We are two people (Vic and Agnieszka) who are fortunate enough to be able to travel and embrace the joys this marvellous world has to offer. This web site is an expression of everything we love: food, travel and nature. Our travels are filled with the joy of meeting people, learning about their culture and traditions, and immersing ourselves in the landscapes which surround and define them. And through it all we’ve found that the one thing that connects people around the world is food.
Food speaks of people’s shared, cumulative history. A culture’s cuisine reflects its history and is intimately tied to the landscape. Food often expresses a people’s spiritual ideas and values. Each individual’s food preferences reveal something about their heritage, social status, and personal past. In some cases, these preferences reveal things about people’s fears, anxieties, and longings. We love to eat not only because it is delicious, but because food is life. It is family, tradition, history, and memory. It is a form of both conscious and unconscious communication. We believe that the loving preparation and shared enjoyment of food creates positive and vibrant relationships among people, a sense of community that binds people together in shared joy. We may be Toronto-based, but we embrace all the cuisines we discover during our travels.
At its most basic, we want to have fun as we share this shameless expression of our passion. Like so many others in this interconnected world, we want to share with you our love of humble travelling and food adventuring. Whether we’re exploring our own vast and beautiful country, or having adventures in far-off places, we are eager to pass along all our discoveries for you to enjoy.
But, we believe we can be more than that. We hope that Culinary Slut can – in its own small way – be one of the ingredients in a recipe that reinvigorates the sense of community and personal connection that people’s shared love of food provides. We believe that over the past decade this personal sense of community has been slipping away as we all struggle to manage the overwhelming flood of information flowing over us every day. But we also feel that people everywhere have a strong desire to recapture the sense of place and belonging centres us. We are hopeful that we can provide a bridge between the virtual and the physical world; between fleeting interactions online and more meaningful, more personal connections with people who share our passion for food and travel. Reach out to us or visit our events page to see how you can become part of Toronto’s foodie community.
But most of all, we’re here to have fun! We love sharing our culinary and travel adventures with you. We hope you’ll join us for the journey – and we hope to meet you in the real world someday.
We are not professional chefs, nor are we professional food reviewers. We come from humble backgrounds and from cultures where food brings people together; a world where food is symbolic of friendship and cultivates a sense of community. We sincerely appreciate humble noshing. At the same time we have have been fortunate to have achieved some measure of success, allowing us to travel widely and experience culinary artistry as well. Put simply, we love food, we love the people who passionately prepare food, and we love sharing food with friends.
We are humbled when friends ask for our recommendations when they are planning their own food adventures. That’s not because we are professional chefs, though we very much love to prepare food at home. It’s because we read about food, we dream about food, and we enjoy meeting and building friendships with those passionate chefs who prepare the food we enjoy. We have an unquenchable appetite to learn more about all kinds of cuisines – including appreciating hypnotically good pictures of food – and, of course, we love eating food.
But for all that, and to be clear, we do not pretend or purport to be professional food critics. The reason for this is simple and is best explained by this quote from the classic food movie Ratatouille:
In many ways, the work of a critic is easy. We risk very little yet enjoy a position over those who offer up their work and their selves to our judgment. We thrive on negative criticism, which is fun to write and to read. But the bitter truth we critics must face, is that in the grand scheme of things, the average piece of junk is probably more meaningful than our criticism designating it so. But there are times when a critic truly risks something, and that is in the discovery and defense of the new. The world is often unkind to new talent, new creations, the new needs friends.
So this is what we savour in our food adventures: the quest for the new and the excitement of sharing those experiences with you as best we can.
We love helping restaurants and other food-related businesses connect with customers old and new. We believe a vibrant digital presence is critical to your success, and have some tried-and-true approaches to building your business.
Everything that an avid foodie needs: restaurant finds; recipe ideas; musings about food culture; food porn (of course!) and more!
Authentic travel is like savouring food. Both require a sense of adventure and willingness to experience the “new”. We’d love to share some experiences with you.
Our hiking adventures feed our heart and soul. And there’s nothing like a challenging day of hiking to justify a gloriously decadent meal at the end of the day!
Naheda is a creative Lebanese chef who generously shares her recipes – often by video. Tons of fun, and delicious!
The brilliant and generous Nami provides recipes, tips, and inspiration to prepare delicious Japanese food – one of our favourites – at home.
Not only a rich resource for food recipes, but also a treasure trove of cocktail recipes, wine suggestions and, most important of all, great pairings!
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