I am a member of a Google Group called KW Eats, ostensibly dedicated to the gastronomic experience in and around KW.

The tone ranges from conversational to quite snobby, as expected, but there is genuinely useful information shared from time to time, and culinary gems are found.

However. I have come across a new variant of what I deemed the “Toronto Lovers“. Except these guys (to date I don’t believe I have seen posts by any other women) take it up a notch. I shall call them “Anywhere But Here”.

To wit…

I even had a feeling of “maybe this is starting to be a real city” as we approached the restaurant, between the funny looking bank building in the next block, the reasonable amount of foot traffic on the street, and the guy who spare-changed me. It made me grin a bit. — Name withheld to protect the elitist…

Right. This has now led to a thread on other “real” cities people have been to this year. Who cares? With the exception of one person, they’re not even talking about food in these places.

No, Kitchener-Waterloo is not Toronto. Or Montreal. Or New York, San Francisco, London, Paris, Tokyo, or Sydney. Never was, never will be. Sure, it’s going to get bigger and more populated and have a wider range of businesses, cultures, and skin colours. And it will get dirtier and more annoying to drive in and have more panhandlers, probably. And to a certain segment of the population it will always be second-class and slightly embarrassing. Like being found out for bringing an ugly cousin to the prom.

That these people in the group are originally from other places I’ve no doubt. However, what I find particularly entertaining is how many of them appear to be tied to academia (particularly the University of Waterloo). Not only are they living, working, raising families, and dining out here, they have presumably chosen to be here for their careers, at an institution that is inextricably linked to Here. The same place that it embarrasses them to admit they live, and that they long to transform into something bigger, louder, and less personal is what garners them professional esteem and an opportunity to teach, to research, and to pursue their passions (hopefully). Things they (presumably) didn’t get an opportunity to do in the cities where they originated.

KW is growing and changing. How many of us head out on the town with our horses and buggies these days? It’s growing and changing both in ways that the area needs to grow and change, and in the ways all areas that are experiencing rapid urban advancement are suffering. Sure, they’re transforming old factories into gorgeous loft complexes all over town. They’re also throwing up ugly, cramped, overpriced housing as fast as they can get the drywall compound to dry. We’re getting a medical school, UW continues to develop impressive credentials and associations, and Conestoga College is regularly honoured with awards. And we still have squeegee kids and people panhandling in front of the cafes on King Street and racially-motivated attacks in Victoria park. We are a major centre for entrepreneurship and innovation, and we have Goodyear closing and RIM as the 800lb gorilla eclipsing everyone else and functioning rather too often as a meat grinder for great talent.

Part of the reason there is a dearth of excellent multicultural dining experiences here in the city is because the people with the exotic-sounding names are not opening restaurants. They’re teaching engineering to some of the brightest minds in North America and delving into the mysteries of quantum computing. But I suppose it’s hard to remember that when you’re shovelling in the Korean BBQ with one hand and the Ye’s Sushi with the other and complaining all the while about what a backwater this is without a decent Kazakhstani place in town.

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