Alum and Toronto Star food reporter gives the 2022 Atkinson Lecture

“Everything has a food angle. Everyone eats. Everyone shops. Everyone gets groceries.”

Karon Liu, 2008 alum and the Toronto Star’s food reporter gave the School’s annual Atkinson lecture on April 7. 

It was one of the school’s first major in-person events since students returned to campus.

Since graduating, Liu has also had work in Maclean’s, Food Network Canada, Sharp Magazine and the Globe and Mail. He also previously worked at The Grid and Vice Munchies.

Liu spoke about the difference between a restaurant critic and a food writer and the objective of better informing his readers on the backgrounds of the city’s eateries. 

“The job of a food writer is to fill in the blanks and get the information that a regular diner won’t be able to,” he said. “By that I mean, interview the cooks, talk to the people who work there, talk to the people who are the experts on the cuisine, contextualize the dish and the people who made it. I think by doing so, readers are not only more informed about what they’re going to order when they sit down at the place, but they also feel like they had a conversation with the owners.”

Over the past two years, much of Liu’s focus has shifted to food operations during the pandemic.

“The pandemic really emphasized existing problems in the food world and it became such a big issue that it really brought these issues up to the public consciousness,” he said. “By that I mean the treatment of migrant workers and the lack of worker protections, how our food supply chain operates. The low pay, harassment and precarious employment that a lot of out front line workers have. I don’t think there’s been such a point in time where issues of labour and restaurant labour and wages have become so much on the forefront of food writing.”

As a food journalist, one of the biggest things Liu has noticed is the decline of the “authentic, traditional dish.”

“I think now, in food writing, we’re seeing that food exists on a continuum, rather than a fixed point in time. Food is never static, just like music, fashion, literature. It evolves and grows with migration, war, technology, climate, influences from other cuisines. Who gets to deem that the food at this point in time is authentic and has to be put under glass in a museum?”

Liu ended his lecture with a reminder that the food industry is massive, and there are always legal, environmental and economic angles that journalists may take.

“There’s so many aspects of the food and restaurant industry that you can look into.”

The Atkinson is supported by the Atkinson Foundation, a charitable foundation committed to social and economic justice. The school of journalism has hosted the Atkinson Lecture for many years and has included speakers like Ryan McMahon, Michelle Shephard, and Denise Balkissoon.

You can find out more about the Atkinson Foundation here (external link)  and more about Karon Liu here (external link) .