A fine dining series honouring ancestral ingredients is launching this April

Many claim to be setting the Toronto food scene on fire, but that's often just a lot of hot air. EMBERS, a national fine dining series that honours ancestral ingredients and traditional cooking methods, is the real deal. 

The fire-centric dinner series aims to "stoke the fires of a culinary revolution" by prioritizing the ancestral cuisines of Black, Indigenous and Latinx cultures at events hosted by top chefs from some of the best restaurants. The first dinner, which will include a six-course pairing menu and cultural storytelling between courses, will take place at the Michelin-starred Quetzal (which has a 28-foot-long open fire) on College Street on April 14. 

The inaugural Toronto edition will feature Michelin-starred Quetzal's executive chef Steven Molnar (representing Mexican cuisine), EnRoute's 2022 Trailblazer of the Year chef Scott Iserhoff (representing Attawapiskat First Nations cuisine) and 2023 Waterfront Award winner and celebrated TV expert chef Raquel Fox (representing Bahamian cuisine).

PARTISANS

The event is the brainchild of co-creators Christine Channer of The Channer Group and Elle Asiedu of The Re-Seasoning Coalition. The pair hope to disrupt Canada's culinary landscape by highlighting the traditional ingredients, recipes and techniques of a rotating collective of BIPOC chefs in Canada. The ultimate goal is to host an EMBERS event in every province and territory to create opportunities for underrepresented talent to reclaim the fine dining space.

Chef Raquel Fox is the creator and instructor of the Caribbean Course at George Brown College.

"As far as we know, this is the only event bringing chefs of colour together to build a menu around their own highly-cherished cuisines," says Asiedu. Equitable pay is another fundamental tenet of the event and series design, with a commitment to chef talent and restaurant staff being paid fairly for their time and efforts.

Chef Scott Iserhoff, Pei Pei Chei Ow

This event will also launch a culinary school scholarship out of George Brown College (all of the featured chefs are alumni) to offer a hand up to the next generation.

Executive chef Steven Molnar, Quetzal

The dinner at Quetzal on April 14 will include cocktails, canapes, a six-course pairing menu and cultural storytelling snippets between courses.

Tickets are $620.55 per guest.