01 Sep From Casa Loma to Bond: The Garlic Connection in Spycraft – Alyssia Maiorano, 2:00 to 2:25 pm

Posted at 20:30h in 2025 Culture Talks, 2025-Vendors by
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What does Toronto’s grandest castle, wartime espionage, and James Bond have in common—with garlic at the centre? This talk uncovers surprising ties between Casa Loma, Camp X, and clandestine operations that shaped history, from forged maps to secret supplies for soldiers.

BIO: Alyssia Maiorano is Casa Loma’s Curator and Collections Manager. She holds a Master’s Degree in Curating and Cultural Leadership from the University of New South Wales, and an Honour’s Bachelor of Arts in History and Material Culture from the University of Toronto. She leads the Casa Loma curatorial team in presenting new historical findings and designing engaging exhibitions that bridge the stories of Casa Loma and Toronto’s multifaceted histories. Her recent exhibitions include the 2 Intelligence and Camp X Museum (2021), The Construction of Casa Loma (2023), Red Visions (2025), and Powering Progress: Toronto’s Electric Revolution (2025). Specializing in provenance research, Alyssia uncovers the networks of artifacts and their cultural significance across time, locating the “lost” Sir Henry Pellatt art collection across North America and Europe. Contributing her research on early Toronto, Alyssia has authored digital publications including audio guides, and exhibition catalogues.
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Toronto Garlic Festival is Presented By Dupont By the Castle BIA
Sunday, Sept 28, 2025 10 am to 5 pm FREE Admission Dupont Subway Station

Stories You Can Smell – Callan Forrester, 12:00 to 12:25 pm

Stories You Can Smell – Callan Forrester, 12:00 to 12:25 pm

In this special Culture Talks session, storyteller and multi-disciplinary artist Callan Forrester shares tales of family, food, and acceptance—how a grandfather’s “more-garlic-than-tomato” salad became a summer ritual, how garlic carried echoes of class and culture,...
In this special Culture Talks session, storyteller and multi-disciplinary artist Callan Forrester shares tales of family, food, and acceptance—how a grandfather’s “more-garlic-than-tomato” salad became a summer ritual, how garlic carried echoes of class and culture, and how love and openness found their way to the kitchen table.
BIO: Callan Forrester (they/them) is a non-binary, multi-disciplinary artist originally from Montreal. They moved to Toronto in 2019 to attend Randolph College for the Performing Arts, where they graduated in 2021. They have since been lucky enough to work in both Toronto and Montreal as an actor, producer, drag artist and (when they’re lucky) a clown! To Callan, theatre is a way to connect with our community and spark creation. They hope their work will inspire you to tell stories of your own. Selected credits include The Leading Player Project (EveryBODY on Stage), The Storyteller (No Strings Theatre) and season 4 of Drag Heals (OUTtv).
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Toronto Garlic Festival

Presented By
Dupont By the Castle BIA
Sunday, Sept 28, 2025 10 am to 5 pm FREE Admission
Dupont Subway Station
Garlic Growing Tips – Charles Catchpole, 10:00 to 10:25 am

Garlic Growing Tips – Charles Catchpole, 10:00 to 10:25 am

Discover how garlic and other fruits and vegetables thrive in city spaces—balconies, patios, and containers included. This annual Toronto Garlic Festival favourite explores practical tips and inspiring ideas for urban growers. BIO: Charles Catchpole is...
Discover how garlic and other fruits and vegetables thrive in city spaces—balconies, patios, and containers included. This annual Toronto Garlic Festival favourite explores practical tips and inspiring ideas for urban growers.
BIO: Charles Catchpole is an Anishinaabe Chef and Entrepreneur, and a member of Couchiching First Nation. Charles is a trained Chef who schooled at Loyalist & George Brown Colleges. He owns and operates CharGer Foods, selling a line of unique hot sauces and salad dressings as well as running a catering company specializing in Indigenous cuisine. He is also dedicated to Indigenous Food Sovereignty initiatives, including running his own microfarm, Gitigaanes. He has been growing garlic for four years and incorporates into his catering and preserved products."



Toronto Garlic Festival

Presented By
Dupont By the Castle BIA
Sunday, Sept 28, 2025 10 am to 5 pm FREE Admission
Dupont Subway Station
Garlic and the Healing Wisdom of Plants – Monika Ghent, 11:00 to 11:25 am

Garlic and the Healing Wisdom of Plants – Monika Ghent, 11:00 to 11:25 am

Herbalist and healer Monika Ghent invites you into a deeper relationship with garlic — not only as a culinary treasure, but as a powerful healing ally. Drawing on decades of experience in herbal medicine, Plant...
Herbalist and healer Monika Ghent invites you into a deeper relationship with garlic — not only as a culinary treasure, but as a powerful healing ally. Drawing on decades of experience in herbal medicine, Plant Spirit Medicine, and her work as a traditional healer, Monika will explore garlic’s role in strengthening body and spirit, and show how it belongs to the wider family of herbs that humans have turned to for health and balance across cultures and time.
BIO: Monika Ghent is a Western Traditional Herbalist, Plant Spirit Medicine Healer, Distance Healer, Weather Worker and Traditional Healer in the Nahua tradition of Central Mexico. She has a private practice in Maple, Ontario where she sees clients in person and also works with people throughout the world as a Distance Healer. She runs a school of herbalism (Living Earth School of Herbalism) with her husband, Michael Vertolli. Living Earth offers general interest workshops and online classes, and certificate and diploma programs in Western herbalism and related fields of study. The nature of Monika’s work is shaped by her respectful relationship with the divine natural world and all living beings. As a healer and teacher, Monika supports others in awakening to the beauty of their uniqueness and living their truth to its fullest expression in health and wholeness. www.monikaghent.ca; info@monikaghent.ca.
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Toronto Garlic Festival

Presented By
Dupont By the Castle BIA
Sunday, Sept 28, 2025 10 am to 5 pm FREE Admission
Dupont Subway Station
Olives and Garlic – Chef Fadi Kattan, 3:00 to 3:25 pm

Olives and Garlic – Chef Fadi Kattan, 3:00 to 3:25 pm

Growing up along spice routes that predate religion, and inspired by his mother and Teta Julia, Chef Fadi Kattan embraces food as a form of storytelling. From Bethlehem to London to Toronto, his restaurants carry...
Growing up along spice routes that predate religion, and inspired by his mother and Teta Julia, Chef Fadi Kattan embraces food as a form of storytelling. From Bethlehem to London to Toronto, his restaurants carry forward ancient techniques and ideas interpreted through his creative lens. In this talk, Chef Fadi shares flavours and inspirations that shape his cooking—stories of heritage, creativity, and the power of food to connect people.
BIO: Fadi Kattan, Co-Founder of louf at 501 Davenport Rd, Toronto, is a Franco-Palestinian chef from Bethlehem inherited his love of cooking from his mother and Teta Julia. Inspired by the passion they brought to the cuisine and learning from all of the old Arabic cookbooks he could get his hands on, Fadi went on to study and refine his culinary skills in France before returning home to open a hotel and his first restaurant, Fawda, in Bethlehem in 2016. In 2020, he hosted a documentary travel series called Teta’s Kitchen, in which he traveled across Palestine to cook staple dishes alongside grandmothers in their homes and explore the stories that form around these plates. He has appeared and been featured in international media including CNN, Al Jazeera, The New York Times, Financial Times, Eater, and more. He’s also always prioritized his role in Palestine itself, hosting a podcast on the Bethlehem-based Radio Al Hara, and collaborating with local artisans and media-makers. In 2024, Fadi co-founded louf restaurant in Toronto, his first North American restaurant, after considerable success with his London UK-based restaurant akub. In 2024, he published his first cookbook, Bethlehem, to great international success, with translations into German, Norwegian and French.
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Toronto Garlic Festival

Presented By
Dupont By the Castle BIA
Sunday, Sept 28, 2025 10 am to 5 pm FREE Admission
Dupont Subway Station
From Casa Loma to Bond: The Garlic Connection in Spycraft – Alyssia Maiorano, 2:00 to 2:25 pm

From Casa Loma to Bond: The Garlic Connection in Spycraft – Alyssia Maiorano, 2:00 to 2:25 pm

What does Toronto’s grandest castle, wartime espionage, and James Bond have in common—with garlic at the centre? This talk uncovers surprising ties between Casa Loma, Camp X, and clandestine operations that shaped history, from forged...
What does Toronto’s grandest castle, wartime espionage, and James Bond have in common—with garlic at the centre? This talk uncovers surprising ties between Casa Loma, Camp X, and clandestine operations that shaped history, from forged maps to secret supplies for soldiers.
BIO: Alyssia Maiorano is Casa Loma’s Curator and Collections Manager. She holds a Master’s Degree in Curating and Cultural Leadership from the University of New South Wales, and an Honour’s Bachelor of Arts in History and Material Culture from the University of Toronto. She leads the Casa Loma curatorial team in presenting new historical findings and designing engaging exhibitions that bridge the stories of Casa Loma and Toronto’s multifaceted histories. Her recent exhibitions include the 2 Intelligence and Camp X Museum (2021), The Construction of Casa Loma (2023), Red Visions (2025), and Powering Progress: Toronto’s Electric Revolution (2025). Specializing in provenance research, Alyssia uncovers the networks of artifacts and their cultural significance across time, locating the “lost” Sir Henry Pellatt art collection across North America and Europe. Contributing her research on early Toronto, Alyssia has authored digital publications including audio guides, and exhibition catalogues.
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Toronto Garlic Festival

Presented By
Dupont By the Castle BIA
Sunday, Sept 28, 2025 10 am to 5 pm FREE Admission
Dupont Subway Station
Local Garlic, Global Wisdom: Kitchen Lessons from St. Jamestown – Josephine Grey, 1:00 to 1:25 pm

Local Garlic, Global Wisdom: Kitchen Lessons from St. Jamestown – Josephine Grey, 1:00 to 1:25 pm

Join Josephine Grey from the St. Jamestown Community Co-op as she shares clever, practical tips to reduce food waste, preserve flavour (like dehydrated garlic!), and cook with every part of the plant. Along the way,...
Join Josephine Grey from the St. Jamestown Community Co-op as she shares clever, practical tips to reduce food waste, preserve flavour (like dehydrated garlic!), and cook with every part of the plant. Along the way, Josephine shares knowledge from the most globally diverse community in the world—right here in Toronto—where newcomers bring valuable food wisdom that’s helping reshape our collective future.
BIO: Josephine Grey is a human rights organizer engaged in community development for 35 years. She is also a widowed single parent mother and grandmother who lives in social housing. In 1986 she co-founded LIFT-Low Income Families Together, a resource ngo that incubates community-based projects. Jo is a Founding Director of Food share, The Income Security Advocacy Centre, the St. James Town Community Co-operative, Democracy Watch and Project Esperance, a 111 unit building for domestic abuse survivors. Her work as an advocate and organizer has taken her to the UN, World Social Forums and communities across 7 continents. Currently, she is on the board of the Local Food and Farm co-op (Ontario), and the Eco-just Food Network, and is leading the development of the OASIS food hub pilot project for the St James Town.
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Toronto Garlic Festival

Presented By
Dupont By the Castle BIA
Sunday, Sept 28, 2025 10 am to 5 pm FREE Admission
Dupont Subway Station