Sydney Warshaw
Sydney was born in Montreal, Canada, and has lived there her whole life. Though her early career aspirations included mad scientist and ballerina doctor, a failed music career led her to cultural theory, which led her to Jewish community development, which led her to law school. She hopes to one day work as a lawyer for the social movements and causes that she is passionate about. Sydney is interested, in particular, in gender equality and girl’s empowerment, intellectual property and games, and food security, the last of which is connected to her work as a food entrepreneur with The Wandering Chew, which she founded in 2013 together with Kat Romanow after participating in the ROI Connection Point, Nu Montreal. The Wandering Chew is a two-woman food collective that introduces Montrealers to the diversity of Jewish cuisines and communities in their city through innovative food events. As co-director, -curator, -researcher, -chef, and -artistic director, Sydney has produced pop-up meals that feature the food and stories of Montreal’s Iraqi, Mexican, Scandinavian, and Italian Jews. In partnership with the Museum of Jewish Montreal she has re-created a 1930’s shmata factory snack counter, and a 1960’s Moroccan bakery, serving knishes, pickles, and cookies to thousands of visitors as part of Montreal’s Nuit Blanche. These events, which are only a snapshot of what The Wandering Chew does, have allowed Sydney to entwine herself in the cultural fabric of Montreal, as well as a wider community of Jewish food entrepreneurs across North America.