The Depanneur Cookbook

Book excerpt: Toronto Eats meets Humans of New York, with recipes! The Depanneur Cookbook celebrates Toronto’s astonishing cultural diversity, telling the modern immigrant story of the city through 100 recipes from 100 cooks and exploring the Dep’s transformation from old corner store to a buzzy place of tremendous culinary creativity. Over a decade ago, Len Senater set out on an adventure to create meaningful experiences using food as the medium. Since then, Len’s idiosyncratic pop-up space, The Depanneur—a tiny, old corner store transformed into “A Place Where Interesting Food Things Happen”—has featured hundreds of talented cooks and served thousands of eclectic meals. Through culinary events such as casual Drop-In Dinners to family-style Supper Clubs, hands-on Cooking Classes to insightful Table Talks, The Depanneur has discovered unique ways to foster community through food, all while avoiding the pitfalls of more traditional restaurant experiences. This is evident in The Dep’s continued success and its large and enthusiastic audience—the aggregation of the innumerable family and friends of all people that have cooked here. From a decade of unbridled culinary creativity emerged the idea of celebrating the remarkable accomplishments of this experiment as a book. Launched as a Kickstarter campaign in November 2020, The Depanneur Cookbook showcases the astonishing range of Toronto’s culinary talent. Equal parts documentary, manifesto, and cookbook, the book features delicious food, poignant stories, and beautiful photography by Ksenija Hotic. More than just a collection of authentic home cooking from around the world, it is the only cookbook that truly captures the incredible culinary diversity of Toronto. Meet Alex Chen, data scientist and knife collector, whose Crispy Skin Red Braised Pork Belly fuses cooking techniques built around his Taiwanese heritage. Greg Couillard, famed former Toronto restauranteur and fearless food innovator, offers his (only slightly off-the-wall) Vietnamese Kraft Dinner. Then there’s Mikiki, a performance and video artist and queer community health activist, whose Salade DysPérigourdine (Not Périgord Salad Get Over Yourself) is a rich and comforting salad that is at ease with breaking most of the French rules. Mark Kusitor explores his deep Haitian roots through food and offers a hearty Soup Bouyon ak Legumes (Vegan Haitian Soup)—as Kreyol as they come. And then there is Laura Guanti, who offered pasta classes at The Dep and who creates a stunning Squid Ink Gnocchi, revealing how a humble set of ingredients can become a showstopping dazzler. These are just a few of the colourful and richly diverse cast of characters that animated the Dep over the years and who have shared their food and stories here.