After two-and-a-half years of image-macro-based mockery and outrage—some genuine, some feigned—Daniel Braden, the man behind the “McGill Memes” Facebook page and Tumblr microblog, is graduating from McGill and moving to Boston to work on a congressional campaign. This week, the Tribune sat down with Braden to take stock of the satire of the years since the site’s launch in November 2011.

McGill Tribune: What prompted you to start the site?

Daniel Braden: Honestly, looking back on it, it was really just me realizing the funny contradictions that make up McGill. I was living with a writer for the McGill Daily at the time; she was lovely, but a lot of her friends I found very intriguing and very representative of McGill—people who would go on to do the Nov. 10 occupation, #6party, etc. I started it as an inside joke, really.

MT: Could you elaborate on these contradictions?

DB: I think one of the things I noticed were the number of people who seemed to be very wealthy. Many of them would be protesting the tuition hikes and the horrors of capitalism, but would wear expensive clothes and have expensive electronics. While that doesn’t mean you can’t have principles, these people didn’t seem to align with what you would think they would believe in.

MT: What have you found most interesting in your time running “McGill Memes”? 

DB: There were times I posted things I thought would absolutely cause an uproar, and they never did. For example, riffing off the stereotype that the Cybertheque library is frequented by East Asians. Those memes were racially insensitive, what you would call a “microaggression,” and I was pretty surprised no one really complained.

MT: Do you think you’ve managed to say anything meaningful about the university and/or its students through your satire?

DB: I actually do. I don’t want to say I’m the one true voice of McGill, because that’s not true at all. But I think I did point out things that no one discussed openly. Chief among those is the lack of service in French at McGill and the lack of full translation, outside of official McGill communications, which is notable considering there are many translation students who would be able to perform such services. English is something McGill’s anglophone students really take for granted.

MT: How hard was it to come up with material?

DB: When I first started with the strikes, the Nov. 10 occupations, #6party, and the AUS GA, it literally wrote itself. Last year was a bit hard, and it has gotten progressively harder. “McGill Memes” would probably not have gotten started were it not for the provincial and student politics in late 2011-2012.

MT: Characterize your political views in a campus context.

DB: A constantly surprised and exasperated observer. One thing that McGill politics has taught me is that nothing is too petty or too small to be taken seriously. That said, this tendency is also a great source of comedic material.

MT: Give an example of particularly petty politics.

DB: We all had to live through ‘Farnangate,’ and we’re still living through the hangover of that. While I’m not a person of color and there could be legitimate reasons for the complaint, at surface value, it was one of the pettiest things I’ve seen in my time at McGill. You would have had to have gone so far out of your way to be offended to that point.

MT: Do you think students should care more about student politics? 

DB: Yeah, I think that you can care about student politics without necessarily being angry and needlessly indignant, but I think McGill is too apathetic about these things. There’s a way to be involved in student politics without being overly tiresome.

MT: What did you think of the SSMU elections saga?

DB: What I will say about the election is that as a voter, I am angry; but as a comedian, I am delighted. There couldn’t be a better way for SSMU to end the year and for me to end my four years. On top of everything, even back to the bike gates, I am so happy that my last few weeks here will be spent hashing these failed lease negotiations and then this electoral curveball.

MT: Do you feel a sense of responsibility knowing that your more political posts are the only source of information many students get about campus news, perhaps even provincial politics?

DB: Absolutely not. If you are using my page as your only source of provincial and campus political news, you need to wake up. Additionally, while I’ve had people ask me to put up posts about their pet issues/campaigns, I really don’t think this page has that much of an impact. I don’t feel terribly responsible for it on that front.

MT: What do you hope students took out of the page?

DB: A sense of humour. McGill doesn’t really have one. It’s not a funny school. The funniest thing I’ve seen is “Lot’s wife, McGill”—and that is funny—but that’s it. They call the University of Chicago the place where fun goes to die; this is where your sense of humor just goes to wither.

MT: Do you have any plans for the “McGill Memes” page after you finish?

DB: I did originally want to try to find someone to pass it on to. As it stands, I have plans for a grand finale, but I don’t think it’s going to keep on going.

This interview was edited and condensed by Abraham Moussako.

What better way to eat out than to try everything on the menu? The food trend of small plates dining allows you to do just that.

The culinary style is nothing new—many cuisines have long offered bite-size samplings. Cantonese dim sum, for instance, came from snacks served to travellers along the Silk Road in China. Nowadays, these traditional dishes including dumplings, steam buns, and rice noodle rolls, are shared with family on the weekend.

Chefs around the world and across Montreal are embracing the concept of creating bite-size servings so diners can try a wider variety of their creations.

However, successfully crafting a bite that satisfies and intertwines complexity in each dish  is not an easy task. Chefs must balance the flavours and provide the perfect contrast of acidity and salt, or sweet and savoury—there cannot be one superfluous ingredient—while maintaining a pleasing overall aesthetic.

“[It’s] about flavour first[… then] balance, texture, and plating,” pointed out Carlo Mirachi, chef and owner of restaurants Blanca and Roberta’s in Brooklyn, New York.

Another example is Italian antipasti (“before the meal”), which is more centred on the social aspect of dining rather than the food. Served before the main course, antipasti includes many options, such as cured meats, mozzarella and provolone cheese, and vegetables in oil and vinegar.

“The gesture [of serving antipasti] is the symbol […] for a noisy laughing group of family and friends gathered around a table, nudging one another out of the way to reach over and taste something new,” renowned Italian chef Mario Batali was quoated in Food & Wine Magazine.

Vanya Filipovic, a partner at Montreal restaurant Le Vin Papillon, said this serving style is key to creating a pleasing atmosphere.

“[The menu] is really designed to create conversation [and sharing]; it changes all the time,” Filipovic said.

At Le Vin Papillon, chef Marc-Olivier Frappier presents small-plate cuisine utlizing seasonal vegetables. One of the most crave-worthy plates is charred, roasted Brussel sprouts covered with ham from acorn-fed pigs. Another dish worth mentioning is a roasted cauliflower steak sprinkled with caramelized onions, capers, and crispy chicken skin.

Small plates are designed to foster sharing and experimentation. Chefs have found that customers are more willing to try new foods if there is always another dish present.

Iannict Lessard is the chef for tartare bar Lustucru in Montreal, where the pint-sized dining approach to minced, raw creations has been applied.

“We wanted people to experience different types of tartares and to encourage people to enjoy the diversity of the tartares, [so] we thought it best to serve them tapas-style to inspire sharing and trying something new,” he said.

The Plateau restaurant offers some more eccentric raw presentations including shark carpaccio served with strawberries and horse tataki with mango salsa. The Vitello Tonato is especially good, with an encrusted veal tenderloin served atop panko-fried tuna with capers and a fresh dill sauce laced with cucumbers.

Montreal has a range of restaurants that go beyond the typical small-plates experiences. Opened in June, Bar Bouyna offers fresh and delicious Turkish mezze—a feature of Middle Eastern cuisine that comes at the beginning of all large meals and can include foods such as hummus, falafel, tahini, kofte, and halloumi cheese.

Chef Fisun honours classical Mediterranean cooking techniques such as grilling and heavily spicing, and creates plates including Mackerel Escabeche (poached fish), chickpea salad tossed in tomato sauce and black garlic yogurt, and duck kebab with fig confit.

Lastly, Spanish “tapas” are perhaps one of the most well-known examples of small-plates meals. In Spain, dinner can be served as late as midnight, which creates a large amount of time between the end of the workday and dinner. To pass the time, it is common to go bar hopping after work and eat tapas while enjoying a drink—tapas often come free as long as the alcohol is flowing. Customary dishes include olives, aioli on bread, calamari, and chorizo.

To get your tapas fix in Montreal, visit Los Pintxos—a traditional tapas bar serving specialties such as pepper gazpacho, grilled prawns, and a marinated sardine filet with avocado.

Ferran Adria, the creative mastermind behind ElBulli restaurant in Spain explains the appeal of tapas for both diners and chefs. He says cooking in such a manner allows him to embrace “passion for what [he does], freedom, sharing, and risk-taking.”

From Spanish tapas to Cantonese dim sum, small plates are taking off. Take advantage of the countless options in and around Montreal to enjoy your own small-plates dining experience. Recruit a big group of friends, find a restaurant, and enjoy the company with some impeccable food.