroach sitting on the metal lid of a grill while food was being prepared.
“Some people were questioning whether the pictures were not from Centro . . . As you can clearly see there is a cockroach at Centre Stage, one of the most popular locations within Centro itself. It doesn’t take that much imagination to foresee a scenario where a cockroach could fall into your food,” reads the description of the video.
More recently, additional sightings of cockroaches at La Piazza cafeteria were posted to Mac Confessions, one of McMaster’s student confessions Facebook pages.
On Feb. 4, 2020 Mac Confessions published a video titled “The cockroaches from La Piazza would like to say hello” that shows a cockroach sitting on a napkin near baked items at La Piazza.
https://www.facebook.com/spottedat.mac/videos/1726495940814335/
Director of McMaster Hospitality Services Chris Roberts cautions students against students accepting online posts as fact.
“We cannot control the posting of comments or photos on social media sites, whether they are actual or fictitious,” states Roberts in an email to the Silhouette.
Roberts explains McMaster Hospitality Services has a transparent relationship with the City of Hamilton health department.
“As soon as [student complaints were] brought to our attention, we notified the [City of Hamilton] health department in early December and asked them to come and inspect our locations and review our pest control plan. They determined that we had an aggressive pest control plan and no food safety/cleanliness issues were identified,” stated Roberts in the email.
“As soon as [student complaints were] brought to our attention, we notified the [City of Hamilton] health department in early December and asked them to come and inspect our locations and review our pest control plan. They determined that we had an aggressive pest control plan and no food safety/cleanliness issues were identified,” stated Roberts in the email.
Moreover, Roberts explains that McMaster Hospitality Services has already met with Orkin Canada, McMaster University’s pest control provider, to increase pest control efforts throughout the school year.
“As of December, we have increased our preventative maintenance service from once a month to twice a month and also now schedule ‘blasts’ of all public spaces during breaks when students are away (Christmas, Reading Week, Summer and Fall Break),” added Roberts.
According to Roberts, pests are not always indicative of food safety issues.
“As McMaster has many older buildings on campus, pests are not an uncommon site [sic] regardless of the use of the building (academic, administration, facility services or food service)” stated Roberts.
Cockroaches on campus may have additional impacts on students. According to the World Health Organization, cockroaches may carry germs that spread disease. Additionally, according to Orkin Canada’s website, cockroaches are known to trigger allergic responses in approximately 12 per cent of individuals with no other allergies.
Roberts adds that McMaster Hospitality Services is continuing to work with the CIty of Hamilton’s health department and Orkin Canada.
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After settling in the dust for a few years, a vacant restaurant space on 631 Barton St. E. has been given a new name and identity. The space now breathes the essence of tiki culture as extravagant drinks are set on fire and music pulsates through its art-covered walls and wooden floors etched in Polynesian-inspired patterns.
MaiPai is adding to a renewed sense of prosperity on Barton Street East as new businesses open up and historic establishments are restored. It’s also riding on a wave of local tiki bar resurgence. In 2015, The Shameful Tiki Room and The Shore Leave opened in Toronto, reintroducing the concept of a Toronto bar entirely dedicated to tiki culture for the first time in two decades.
The original tiki movement can be traced back to the early 1930s when the first Polynesian-themed bar and restaurant, Don the Beachcomber, first opened in Hollywood, California following the end of Prohibition— a nationwide ban on manufacturing, transporting and selling alcohol in the United States.
Ironically, prohibition drove an accelerated production of rum, much of which aged in casks waiting to be discovered by enterprising bar owners, like Victor Jules Bergeron, Jr., who founded Trader Vic, a Polynesian-themed restaurant chain, and claimed to have made the first Mai Tai, a staple tiki bar favourite, in 1944 from 17-year-old rum from Jamaica.
History then tells the story of a post-war urge for escapism in the 1940s, igniting a tiki bar obsession all across the United States, and eventually Canada, as bargoers imagined themselves escaping the realities of the world they lived in.
By the 1960s, tiki bars were all over Ontario, and in 1975, the Trader Vic chain arrived to downtown Toronto. Tiki bars continued to provide a sense of escape until the 1970s, when their novelty eventually sizzled out as people began to lose interest. Trader Vic’s Toronto location closed its doors in 1993.
The resurgence of modern-day tiki bars begs an important question—what are we escaping from? Or perhaps the love of tiki culture is just enough reason to bring back an experience in the past and reinvent it—which is exactly what MaiPai is introducing to Hamilton and Barton Village.
MaiPai’s menu is dedicated wholeheartedly to tiki culture with a Detroit-inspired pizza twist. This style of pizza originated in the 1940s when Gus Guerro from Buddy’s Pizza made a sicilian dough pizza in a thick rectangular steel pan with cheese going right to the edge—winning over the hearts of Detroiters and Hamilton chef Salar Madadi, who’s known for opening up Pokeh, one of the first restaurants in Canada dedicated to serving poke, a Hawaiian appetizer.
It all came full circle when Madadi happened to be in Detroit, at a tiki bar, and the idea of MaiPai came to be.
Madadi then reached out to long-time friend Peter Lazar, Director at UrbanRoom Group, a Hamilton-based event production company, and asked him if he wanted to open a tiki bar.
Despite shamefully name-dropping Niagara Falls’ Rainforest Café as his closest exposure to tiki culture, Lazar quickly fell in love with the idea and Madadi’s pizzas. MaiPai brings together both their talents of creating memorable and quality experiences with food and space.
“The more I got into it, the more I fell in love with tiki as a culture . . . We both love creating an experience that really transforms [a space] or moves people into an escape,” said Lazar.
“I really like the idea of people having somewhere where they can go in and there’s basically just no reminders of the outside world. There’s no TVs, there’s no windows. You just go somewhere and like, you just need to check out and have a good experience and good food,” added Madadi.
It only takes a few seconds for your eyes to adjust to MaiPai’s atmosphere and for you to feel transported back in time and into another world. Antique lamps, lights, dozens of tiki mugs and decorations were salvaged from flea markets and tiki restaurants that were open in the 60s. Some interesting finds include a skull-shaped mug covered in what appears to be melted cheese and pepperoni and a matchbook from a long-gone Hamilton tiki bar rumoured to have been the Tiki Trapper.
While MaiPai Tiki Bar may be a new concept to the Gibson neighbourhood, co-owners Madadi and Lazar are no strangers to this area — in fact, they live just a couple minutes’ walk from each other and the restaurant. It felt very natural for them to be working together on a project so close to home.
Their neighbours and community have welcomed their new venture with open arms—selling out their first two weeks of reservation-only menu testing in under 12 hours.
https://www.instagram.com/p/B780RnPgUFa/
“Both of us really respect and love opinions. We love hearing. We love the idea that multiple people's voices can come together and make something that's really unique. I think a lot of it just boils down to respect . . . we’re so appreciative of the staff that comes into work and . . . the fact that people would want to choose to come and eat out here,” said Lazar.
MaiPai’s menu is inspired by Madadi’s travels, Hamilton and responses from the community. MaiPai also includes a selection of wings, and almost the entire pizza menu can be made vegetarian or plant based.
One pizza in particular is inspired by Hamilton’s plethora of sub shops. The pizza has a thick, but light and airy crust made with MaiPai’s 48-hour cold fermented dough. It’s cooked with mortadella, salami and hot peppers, and when it comes out of the oven, it’s topped with shredded lettuce, kewpie mayo and sub sauce.
https://www.instagram.com/p/B6JdknEF55a/
MaiPai will continue their soft launch hours into February and are hosting feature nights to test out menu items and setting cocktails on fire ahead of their official launch in March. By then, Madadi and Lazar will have opened up the second part to their space by expanding into 629 Barton Street East—tripling their capacity to 80 patrons.
Much like the passionate revival of tiki culture, there’s a very present dedication to bringing new possibilities to Barton Street East. MaiPai is a story of how Hawaii meets Hamilton in peculiar ways, and the next chapters are looking promising.
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What It Is:
Uncle Ray’s Food & Liquor (10 James St. North) brings a taste of Toronto’s Union Chicken to Hamilton. While on the Toronto menu, Uncle Ray’s is a section dedicated to fried chicken, the new Hamilton restaurant focuses on and expands this concept, becoming the fourth location to house “Ray’s Famous Fried Chicken”.
Over the last few months on James Street North, you may have noticed the decal of a bunny wearing an eye patch adorning the shopfront asking, “Who the hell is Uncle Ray?”. After our visit, it is safe to say we know exactly who Uncle Ray is.
The name is a metaphor for the passion that you find from all the staff. This not only comes across in service, but also through the quality of food that Uncle Ray’s dishes out to its customers.
How to Get There from
Campus:
Grab the 51 from campus towards Main Street West and James Street North. Head north-east past King Street East and you’ll find the restaurant on the east side of the street.
Alternatively, you can take the 5C or 1A from campus and jump off at Main Street West and MacNab Street South. Walk north-east towards King Street West, then east towards the intersection.
For a quicker trip, you can take the 10 from Main Street West and Emerson Street to Main Street West and MacNab Street South.
The Cost:
Entrees are broken into two categories, plates and fried chicken. Plates range from $17 to $29.50. Fried chicken will cost you $18 or $19 depending if you get the O.G. Plate or Lightning Chicken, respectively. I am warning you now, a to-go box will probably be a good idea as the meals are big, providing you with two great portions. Sides dishes range from $5 to $9. The restaurant also has a large list of snacks and appetizers that run from $6 to $19. If you are looking to share a meal with two to three friends, Ray’s Southern Platter costs $69. Uncle Ray’s is able to split cheques.
As the name boasts, Uncle Ray’s has a wide assortment of beer from domestic to craft, as well as a few draught lines. A variety of wines can also be found on the menu as well as a handful of mixed drinks. If you’re gonna grab a drink, expect to be paying anywhere from $6 to $29.
Craving something sweet? Uncle Ray’s has a small, yet delightful dessert menu ranging from $5 to $8.
What to Get:
The moment of truth —
what should you try? When I went to the restaurant with my housemates, we were immediately greeted by the warm, industrial atmosphere of the space. It is slightly reminiscent of HAMBRGR before their renovations.
To drink, I enjoyed a Piña Colada that looked like it was straight out of a Caribbean resort. If alcohol isn’t your thing, they also feature pop and three types of water — sparkling, bottled and filtered tap.
Looking at the food menu, all of our eyes immediately went to the fried chicken section. Not only is it on the cheaper side of the menu, we figured it would be a mistake not to try their in-house specialty. I ordered the O.G. Plate (which includes gravy, pieces of fried buttermilk, boneless chicken thighs, hot honey and green onions) with a side of triple cooked fries accompanied by a malt vinegar aioli. My housemates ordered the Lightning Chicken (which includes habanero hot sauce, Nashville style fried chicken, hot honey and pickles stacked on a piece of white bread) with a side of fries.
We all exchanged pieces of each other’s chicken, and took a bite at the same time. We were blown away by how the kitchen staff was able to achieve a moist, tender thigh on the inside while being crispy and flavourful on the outside. The O.G. had a savoury, sweet flavour from the gravy and honey mixing on the plate. The Lightning Chicken didn’t taste spicy at first; however, two thighs in and your nose will be running and your eyes will be watering. DO NOT make the mistake of rubbing your eyes like I did!
The magic doesn’t stop there as Uncle Ray’s dessert menu features a few delectable desserts. As I was celebrating an early birthday dinner, I was able to get the carrot cake on the house, while my other housemates had the buttermilk soft serve and pot of chocolate. Uncle Ray’s triple-layered carrot cake with cream cheese icing was by far the winner at our table.
Why It’s Great:
Uncle Ray’s Food & Liquor is quickly establishing itself as a go-to Hamilton spot in the downtown core. I know the price really doesn’t conform to the student-budget; however, if you are with a group of friends for a night out on the town and if you’re willing to splurge a little outside of this week’s food budget, Uncle Ray’s provides a great atmosphere to catch up and enjoy some tasty food.
A “life-hack” that my housemate and I learned with Uncle Ray’s leftovers: if you bring home your chicken and fries, pop them in the oven at 400°F for 25-35 minutes depending on the strength of your oven. If you can resist for about 5 minutes, your meal will be almost as crispy as when you first bought it.
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Photo C/O Canadian Pacific Railway
For the past 20 years, the Canadian Pacific Holiday Train has traveled across Canada and the United States, spreading holiday cheer and making donations to food banks at each of its stops. This year, it will be making its annual Hamilton stop on the evening of Nov. 28, in Gage Park.
The Holiday Train is always decked in festive lights and decorations. At each of its stops one of the train cars opens up to reveal a stage for a live concert performance. Both the concert and the event itself are free. The featured musicians will include Alan Doyle — formerly of Great Big Sea — and Beautiful Band. While guests are encouraged to donate non-perishable items to Hamilton Food Share, it’s not mandatory.
“Nothing there costs anything, so even families who might not have a lot of extra can come out and enjoy [the event] as a kickoff to the holiday season to get into the festive spirit,” said Celeste Taylor, the Resource Development Manager for Hamilton Food Share.
Every month, over 13,000 people in the city, including almost 5,000 children, need a food bank every month. As rent in the city continues to increase, food is becoming more difficult to access for many. According to the Hamilton Hunger Report 2019, households who access a food bank spend, on average, more than 50 per cent of their income on housing, increasing the risk of displacement or homelessness. Food is an important part of most holiday traditions, and it can be difficult to celebrate when there’s nothing to put on the table.
Food is an important part of most holiday traditions, and it can be difficult to celebrate when there’s nothing to put on the table.
“Everybody wants to celebrate, whether they’re celebrating Christmas or another holiday, they want to be able to be with their family or to be with the people they care about and food is often central to that. It’s a method of social inclusion when people are able to have the food they need to make a meal. The other part is, here in Hamilton we have such a high percentage of people who are struggling so much with paying the rent that sometimes there just isn’t anything left to buy food with . . . It’s not just holiday food, it’s also being able to put a meal on the table,” said Taylor.
Taylor says that there are many other ways that the community can get involved. “The other thing that people can do is to be looking towards social policy change that would be helping people to cover the expenses of daily life and life’s basics . . . The important message is not that it’s Food Banks or policy change, it’s both.”
Since 1999, the Holiday Train has been contributing donations to local food bank organizations. While the concert in Gage Park is only one night, it’s important to keep that same level of donation energy throughout the year as giving shouldn’t end after the holidays.
The CP Holiday Train will be rolling through Gage Park (1000 Main St. E) on Nov. 28 at 7:45 p.m.
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By Ember, Contributor
cw: fatphobia, disordered eating
Food is what fuels our bodies. So why is it that there is an ever increasing rise of popularity in dieting and diet culture? A movement that encourages us to deprive ourselves; to aspire to be thin. To put it plainly? A hatred for fat bodies that results in widespread disordered eating.
The way we frame different topics and discussions is very important. This especially applies to the way we talk about food, our bodies and other people’s bodies.
Caloric science is based on outdated Western scientific methods from the nineteenth century by Wilbur Atwater. It is the estimate of how much energy is contained in a portion of food by burning it in a tank submerged in water, and measuring how much burning the food increased the temperature of the surrounding water.
However, it is hard to accurately predict the energy stored in food; our bodies do not work as simply as a furnace burning fuel. There are many factors that influence the calories of the foods we eat, like how the food is prepared, if cellulose is present and how much energy it takes to digest the food.
Not to mention, there are additional factors that affect digestion, such as metabolism, age, gut bacteria and physical activity. Labels on food do not accurately represent what we’re putting into our body nor what we’re getting out of it.
Ever since Canada enforced the Healthy Menu Choices Act back in 2016, which requires food establishments to list the amount of calories in their products, there has also been an increasing number of discussions surrounding the negative impact of the addition of calories to menus.
Another measurement that is often used to determine how healthy we are is body mass index, even though it is an inaccurate measurement of “health” for multiple reasons. It was meant to analyze the weight of populations, not individuals, and doesn’t take into account whether mass is fat or muscle. As a result, BMI is a biased and harmful method to gauge health.
Along with measurements like calories and BMI, language surrounding food can also be dangerous. You may hear things like “carbs are bad”, or you may hear discourse on “healthy” versus “unhealthy” foods, “cheat days” and “clean eating”, to name some examples. This language can contribute to the notion that we should feel bad for eating food, when it simply is a way to nourish ourselves and additionally, something to enjoy.
Diet culture is so pervasive and present in society. It is encouraged by menus listing calorie amounts, peers, elders and healthcare professionals in various ways. Thoughts like “nothing tastes as good as skinny feels” stem from conflating “health” and “weight”, which has roots in racism, classism and fatphobia.
Diet culture is so pervasive and present in society. It is encouraged by menus listing calorie amounts, peers, elders and healthcare professionals in various ways. Thoughts like “nothing tastes as good as skinny feels” stem from conflating “health” and “weight”, which has roots in racism, classism and fatphobia.
Hannah Meier, a dietitian who contributed to a project tackling women’s health, writes about how society glorifies dieting. In Meier’s article titled A Dietitian’s Truth: Diet Culture Leads to Disordered Eating she writes, “I was half-functioning. I remember filling pages of journals with promises to myself that I wouldn’t eat. I planned out my week of arbitrary calorie restrictions that were shockingly low and wrote them all over my planner, my whiteboard, the foggy mirror in the bathroom.”
For many of us, the mindset of diet culture swallows you whole, consumes your every thought and waking moment, then spits you out like rotten food.
Oftentimes, people aren’t advocating for diets because they want to be “healthy”. Instead, they often feel passionate about dieting because of their hate and disdain for fat people since they associate being “fat” with “unhealthy”, “unhappy” or “unlovable”.
It’s also important to note that views on fatness and fat bodies change depending on the time period and culture; renaissance paintings often depict fat women in angelic and celestial aesthetics. As well, certain cultures, both past and present, value fatness as a symbol of privilege, power, wealth and fertility.
Diet culture, eating disorders, and fatphobia are so tightly knit together that they are like an ill-fitting sweater woven by your grandmother that you didn’t want or ask for. Sometimes you think about wearing it, to make things easier or simpler. But it won’t. You will only become a shell of your former self; a husk that is barely scraping by.
Any joy derived from depriving yourself is temporary. A scale will weigh how much of you is there, but it won’t weigh how much of you has been lost to an eating disorder. It is a mental illness, a distortion of reality and external factors that influence how you think. You can’t just stop having an eating disorder on a whim.
Calorie counting isn’t healthy, demonizing certain foods isn’t healthy and having preconceived notions about someone’s health based on how their body looks isn’t “just caring about their health.” Stop calling food “unhealthy” or “healthy”, start calling it “nourishing” or “not/less nourishing. Eat food that makes you happy and makes you feel good. Bodies are so many things, including wonderful and complex. You only have one — so treat it with kindness.
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Point Of View
By: Matty Flader, Photo Reporter
We’re taught from a young age that certain things in the world are constant. There’s a northern star in the sky, a brain in our heads and art for those who can’t use that brain towards “something more productive”. Yet, if you ask a group of people to take their own photos of the same thing, you’ll get a myriad of results. Suddenly, the illusion of some consistent reality is shattered. Our points of view dictate what we see and how we understand. It’s so easy to think that reality is a constant and tangible construct, but what can truthfully be said to be “real” without it first being filtered through the infinitely varying human perspective? Thus, reality can only fairly be understood as socially constructed through some sort of collective agreement. This is my visual recap of Supercrawl — the way I saw things. My contribution of “something more productive” to reality.
#unignorable
By: Cindy Cui, Photo Editor
Poverty, domestic violence, social isolation and mental illness. Sometimes, the most serious problems in our communities are the ones we don’t see. By ignoring these issues, we make it more difficult for those who are suffering to find and receive the help they need. Instead, these people feel silenced, suffocated and invisible. As communities, we can help … but only if we recognize that these problems exist — only if we give them our attention. It's time that we make such issues, circumstances and stories #unignorable.
By Olivia Fava, Contributor
Democratic art. These are the two words that I would use to describe “EMERGENCY Pt2., Structures of Action”, a 2019 Supercrawl installation that built off of its 2018 predecessor to focus on the perspectives of the everyday person.
Christopher McLeod, a McMaster studio art alumnus and the creator of this exhibit, was originally inspired by the general apathy he perceived from those around him. This informed part one of his project.
“Looking at things that happen around us in our communities, our cities, our countries, around the world…I’d say to myself, ‘Is no one paying attention? What do people care about?’ I didn’t know,” said McLeod.
McLeod’s only solution was to ask the people exactly what they did care about. A tall “emergency” beacon invited passersby to share their greatest concerns on any scale, from political to personal. According to McLeod, he and his team heard from about 1,400 people over three days during last year’s Supercrawl festival.
https://www.instagram.com/p/B2aNGk7n2-V/
The top three issues that were brought up in 2018 were safe streets, health and the environment. These formed the core of this year’s installation. While McLeod’s initial question dealt with what Hamiltonians were worried about, part two of his project asked a graver question: what are Hamiltonians willing to do about the core issues they had identified?
“Are we all just going to sit around and sort of watch what’s happening, or are we going to step up and try to make a difference?” asked McLeod.
This year, levels of action for each of the three issues were ranked one to five, from least to most involved. Like many others, I chose my level of action, signed my name on the corresponding colour of sticker, and stuck it to the beacon. Hamilton Youth Poets also performed spoken-word pieces on these issues, which were based on public submissions.
https://www.instagram.com/p/B2Z2LWkHbi0/
A high degree of public involvement in this project was very important to McLeod, as a way of drawing in those who might normally ignore these issues.
“I’m like a tool for society…my role [as an artist] is not to dictate. My role is: how do I create spaces, opportunities and experiences that allow a community to come together to have these conversations in a non-standard way?” said McLeod.
As I observed my sticker on the overflowing environmental side of the beacon, voices swirled around me. Kids were asking about road safety and friends were challenging each other to volunteer for the issues they were motivated to address. McLeod’s beacon stood in the middle of it all, literally and metaphorically shedding its light.
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