Randy Davis has been living with HIV since 2015, and has been working to smash the stigma around HIV ever since.
Davis is one of the HIV-positive chefs to take part in the June’s HIV+ Eatery event hosted by Casey House to create awareness around men and women who live with immuno-deficiency virus.
Casey House, the specialty hospital in Toronto, will be hosting its annual fundraising event on June 14, 15 and 16.
Casey House at the corner of Jarvis and Isabella Streets cares for people living with and at risk of HIV, providing inpatient and outpatient services.
June’s HIV+ Eatery has been running since 2017 to launch the Casey House #smashstigma campaign, and is named after Casey House founder and Canadian activist June Callwood.
This three night dining experience are evenings filled with food from chefs who have partnered up with Casey House to support the campaign.
Research done by Casey House found that 53 per cent of Canadians said they would not eat a meal prepared by someone who has HIV and this was what started this event.
Davis told Humber News he is glad to be a part of June’s HIV+ Eatery as this is another way he can further his activism with HIV awareness.
“Being a part of June’s HIV+ Eatery gives me the opportunity to show folks one example of what the reality of living with HIV looks like and hopefully help smash some long standing stigma by being authentically me,” Davis said.
Davis also works to dismantle stigma in his role as a gay men’s sexual health coordinator at The Gilbert Centre in Barrie, Ont.
“Stigma impacts health on all levels,” he said. “It is more insidious than the HIV virus itself in that it attacks our mental health first, which in turn affects us physically and we can never be sure of when or where stigma will take hold of us.”
Matt Basile, founder of the Toronto-based street food truck company Fidel Gastro’s, is also a chef who has taken part in the event in collaboration with multiple HIV-positive cooks.
Basile told Humber News in an email statement that the reason he wanted to be a part of June’s JHIV+ Eatery was because of the statistic that most Canadians wouldn’t eat a meal prepared by someone living with HIV.
“To me nothing is meant to bring people together more than a well cooked meal,” he said. “Then this stat comes along and destroys that sentiment, which to me said that there is still a negative stigma about HIV that needed to be addressed.”
Basile said he is fortunate to to be involved with Casey House and June’s and is honoured to have been able to contribute in any way possible.
Casey House’s goal for this event is to bring people together around a table to see through the stigma and recognize the individuals behind the label HIV+ brings hope to the community.