JOSHNA MAHARAJ
CHEF | FOOD ACTIVIST
Joshna Maharaj possesses a unique ability to inspire people from both sides of the dining table. She is equally talented a chef as she is a food activist with an authentic goal to improve everyone’s relationship with food. Joshna is unapologetic in her strong belief in chefs and social gastronomy to bring values of hospitality, sustainability and social justice to every dining table.
A powerful and engaging speaker, Joshna is a two-time TEDx speaker and oft-sought after voice for business spectrums of all genres. She hosts “Kitchen Helpdesk, a weekly food column on CBC Radio and also co-hosts a food podcast, “Hot Plate.”
In addition to supporting an array of food driven, community causes, Joshna also dedicates her time to educating post-secondary students and industry peers alike.
Joshna has just released her first book “Take Back the Tray” (ECW Press) about her work building new models for institutional food procurement, production and service. The book is a movement to reconnect food with health, wellness, education, and rehabilitation in public institutions around the globe. It is a passionate story about how a chef tried to disrupt the institution in hopes for systemic change.
Joshna has represented and produced notable work for major brands and be seen highlighted on mainstream medium from editorials on Chatelaine to the critically-acclaimed national program Fridge Wars.
"Hospitality allows us to see each other's humanity. Our relationship with food is about staying alive. For me, the honour of being a cook is connecting people to this life force. " - Joshna Maharaj
From sweet and raw to crispy pickled, chef Joshna Maharaj cooks with the whole carrot
Can you tell the difference between local produce and a grocery store import? Test your food knowledge with Samira Mohyeddin, host of CBC Radio series Unforked, and Toronto chef and author Joshna Maharaj.
What might hospital food from the future look and taste like? At Nourish's Food for Health Symposium (May 15-16, Toronto), the audience was transported to the future of 2030 to be a part of “The Hospital Food Experience from the Future”. The exuberant and playful event invited three Canadian hospitals: CHEO, Holland Bloorview Kid’s Rehabilitation Hospital, and Unity Health, to work with three “celebrity” chefs: Chef Rich Francis, Chef Joshna Maharaj and Chef Simon Wiseman to show audiences with three ambitious dishes that embody the future of what hospital food could look and taste like. Judged by a taste panel made up of Elder Margaret Edgars (Haida Elder), Tessie Harris (Dietitian), Abena & Aiden (Age 7 and 8), André Picard (Globe & Mail Health Columnist) and Dr. Edward Xie, (Emergency Doctor), the panel collectively determined which dishes best embodied the success criteria: Patient-friendly, Planet-friendly and Scale-friendly.
The CBC's Nav Nanwa and chef and food-based activist Joshna Maharaj head to Brampton, Ont., for Indian-style slices topped with garlic, coriander, ginger and green chilis.
Our global food system is in crisis. Currently, the ‘Four Cs’ (COVID, Climate emergency, conflict, and rising costs) are converging, and the world is at a turning point. We must come together to identify possibilities for food systems transformation, action plans, and policy change. From international conferences to communities in the most remote areas of the world, stakeholders are uniting to find solutions to the urgent threats to food systems on global and local levels.
Students and advocates of student food security from across Canada joined a virtual Cook-Along to work towards creating a better campus food culture! They used local and seasonal ingredients to cook either a Root Vegetable Soup or a Warm Winter Salad, under guidance from Chef Joshna Maharaj. It was such a fun and impactful event!
Satisfy and your sweet tooth and your travel bug with these baked goods from Columbia, Greece, and more! To get the recipes, visit: https://more.ctv.ca/the-social/food/f...
A talk with Joshna Maharaj, Chef and Activist
The chef, activist and author fights for Canadians' right to healthy food in public institutions
A new surge in the pandemic, a snarled supply chain, rising inflation, and the growing impacts of climate change have influenced our eating habits
CANADIAN TASTEMAKER: CHEF JOSHNA MAHARAJ, PARABERE FORUM CANADIAN CORRESPONDENT
Joshna Maharaj on Tackling Food Security, Inclusion in Canada’s Hospitality Industry + More
Access through our industrial food and agriculture systems, and tracing to the very ground in which the food is grown.
Joshna speaks at Concordia University presents The Walrus Talks at Home
The value of food, the challenges with the food system and about her newest book "Take Back the Tray"
“When you taste it, it is so rich and delicious you don’t imagine that this is something that was ultimately going to head to the garbage"
How can better institutional food be part of the solution for other problems? Joshna explores her latest book, “Take Back the Tray
Joshna sits down with Paul Taylor to discuss her new book.
Joshna discusses Ontario's local food chain and the largest industry within which it operates.
Chef Rich Francis, Chef Joshna Maharaj and Chef Simon Wiseman to show audiences with three ambitious dishes that embody the future of what hospital food could look and taste like.
Joshna speaks in Ireland at the 2018 Food on the Edge conference on rethinking institutionalized food.
Craft beer and Sensory expert Mirella Amato and Chef-activist Joshna Maharaj turn over current trends, news, controversies, tastes, and tactics of the food and beverage world.
Chatelaine takes a peek into Joshna's kitchen in their Kitchen Crashers series
Chef and food activist Joshna Maharaj is passionate about using food to combat climate change and get us more connected to the world around us. Joshna joined the Ontario climate action movement because she believes that together we can build a cleaner future
Chefs Shane Chartrand and Joshna Maharaj are pitted against each other to cater to a shopaholic father's need for flavour and some world champion cravings.
Connect with food in a wholesome, sustainable raw manner and have a personal relationship with food that benefits you and the community.
For a chef, smell is the second-most important sense. Losing mine led to loneliness and burned muffins, but I’m trying to get it back.