As I walked into Terroni’s, a quaint Italian eatery on Queen Street, I slipped into a booth close to the window waiting for my guest to arrive. Amongst the hustle and bustle of the lunch crowd coming in, my ears tuned in to the distinct sound of a friendly English accent.

He’s an actor, a host, and has a clever sense of humour, but most of all Carlo Rota is an outgoing individual who appreciates cultures, great food, and loves putting on a performance.

As host of The Great Canadian Food Show, he travels around Canada meeting a variety of unique people and trying some of the best dishes our country has to offer.  Rota’s most rewarding, yet challenging part of the show is when he gathers with featured guests for a celebratory meal.

“During the end part of the show…I have to exist on four different levels, I am eating and drinking, entertaining people and keeping them fluid on camera, trying to put on the show, and trying to keep to a certain time schedule,” Rota describes.

His career path, which started in the food industry with the influence of his father, who was a chef, changed in his late twenties when he realized acting was his true passion. 

“It literally hit me one day, that what I really did well, was that I wasn’t a food restaurateur or great business man, actually I was a pathetic business man.  But what I did do well and what I really enjoyed was the performance, so that is what I decided to do,” Rota says.

After his epiphany just before his 30^th birthday, much to his parent’s dismay, Carlo left the restaurant industry to pursue his passion for acting.  He was determined to gain knowledge about acting anyway he could, from taking classes, to rehearsing scenes in his apartment with friends. He even taught Italian in his apartment to pay the rent.

As his acting career began, Rota told his agent he didn’t want any roles related to food.  But a call came in for a food show host, and he decided to see what it was all about.

It wasn’t his demo tape full of ‘bad guy’ roles that won him the part as host of the Great Canadian Food Show. It was his wit that endeared him to the show’s producer. He embellished on his resume by listing himself as a “specialist in gastronomy”.

“No one ever looked at it (his resume) and thought, oh gastronomy, let’s hire this guy,” Rota laughs.

But they did, and he’s been at it ever since.

From helping old ladies make perogies in Saskatchewan, baking pies and waiting tables at Marj’s Diner in Aylmer, Ontario, to savoring geese and caribou in beautiful Churchill, Manitoba, Rota has experienced some of Canada’s hidden treasures.

However, taste testing can be a challenge, especially on screen, Rota says.  But there are secret signals he gives to the director when his taste buds aren’t happy.

“I have a subtle way of conveying that information to the director of the show, so we either stop rolling, or he knows we’re not going to include that in the show. Sometimes you get perfectly lovely people, who are very nice and I don’t want to offend them by going, ‘Jesus Christ that tastes like shit’,” Rota explains.

Aside from just taping 13 new episodes for the Great Canadian Food Show, Rota has a successful acting career.  He has appeared in several independent films, had roles on La Femme Nikita and Relic Hunter, and has recently taped episodes for Nero Wolfe and Queer As Folk, just to name a few.

“I love acting, I absolutely love it.  I love the process, I love being able to tell a story through a character, I love all aspects of the performance,” Rota says.

- Photograph courtesy Carlo Rota

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