7 minute read
JONATHAN PINTO ’06: SERVING UP A TASTE OF CANADA IN NORTHERN ONTARIO
JONATHAN PINTO ’06: SERVING UP A TASTE OF CANADA IN NORTHERN ONTARIO
Jonathan Pinto ’06 (Canadian Studies, Lady Eaton College) is the host of Up North, CBC Radio One’s regional afternoon show for Northern Ontario, and is based in Sudbury. He was formerly a reporter/editor and an associate producer at CBC Windsor. Jonathan is a renowned foodie and the author of The Best of Windsor Cookbook. Earlier this year, he returned to Peterborough Campus for the first time in years to pass on some of his experiences on to a new generation of students.
For the full conversation with Jonathan, please visit the Trent Voices podcast.
Jonathan Pinto ’06 (Canadian Studies, Lady Eaton College) is the host of Up North, CBC Radio One’s regional afternoon show for Northern Ontario, and is based in Sudbury. He was formerly a reporter/editor and an associate producer at CBC Windsor. Jonathan is a renowned foodie and the author of The Best of Windsor Cookbook. Earlier this year, he returned to Trent for the first time in several years to pass on some of his experiences on to a new generation of students.
TRENT Magazine: What memories came flooding back as you returned to campus after time away?
Jonathan Pinto: Rushing to seminar. And then, the bridge … the Faryon Bridge being slippery. It wasn’t slippery this time. And always wondering how windy it was. If you’re trying to catch an East Bank bus or whatever.
I had an event at Lady Eaton College. It was both a curry cook-off competition and a panel that I was moderating: “Decolonizing Curry.” And just sitting in that dining hall that I spent a lot of time in because I was at Lady Eaton College … I guess I’m still a Lady Eaton College member.
TM: You definitely still are a Lady Eaton College member.
JP: Sitting in that dining hall, with its very strange sight lines, and having this discussion about the food that we were eating, brought me back to so many discussions I had in that dining hall as a student. And it was just good to see that discourse and discussion and food is still alive at Trent.
TM: Tell us about “Decolonizing Curry.”
JP: I was just moderating the session, but I’m a child of South Indian immigrants and, to me growing up, curry was just a word used to describe dishes. But in the last few years there’s been a lot of debate and discussion about the use of the word curry, because curry is not a word that’s really used in India to describe any of these dishes. It’s a very generic term, so there is some discussion as to [whether there should be] a word that we should be using to describe such a diverse culinary culture. I mean, what is curry? It’s a British word essentially. What does it mean to use the word curry? Should we be using the word curry? And what should we know about the history of the food that we are eating?
TM: So, a loaded question: what is curry to you?
JP: It certainly is. Right? It’s still a word that I use to describe the dishes. But, also, to some people, curry is a spice; which is inaccurate because curry isn’t a spice. You can buy curry powder, but nobody in India uses curry powder. So, curry to me is just meant to be like some of the more saucy dishes that my parents make that we serve on rice. But that’s just my definition. And it is a loaded question. My parents will make a pork bafat. Then there’s a type of dish that is very different, like a chicken indad. Can we really call them both curries? Because they’re so different from each other.
That’s the heart of this discussion: is curry really an accurate term? And many argue it’s not. There’s also the colonial legacy of curry, where it was brought by the British to other parts of the world. Like in Japan, there is Japanese curry. And you can’t really call it anything but curry because that’s the word that’s used. And then in the Caribbean there’s curry there, which is a very different thing. So, it’s an interesting term. And it means different things in different places.
TM: So far, you have been mostly unable to explore your vast listening area. But in your job, talking to people, how much of a tour of up north are you getting?
JP: Oh, an incredible amount. I’m getting a great sense of the region just talking to people every day. One of the reasons that we did [our food column] was to give me a way to travel the region by talking to the people making food for northerners. It was a way for me to virtually travel and see the region.
I get to talk about very specific issues that might be happening in Kenora, but also find stories that are common across the region as well. I’ve only been there for [pauses], well, it’s going to be three years this summer, which is wild. But I’m still continuously learning. But that’s what we do as journalists. Right? And I’m still learning.
TM: Along those same lines, what parts of the Trent experience do you carry with you in your career? In your life today?
JP: That curiosity, that interdisciplinarity, I think is huge. That ability to ask questions. For me, it’s literally what I do every day; I ask questions for a living. My major at Trent was Canadian Studies. And, at the time, the motto of the program was, “Not the Canada we thought.” And it really enabled you to challenge what Canada meant. I came into the program with an idea of what I thought Canada was and then that changed over my four years. That ability to challenge these notions of what we think an institution or a country or a whatever is … I think that that ability to question is something that I carry with me today. To see things from so many different angles—I got that from my time at Trent—and I continue to do that today.
TM: Academically, you were looking at the culture of Canada. Do you think that right now you are helping to broaden and teach people about the culture of Canada?
JP: I’m not sure that I’m teaching. What I like to do is just be able to provide a place. What our team does is provide a place to have conversations with each other, particularly on the show that I host, because we cover such a big area that has such very different stories. Something that happens in Kenora can be very different from what happens in in North Bay. Trying to find commonalities, but also trying to find those differences as well. What I hope that we do, is to help provide those connections. Which is also what happens at Trent: providing those connections for people who have different perspectives. I think that’s what I hope that we do. For me, it’s not teaching, it’s just providing a space to have a conversation.
For the full interview, please visit the Trent Voices Podcast.
