Suresh Doss reveals Canada's best-kept food secrets

In the diverse landscape of Canada's food culture, Suresh Doss stands out as a passionate advocate for the underappreciated spots – the small, family-run restaurants and local favourites often overlooked by the press or awards. With his new CBC show, Locals Welcome, launching next year, Doss invites people to explore the stories behind the counter and celebrate the resilience and diversity that define Canada's culinary scene. In suburbs and neighbourhoods across the country, he reveals the tales woven into every meal. With a genuine love for food and a knack for storytelling, the Sri Lankan-born and Agincourt-raised host paints a vivid picture of a nation shaped by migration, adaptation, and creativity. 

We talked to Doss about the evolution of Canada's food scene, as well as his perspective on the dynamic dining experiences in the Greater Toronto Area.

Food often represents home to people. Have you seen that play out in the places that you've visited across the country?

We're a people of multicultural descent; we come from all over the world. And what people carry with them is nostalgia. Nostalgia could be in the form of clothing or prayers, but food is easily in the top three. People bring it here because they miss something from back home. In a lot of cases, they'll open a business … and then naturally, they'll find a community nearby, or they'll open the place in that community. Then you have this third space that everyone embraces.

What impact do you hope Locals Welcome will have on viewers and the local food scenes you'll be celebrating?

What I would love for people to take away is a really good understanding of just how deep our food culture is. We're not just talking about food from Bangladesh; it's from a certain part of Bangladesh. We're not just talking about Vietnamese food; it's from Ho Chi Minh City or Da Nang. We're not just talking about Jamaican food; it's regional food from Jamaica. 

So, I think what this show is going to do is to show people just how deep those regional ties are and how specific these cuisines are.

How do you see the adaptation of traditional dishes in Canada, where ingredients might differ from those in the original country? And how do collaborations between different cultures influence and create new flavours in the local food scene? 

I mean, it's a cultural mash because we're forced to be in these spaces together. Naturally, you're going to see osmosis. There's a Pakistani kid who lives in Brampton, a second-generation kid, who grew up next to an Italian guy who grew peppers and tomatoes, and a Jamaican guy who grew peppers. By natural osmosis, his Pakistani cuisine is now infusing those two cultures. That's very unique for Canada. And I think that in 10 to 20 years, we'll see, with the second-generation kids and the third-generation kids, just how much they're going to riff and how it's going to evolve the cuisine. And, you know, it won't be like Jamaican food back in Jamaica. It will be this unique Canadian thing. I find that really fascinating. 

What trends or changes have you noticed in the smaller food scenes?

In the last couple of years, we've seen a rise in Nigerian cooking, with second-generation kids cooking Nigerian food. Because of Levantine migration trends, we're seeing a lot of Iraqi food, a lot of Syrian food, a lot of Jordanian food. We're not really seeing any more new Tamil Sri Lankan places because people have gone back home. War's over. And, like, one of the most exciting things we're seeing is Southeast Asian food, like Malaysian and Indonesian. When I was growing up, there was only one Malaysian place, but now I can count on two hands how many Malaysian places there are. 

What would you say to someone who says, "I don't have any disposable income to try something brand new!"?

Well, I mean, the beauty of uptown eating is you can eat quite affordably. It's the best time to be a curious eater. And I think it's important as a Canadian to take the time and find a place and enjoy it because we're living in the best moment. A lot of these mom-and-pop places should charge more, but they don't, because people won't pay it.