Eat the Street Poster
Ethiopian cuisine, a jury of opinionated pre-teens and what EyeWeekly refers to as an “eccentric mastermind behind some of Toronto’s, and the world’s, most innovative performance art” (in an article which Darren O’Donnell hates, claiming it tried to make him look like “a fucken pedophile”). Welcome to Parkdale Public School vs. Queen Street West 2: Eat the Street, where Darren O’Donnell and Mammalian Diving Reflex take a group of students from Parkdale to review eleven restaurants in the Queen Street West area, over a month and a half, culminating in an awards ceremony on May 11 at the Gladstone Hotel. This is restaurant number nine: Addis Ababa.
My friends and I just returned home from the evening dining with the jury of youngsters, tummies full of yummy food, giggling like children. It reminded us of being that age, of what we were like then, and who we are now. We remember what it’s like to doodle on paper, get bored and want to explore outside, be shy talking to strangers (or overly loud depending on the kid), not want to use the same spoon a boy did because he has ‘cooties’.
We sat beside a few of the kids, listened to what they thought of the food, the toilets, the art on the walls. We talked to them about where they are from and how long they have lived in Toronto. We stuck our hands into the plates of Ethiopian food and shared platters of “injera”, the traditional sourdough spongy bread, which is broken and dipped into the numerous dishes atop it. The ritual of sharing signifying the bonds of loyalty and friendship (according to ethiopianrestaurant.com). We talked to them about the traditional coffee ceremony and let them try a taste of the strong brew. We made friends.
As we were leaving I said goodbye to the group and thanked them for dining with us. The girls waved happily. One of the older boys made fun of the way I said goodbye. My friends and I reacted differently to this – I was oblivious, happy to have met them, no idea that I was being made fun of; my one friend laughed at me and pointed her finger, joining in with the teasing; my other friend ran away mortified and embarassed for me. And thus our nonstop giggling conversation on the way home started. We haven’t changed. We are still the same as we were when we were 13 years old – the independent geek, the cool girl, and the shy one.
I realize that perhaps that is what this is all about. Like many other of Mammalian Diving Reflex’s social interactive experiments, there are many levels to what is learned. Yes, the children are getting a chance to have their opinion count and experience different foods and restaurants. But it is also about how we as adults interact with the kids. How we as a society rarely give children the power. Like Haircuts by Children (where youth are taught to cut hair and then give out free haircuts to willing adults) the power is given to the youth. And here, my friends and I have not only had a lovely night out, enjoyed a great meal, and had some fun chats, we also came away from the experience having learned a little bit about ourselves and that we are not that much different from the Parkdale Eat the Street jury.
