Sitting Down with Chef Tre Sanderson

Founder, Chef Joe Friday sat down with Food Network Canada's Top Chef Canada season 10 champion and first black winner, Chef Tre Sanderson!

Find out how he's working to educate and inspire the next generation of culinary entrepreneurs and elevate Jamaican cuisine in Toronto.

What drives your passion for Jamaican cuisine?

I’m Canadian born, born and raised in Scarborough, Ontario, but my background is Jamaican. Growing up, that's the food that was in front of me. So when I had the chance to do this professionally, I knew it was the cuisine that I wanted to push forward. I mean, there's a lot of different French restaurants and Toronto restaurants that I've learned from, but I'm taking some of those techniques and applying it to some really precious Jamaican meats.

What are some of the popular home-cooked dishes that you grew up eating? 

Oxtail! I believe that oxtail is such a beautiful cut. It has so much flavour and gelatin. So when you have that cooking on the stove in the dutch oven, I incorporate a lot of whole spices like clove and cinnamon. Oh, man. It’s a really nice thing to eat. Also dumplings and fried snapper, of course. 

When people think about Caribbean or Jamaican cuisine they think jerk chicken, but there is so much more than. It's such a unique cuisine with bold flavours that I feel it deserves to shine more. You could go down the street and pass five different Italian or French restaurants before you pass one Jamaican restaurant. And it's takeout. There's nothing wrong with takeout, I'm all for takeout, but why can't we have a sit down Jamaican restaurant? Why can't we have a nice space? Why can't we be on the Michelin star level? That’s the vibe I’m on.

As a young cook in Scarborough, who inspired you to make you want to do this ridiculous job of being a chef?

For me, growing up there weren’t a lot of people of colour. It was pretty clear that colour wasn't really in front of your face. It was more Eurocentric. My biggest mentor was my mom because she taught me a lot of rustic and clean techniques with bold flavours that she still uses to this day. 

What's a cookbook that you would recommend for a young chef?

My first book ever was the French Laundry and that kind of kickstarted my whole life and view of cooking. It was so detail-oriented with different techniques. Growing up on like, you know, really rustic dishes, seeing food in a different way and formality, it really opened my eyes and my mind.

As a black chef, what does black history mean to you?

To me, Black History Month is to inform people who don't know about black people or their history and really push it forward. You know, we’re always trying to highlight one month of the year for Black History, but black excellence is all year round. This is a time to really inform everyone that we don't need to just push one month forward. There's so much to learn and you can’t learn it all in one month. Black history and black excellence means everything to me. 

Do you want to stay in Toronto and make a name for yourself or do you want to branch out?

Toronto really means a lot to me. This is where I worked in some of the best restaurants. This is where I was trying to build my name, you know. So I feel like if I were to open up a restaurant it would have to be in Toronto just because that's kind of where I started my culinary career. 

I'm not saying that I wouldn't want to branch out to other places around the world, because the world is so huge, diverse and amazing; however, Toronto would be the first place. Right now, I'm working on pop-ups, trying to push forward that Caribbean cuisine, monetizing it a little bit and really pushing it forward.

How do you decide where to do a pop-up?

My motto is to push forward Jamaican Caribbean cuisine. So I'm trying to touch base with all of the Jamaican restaurants and really place my foot there. So we can elevate it and show love everywhere. I've worked in French restaurants, and they're cool. I'm not against it, but it's not the food I grew up on. There’s so many different techniques too. There's so many different types of dumplings and rice dishes and so many different things you could do with the flavours of the islands.

Are you going to open a restaurant soon?

Yeah, I'm pushing for that. The restaurant scene is scary. I'm not going to lie to you. I think it's so easy to fail or for people to not understand your food. I want to open a restaurant but it's more of a long-term goal than a short-term goal. There’s a lot of planning that needs to go into it. But hopefully one day. 

Right now, my main goal is to educate and inspire youth that look like us, the young people of colour. You know, for me growing up, I feel like there weren't a lot of coloured people to look up to in industry. So I think it’s our responsibility to inspire the next generation and really try to change how the next twenty or ten years are going to look in the industry.

Where can people go to keep up with your chef journey?

Follow your boy on Instagram @Tre.Sanderson. Follow my progress and follow your dreams! Food is love.