TORONTO — Casey House opened the doors to June’s, Canada’s first pop-up restaurant run by HIV positive chefs.
Chef Matt Basile of Fidel Gastro will lead a team of 14 HIV positive individuals-turned-cooks on November 7 and 8 in Toronto. Chef Basile collaborated with the pop-up’s cooks to build a four-course-meal featuring their favourite ingredients, as well as led them through a training session on kitchen skills and food-preparation fundamentals.
“We explored this stigma through a study we conducted as part of our campaign ‘Break Bread. Smash Stigma.’ The study revealed that only half of Canadians would knowingly share or eat food prepared by someone who is HIV positive, despite the fact you cannot transmit the disease through food preparation,” says Joanne Simons, CEO of Casey House. “My hope for June’s is that the experience leaves a lasting impression and will help to continue to break down barriers around stigma. We are so grateful to our partners and sponsors, like RBC, who are standing with us to help bring our vision of June’s to life.”
