Lebanese Montrealers: a history
The city site has a piece on the Lebanese who came here in the 1970s and established businesses that are now part of the landscape, like Marché Adonis, although a footnote mentions that the Syrian community was already here doing business at the turn of the last century.
Ian 17:31 on 2020-08-31 Permalink
I wonder if that’s why the few “Lebanese” restaurants in Toronto are mostly owned and run by Syrians.
Kate 18:27 on 2020-08-31 Permalink
Well, there were definitely Syrians in Canada quite a long time ago. Do you remember the little Syrian food store next to the Monument National? Went away when the block was torn down, but it had been there for decades. I’ve also seen a photo of a store on St-Hubert in the 1940s called Ayoub’s, offering “spécialités orientaux” back when Oriental meant the eastern end of the Mediterranean, not the Far East.
Ian 08:16 on 2020-09-01 Permalink
Orientalism in art generally means a romantic version of the Ottoman empire, too. “Tales from a Thousand and One Nights/ Ingres paintings of concubines” kind of thing.
JaneyB 12:16 on 2020-09-01 Permalink
Speaking of food and Syrians…a very excellent cookbook by a Syrian-Canadian whose family was farming in Saskatchewan during the Depression: https://www.amazon.ca/FfromThe-Lands-Olives-Habeeb-Salloum/dp/156656414X
Apparently, they were not the only ones either!