123: The Power of Showcasing Immigrant Restaurant Stories with Maggie Leandre of CharisMaggie

“It’s very hard to get immigrants who have restaurants to talk about their story... They’re very humble, they’re very shy, they just want to be in the background. And with the world we’re living in today, where the hottest restaurant can get traction because of the power of social media, and they have a PR team behind them – your mum and pop shops in Toronto that are serving the most amazing ethnic cuisine, that’s really true to the taste of the country, they are usually at risk of not getting enough customers or coverage because they’re not as savvy. I want to get more of these stories out there, going beyond the food. ”
— Maggie Leandre, Host of Kitchens of Toronto

If you’ve been a regular listener to this podcast, you know that food is central to all of our discussions around identity, culture, belonging, and sense of place.

My guest today is someone who excels at bringing these relationships to life through her YouTube channel, and speaks to the layers of personal experience she has had growing up and living across multiple countries and cultures. Maggie Leandre is here today, who is the host and producer of CharisMaggie on YouTube. CharisMaggie content showcases countries and cultures through lived experience. Maggie’s cultural background is Guyanese, Haitian, and Jamaican, and she uses her YouTube platform to share her journey of learning about her roots while unlearning biases and stereotypes that society portrays about different cultural groups and countries. 

Through her visually stunning videos, she explores cultural histories, creole languages, and ethnic cuisine. Today, we’re speaking about how she structures her video content to position food as a learning tool for diverse cultural cuisines and languages, and she shares some of the stories about her brilliant Kitchens of Toronto series on her YouTube channel. Season 2 just dropped a couple of weeks ago so be sure to check that out after this interview, too!

Follow and Watch Maggie's Work!