Tucking into Canada’s multiculturalism, one pizza slice at a time | Canada Voices

Canada’s history of inventing and naming food is an interesting one. Despite its name, the Hawaiian pizza was invented by Sam Panopoulos, a Greek-born Canadian in Chatham-Kent, Ont. Sticking pineapple on a pizza may have sparked criticism from pizza evangelists ever since, but throwing the rule book out of the window opened the doors for everything from sushi pizza (invented in Ontario by Toronto’s now-closed Nami restaurant) to toppings like Montreal smoked meat or tandoori paneer. One slice at a time, these four non-conventional pizza shops are sparking cultural curiosity while building a sense of community.

These campers are bringing their hot pot and chicken tikka to the great outdoors

Back in the early 1960s, Abraham Salloum emigrated to Canada from Lebanon. A decade later, he officially took over one of the original donair shops in Halifax from the Gamoulakos brothers in 1976. Fifty years on, Tony’s Donair is still very much a family-operated business, with the next generation now at the helm. “This one little shop has raised families,” shares co-manager Leo Salloum.

Over the years, we’ve seen the cultural heritage of the donair adapt and evolve to the Maritimes with each round of migration. “When we introduced hand-tossed, New York-style pizza into our menu, it was almost a natural occurrence,” Salloum explains of the switch from pita to pizza dough to hold their spice-laden donair meat and signature sweet sauce.

While the family can’t pinpoint exactly how and when they first experimented, the donair is now internationally recognized as the official food of Halifax. “We listened to what people want,” he adds. “Something so unique has become so common in our local community. You’ve got to put a certain amount of cheese here in Halifax, or else they’re not calling it a pizza, right?”

Salloum credits his father for keeping things simple and consistent without cutting corners, as well as the generations of patrons who helped sustain his family’s business. “One of the lucky things about Canada is the openness of people to try it and make it their own, to create that evolution of food and culture,” he says. “My family came here with practically nothing, grew through food, and introduced the donair pizza to Canadian culture.”

Levant opened in Toronto’s Bloorcourt neighbourhood in 2021. After the death of his mother, co-founder Nader Qawasmi spent a decade learning Palestinian recipes rooted in his childhood. “I knew deep in my heart that I would open a restaurant that reflected who I am, which is someone born and raised in Canada, but also with a Palestinian identity,” says Qawasmi. “I knew deep in my heart that I would open a restaurant that reflected who I am, which is someone born and raised in Canada, but also with a Palestinian identity,” says Qawasmi.

Levant’s ever-evolving menu is stacked with Middle Eastern flavours that Qawasmi and his Lebanese business partner, Tamer Agha, grew up eating. From “Sumac ‘Musakhan’” (a riff on Palestine’s beloved national dish with sumac-caramelized onions, seven-spice chicken confit, pickled slaw and parsley) to “Hot & Fresh Labneh” (roasted tomato, za’atar, arugula and tahini), each is baked on a sky-high, Sicilian-style focaccia base, which is cold-fermented for four days until light and airy. Levant’s most popular slice is its Syrian chicken shawarma (a garlic sauce called toum, a ton of spicy tahini and pomegranate molasses). “When people have it, they’re experiencing something totally different, and they enjoy it every time.”

It wasn’t until a year into the business that they began playing with a “not pizza” title. “We knew we were pushing the boundaries of two cultures,” Qawasmi says, not wanting to offend Italians while also acknowledging cultural traditions of mana’ish (an iconic flatbread in the Levant). “Everybody who wrote a five-star review would always say, ‘This is not your typical pizza,’ like a warning of sorts. We just leaned into that identity. Why are we trying to be something we’re not?”

For Qawasmi, food reminds us of the universal threads that bind our humanity. “You can connect any dish across the world, as long as you can find the common thread that connects them – and that transcends to humans as well.”

Steven Che’s journey to co-founding Just Pizza began with stints at three-Michelin-starred Maaemo in Norway and the now-closed Restaurant Orana in Australia. It was during his time at Oslo’s renowned Ille Brod bakery that the Chinese-Canadian chef entered the world of sourdough, regularly experimenting with a whole host of fun toppings at their pizza pop-ups.

Since 2024, he and Filipino-Canadian co-owner Jan Natividad have built a different kind of pizza joint: one that incorporates 10 per cent dark rye flour into its sourdough base for extra character and toppings that reflect Vancouver’s cultural diversity. “When someone takes a bite of our ‘Filipino Breakfast,’ for example, we want it to hit like they’re eating longganisa on garlic rice with the pickled vegetables on the side,” says Che.

It’s clear that the co-owners are having fun with the brand. On top of an adventurous menu, a monthly feature allows the team to dabble with flavour combinations that mean something to them. So far, we’ve seen everything from Alicia Lan’s Chinese claypot rice pizza (featuring marinated chicken, braised mushrooms, lap cheong sausage, sweet soy sauce and puffed rice) to head chef Arsham Atqiaee’s Iranian koobideh kebab pizza (smoked tomato sauce, zeytoon parvardeh – marinated olives with walnuts – and sumac onions).

The reaction has been overwhelmingly positive, especially among the West Coast’s Filipino community. “You can see their pride and excitement about it after seeing their culture represented,” says Che with a smile.

The Pizza Maru franchise is best known for its signature green-tea pizza dough and Korean combinations. Originating in Korea, the chain has a staggering 650 stores worldwide (and counting), including outlets in Toronto, Vancouver and Calgary.

First-time business owner and former banker Seong Pyo and his family opened the Lougheed branch in February, 2024. Having moved from Seoul to Canada’s West Coast in December, 2019, he thought he’d open a sushi restaurant. As time went on, he settled on the pizza franchise. “When I came to Canada, I tried a lot of pizza, but I never saw any with seafood toppings, like shrimp. I thought that differentiation could become a real strength.”

That hunch proved to be correct. Today, 80 per cent of orders feature Pizza Maru’s “Signature Shrimbul” (shrimp, beef bulgogi, sweet ranch sauce, paprika seasoning and sour cream). According to the co-owner, other combinations – like the Korean bulgogi (marinated beef with pizza sauce, cheese, mushrooms and bell peppers) and “Holy Honey Sweet Potato” (diced sweet potato, sweet potato mousse, corn and onion) – are also proving popular among Koreans and non-Koreans alike. “Sweet pizzas: Koreans love them.”

As the co-owner reflects on his journey to owning a business, he shares how slinging pizzas was a nostalgic choice for him. “When I was young, my mom would buy me pizza from Pizza Hut on special days like my graduation,” he says. “I cannot forget that time. I always used to order a combination pizza, so every time I eat pizza, it reminds me of little me.”