Chef and restaurant owner of Pow Wow Café, Shaun Adler, discusses the rise and impact of Indigenous restaurants in the city
Story by Dante and Lauren. Multimedia by Bela and Sara.
Toronto’s Indigenous community is making its mark on the Toronto food scene by opening several restaurants in the city, says Shaun Adler of Pow Wow Café in Kensington Market.
Born unto an Anishinaabe-Quay mother and a Polish-Jewish father—identifying as mixed race, it was Adler’s upbringing with Indigenous traditions that led him to opening Pow Wow Café in October of 2016.
“I grew up going to powwow’s, this is the food I grew up eating, and I’m a chef so I always thought it would be great to have a restaurant that specializes in powwow cuisine,” he said.
A sign outside of the café reads “Bindigen”, a common Indigenous term for welcome, which is certainly fitting for the homey, sit-down style aesthetic of the café that was named after the traditional community celebration.
The Indian Taco, served between bannock (fried bread) is the specialty dish at this café, and is also the main dish of powwows in the Toronto region, however the menu here is varied and often changes.
“We have a sort of fusion cuisine. I’m taking flavours from the world and putting them on top of our traditional bread,” Adler said.
Gordon Gauvin, a Cree and Ojibway member of kitchen staff, says he hasn’t always felt a connection to the Indigenous community but he uses his job at the café to keep in touch.
“For the Indigenous community, this place brings a lot of people together and all sorts of people from different cultures and communities come here to experience this place. It gives a sense and feeling of home,” he said.
Across the city, several other restaurants are on the rise as Indigenous restaurants and businesses.
“It’s great to bring a restaurant like this to Toronto because we’re very underrepresented in the food scene here but we’re now opening more restaurants as Indigenous people across Canada with Ku-Kum, Tea N Bannock and NishDish,”Adler said.
Although he is glad to bring a taste of Indigenous cuisine to the city, Adler says he doesn’t feel like he faces any particular challenges as an Indigenous entrepreneur.
“It’s the same as any other person. Often If you’re Chinese you open a Chinese restaurant, if you’re Italian you open an Italian restaurant. So for me it’s just first nature. It’s as natural as me opening a Latke restaurant,” he said.
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