Savoy Magazine

When I was a kid in the 70s I used to read all the top 100 lists in magazines like Ebony and Black Enterprise and I was inspired by the professionals of color who fought through the incredible barriers of the day to gain some influence in the business world. They paved a road that's made it much easier today for people like me to be on similar lists today.

They started us all down a road to where one day the truly exceptional thing in the term "successful black person" will not be the "black", but "successful". I'm honored to walk that road.

O Canada - part 2

The second and third days of my Canada trip were spent in Toronto, a much newer looking and feeling city than Montreal. Below is a shot of the South African War Memorial in downtown Toronto commemorating Canada's participation in the infamous Second Boer War of 1899-1902 between the British and Dutch.



First we had lunch at Nota Bene with French Food at Home




host Laura Calder,



a really intriguing woman with an impressive personal story.


Later in the day we had dinner at One restaurant with David Rocco and his wife Nina,



who both work on David's Italian cooking and travel show La Dolce Vita.



I enjoyed a wonderful entree


of Orecchiette with merguez sausage, tomato, chili and labneh.


The next day we had breakfast as the Fairmont Hotel where we met up with Roger Mooking (2nd from left),



host of Everyday Exotic,



who like me has Caribbean roots (he's from Trinidad) and lived his early life in Edmonton Alberta (I was born in nearby Red Deer Alberta).

O Canada - part 1

This week I returned to the country of my birth for the first time in nearly 30 years. I went to Montreal and Toronto to meet with some of Canada's biggest food television stars.

Montreal is a picturesque old city that feels like France. We stayed in Old Montreal near the Notre-Dame Basilica (on right) which was built in 1829.



We met with Chuck Hughes, host of Chuck's Day Off,



who owns and is head chef at Garde Manger, one of the hottest restaurants in Montreal



Earlier in the day, Chuck's show producer Anne Marie Withenshaw, herself a popular TV presenter,



took me on a whirlwind tour on Montreal's best food stops, including the Jean Talon Market



and La Maison du Bagel



home of Montreal's most famous food specialty, the St. Viateur bagel.