A Longing For Tortillas: REAL Tortillas: Latino Culture: Toronto versus Los Angeles

At my local grocery store, corn tortillas were delivered fresh and hot every day from the tortillería. They became a staple just like bread. It seemed absolutely natural that I would be able to get them in Toronto. After looking in three grocery stores I started looking in small stores on Bloor St. that specialized in foreign foods. After about five days I finally found real tortillas in a Caribbean food store. They were imported from New York City and frozen but I bought them anyway. When I ate them I couldn't help but feel sad. It dawned on me that I was going through culture shock in the city where I was born.

All the things that had become familiar to me were gone. The food and the music that I took for granted had disappeared. Worst of all, I had no one to speak Spanish with. When I finally found a job I celebrated by having dinner in a real Mexican restaurant. I went as much for the chance to talk to the waiter as the food. On my way home I thought for the first time how much harder it must be for Latino immigrants than it was for me. After all, I was really just a bilingual gringo who was having trouble getting used to bad tortillas. They had to adapt to a totally new culture, often with limited English skills. Unlike my students who could have stayed in the 'parallel stream' of Spanish speaking L.A., in Toronto the mainstream demanded that they change to fit in.

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Unlike my students who could have stayed in the
'parallel stream' of Spanish speaking L.A., in Toronto
the mainstream demanded that they change to fit in.
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After a while my homesickness passed and I found stores that sold the things that I missed. I even found libraries that had Spanish language books. When my friend Ana Ponce visited from Los Angeles, she said that she loved Toronto but couldn't live here. When I asked why, she said, "It's a great city, but you need more Mexicans".

Ponce grew up around the corner from the University of Southern California where football and frat parties are a way of life. In Ponce's neighborhood, however, it was fútbol and norteña music that predominated. Though only a few minutes away from USC, the area around Jefferson and 32nd is almost completely Latino. Carnicerías, mercados, salones de belleza and panaderías abound. Most are Latino owned. Though by no means affluent, the people who live there have created businesses to serve the community. Services are not just in Spanish, but also in the style of Mexico and El Salvador.

The stores have all the ingredients for mole and the shelves are stocked with Mexican brands like ChocoMilk and Maseca. The carnicerías offer meat butchered just like back home. The music stores blast out the latest banda from Banda Machos y Los Tigres del Norte. The panadería makes perfect bolillos and cakes for the quinceañeras. Fresh, hot tortillas are delivered every day to the local grocery stores. Even the neighborhood schools have changed. As part of the Los Angeles Unified School District's bilingualism policy, Spanish speaking children now learn in Spanish first, and then, once literacy is acquired, move on to English.

It is a self-contained world apart from USC and the anglo neighborhoods to the North. Though many, if not most, of the people who live there speak English, they don't usually need to. There are TV and radio stations that broadcast twenty four hours a day in Spanish. Even the Los Angeles Times has a Spanish edition. The nightly news isn't repackaged or rebroadcast from Mexico or any other country. Instead it's straight from Los Angeles, in Spanish, with local, state, federal and international stories. The newest Mexican telenovelas often reach southern California before they arrive in many countries in South America.

Throughout the city there are stores and factories where all the employees and all the supervisors speak Spanish. Of course the best jobs require English but to simply earn a living in Los Angeles you don't have to be able to hold a conversation en inglés. Ana's parents have never learned English and neither have some of her older siblings, but it has never stopped them from finding good jobs or making a better life for their kids. Since coming to the United States, the Ponce family has been moving up the economic ladder - English or no English. Their experience is neither new nor unique.

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Even if the opportunity to increase profits
is their only motivation, for someone new to the
country it makes life a little easier, and perhaps even a bit
friendlier that car dealerships advertise in Spanish.

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Latinos in Los Angeles have reached a sort of demographic critical mass which has led to a kind of freedom that Latino immigrants in other parts of North America never feel. It's not because the city is an open, non-racist place. In fact there is plenty of evidence to the contrary. But being such a large group creates strength in numbers. Today, local, state and federal politicians from primarily Latino districts voice the concerns of the community and advocate on their behalf. Less important, but symbolically significant, for Latinos in Los Angeles there is the knowledge that someone like them, someone who understands their point of view holds an elected office.

It doesn't mean the police will treat Spanish speakers any better, but it does mean that the media, the business community and public institutions have to notice them and, at least sometimes, respond to their needs. A whole range of Spanish language media (radio, television and print) is filled with advertisements from companies large and small all aimed at the millions of Spanish speakers in southern California. Even if the opportunity to increase profits is their only motivation, for someone new to the country it makes life a little easier, perhaps even a bit friendlier that car dealerships advertise in Spanish. Being able to read the ads and deal with the salespeople in Spanish is a small but important freedom that most of us don't notice unless we have lived somewhere else and been out of the linguistic loop. Latinos outside of southern California don't have the same advantages.

In other cities in North America, with a few exceptions like Miami and New York, the experience of simply being Latino can be totally different. As part of a smaller group in an environment that requires English just to find work and to shop, there is always the reminder that you are different. This feeling is, of course, not limited to Latinos but is shared by most immigrants. Often touted as one of the most diverse cities on the planet, Toronto is a true urban mosaic. Hundreds of languages and nationalities thrive in the metro area of about 3.5 million people. Though many foreigners think of Canada as being a pretty 'white' place, the reality in Toronto is quite different. People from Asia, Africa, South Asia, South America, Europe and the Caribbean have transformed Toronto. It's definitely not all peace, love and harmony but in general things work pretty well.

Unlike Los Angeles, in Toronto Latinos make up a relatively small, though growing, part of the population. In fact, in terms of numbers there is no single immigrant group that stands head and shoulders above the rest. Riding the subway, one hears dozens of different languages, but, aside from English, there isn't one that predominates. Because of Canada's official bilingualism, one sees French all the time - on packaging and signs in any public facility - but it doesn't mean you hear it all the time. In contrast, California may have adopted an English only policy but Spanish is everywhere in Los Angeles. Buses, schools, government offices and thousands of privately owned businesses post signs in Spanish. Plus, you can hear it in just about every part of the city. In Toronto, meanwhile, there are areas where you see and hear Spanish but it's usually mixed in with a lot of other languages.

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He chose Toronto in part, he says, "because so many
of my friends went to Los Angeles or other parts of California and
when they came back they hadn't learned any English.

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In the media, Spanish has to share space with other languages too. There is no all-Spanish radio or television station simply because there isn't a large enough audience for it. Instead, there are Spanish broadcasts at certain times of day on stations that also have programming in Chinese, Italian, Portuguese or Hindi. In print, there are a couple of small newspapers and magazines in Spanish, but that's it.

All this forces Latinos to mix more. Whereas in Los Angeles they have practically created a 'parallel stream', Latinos in Toronto don't have that luxury. Because that critical mass of people is missing here, English is a prerequisite for success. People must go out of their own communities for work and play. Living in all Spanish-speaking environment is virtually impossible.

All this isn't necessarily bad of course. Some people even want to come to Toronto because they like it that way. Daniel Monroy came to Toronto last year from Mexico City. He chose Toronto in part, he says, "because so many of my friends went to Los Angeles or other parts of California and when they came back they hadn't learned any English. Coming here, I think can be a richer cultural experience since you have to interact with so many other people. English opens up many doors". Despite his openness, Monroy sometimes found the adjustment to life here difficult. "I missed my family and friends obviously. Maybe things would have been easier in a place like L.A. because of the language and because so many things - you know, music, food, stuff like that- would have been familiar".

Canadian winters make a new comer's life even more difficult. "It was very isolating", says Monroy. "When winter came all my neighbors just disappeared. The only people I saw were the people I worked with". In Los Angeles, where the ice cream truck comes every day of the year, the climate doesn't conspire against making new friends. In Latino neighborhoods, you see people outside all year long talking and playing. The lack of social contact can be very hard. So far though, things in Toronto have worked out well for Monroy and he plans to stay. Eventually he found many of the things he missed about home anyway. "Most of the things you can find here if you look hard enough. It's not obvious but there are a lot of stores that sell Latin American products. As for friends, the other Latinos here are really welcoming".

Despite my initial culture shock, I love living in Toronto and appreciate all that it has to offer. With time, I either found the things that I missed or found new things to replace them. Last weekend in the park near my house, there was even a 'Latin Festival' with music, food and dancing. 15,000 people attended and I heard more people speaking Spanish than I ever imagined possible in Toronto. I even got to eat real tortillas.