It’s not news that Canada’s gastronomic heavyweights have been consistently snubbed from the World’s 50 Best Restaurant List. And so it was a shock to no one when only one Canadian restaurant made the top 100: Joe Beef, at 81. Not a single Canuck cracked the top 50 list, released earlier this week. Is this unfair? Should our restaurateurs step up their game? Or are there other factors at play?
Vv Magazine reached out to a chair of the competition for answers.
“Of course there’s no such thing as The Best Restaurant in the World. That kind of pronouncement is ripe for mockery since every diner has a different experience,” explained Steve Dolinsky, a food journalist and the Mid North American Regional Academy Chair for The World’s 100 Best Restaurants, on his blog.
Here’s how the competition works: the world is divided into 27 regions, and each region has 36 voters. These voters are a combination of chefs and restaurateurs, food journalists and what Dolinksky calls “gastronauts,” meaning wealthy travellers who make elite dining a priority. Each voter is asked to submit their seven favourite restaurants from around the world that they have visited within the past 18 months; requiring at least three choices to be from outside their region of residence. North America is sliced into three regions; East, Mid and West, lumping Canada and the U.S. together. That means that each region’s 36 votes must be split between American and Canadian voters. Which brings Ontario’s maximum number of voters to a grand total of 17 out of 972 worldwide. That’s a measly 1.7 per cent.
“There isn’t a critical mass of voters that are travelling to Toronto, Montreal and Vancouver,” Dolinsky explains.
“It’s mostly about geography,” Dolinsky explains. Of the 27 regions, 10 are European, while only three include Canada. France, Italy and Germany are considered individual regions despite the fact that the land mass of those three countries put together could fit inside Canada more than 7.5 times. Of course, France, Italy and Germany have far more restaurants and more Michelin stars than Canada does, in which case, perhaps they deserve more than 36 voters. Australia, New Zealand and the South Pacific are lumped into one region, and are victim to the same icy snub as Canadians. Clearly, this system isn’t working for either European culinary heavyweights or up-and-comers, like Canada. Maybe it’s time the World’s Best Restaurants organization rethought their strategy altogether.
The judging scheme makes the competition more of a “reflection of the world’s travel patterns” than a competition between world-class dining. “It’s easier to travel within Europe, everything’s closer. But there’s a huge ocean between us and them.” In Europe, foodies can do day trips just to visit a restaurant in a neighbouring country, but popping over to Toronto to check out Bar Isabel ain’t that simple.
“There isn’t a critical mass of voters that are travelling to Toronto, Montreal and Vancouver,” Dolinsky explains. This seems strange; in recent times, Toronto’s Queen Street West was named one of the trendiest neighbourhoods on Earth by Vogue and one of the best cities to live in by The Economist. With the Pan Am Games quickly approaching, Toronto’s chances in the 2016 Top 100 restaurant list should be looking up, shouldn’t they? Not unless the majority of these visitors are going to be chefs, restaurateurs, food journalists and gastronauts. To make any sort of splash, Canada needs to specifically target foodie tourism. Sadly, we’re just not there yet.
Dolinsky points out that the World’s Best list consistently features a large number of South American restaurants, which is home to only two regions. He credits their success to Lima’s Mistura Food Festival, the largest tradition of its kind on the continent. Held annually, the festival attracts the right people, aka those who qualify to vote for the World’s Best Restaurants. “What we need is an intense international conference in one of the three major Canadian cities,” Dolinsky says.
The disparity is not for the organization’s lack of effort. In his eight years working with the organization, Dolinsky has successfully lobbied to increase the number of participating regions from 23 to 27 in order to give places like Canada a fighting chance. “I wish there were more Canadian restaurants represented on the list but it’s a massive undertaking to compile it and I commend the people who are tasked with pulling everything together,” says David Hawksworth of Hawksworth Restaurant, winner of Vancouver Magazine Restaurant Award for Best Upscale Restaurant three years in a row. The only way to improve Canada’s chance to fight for their rightful spots on that list is to become more of a travel destination specifically for the world’s foodies.
“I wish there were more Canadian restaurants represented on the list, but it’s a massive undertaking to compile it, and I commend the people who are tasked with pulling everything together,” says David Hawksworth of Hawksworth Restaurant, winner of Vancouver Magazine Restaurant Award for Best Upscale Restaurant three years in a row. The only way to improve Canada’s chances for coveted spots on the World’s 100 Best Restaurants List is to become more of a travel destination for the world’s foodies.
Dolinsky agrees. “Canada has an amazing food scene. [The list] has nothing to do with quality at all … I would put Momofoku Daisho and Buca Yorkville on the list. In Vancouver, I’d throw in Vij’s and Hawksworth. It’s just that not as many people went to these cities this year.”
“The World’s 50 Best Restaurants” brings attention to many of the world’s finest dining experiences. However, at the end of the day, it’s more of a PR stunt than an accurate round-up. As Dolinsky rightfully put it, there’s really no such thing as ‘The World’s Best Restaurant.’
Related Link: Canada’s Best New Restaurants Of 2014
Featured image: El Celler de Can Roca, No. 1 on the List (Hype Beast)
Which other restos would you add to the World’s 100 Best Restaurants list? Let Vv Magazine know in the comments below or tweet us @ViewtheVibe.