Family, Hard Work & Philotimo

Written by Alecs Kakon

Photos by Jen Fellegi

Although my family dynamic is very different today than it was growing up, I can vividly remember how integral family time was my daily life and general upbringing. Being raised by my parents and extended family alike, we would spend full days together, convening in one aunt’s house where we would stay all day to eat, play, dance, eat again; at any given time, all of the children were the shared responsibility of any given grown up who was around. I have a pretty large family, all living within a 500-metre radius of each other, and so when we all got together, there were a lot of us kids making a ruckus, getting into trouble and making problems, but we made up our own community, and the memories are chockfull of laughter and fun. Growing up with my half-Moroccan, half-Eastern European Jewish families, my cultural identity was such that family was one of, if not the most valued pillar, one that must be protected and respected, placed above all else. As a kid, I took that for granted, because, well, I was a kid and it’s all I knew. But as I’ve grown, I realize that what our family had was unique and quite exceptional. Many families grow up with just their immediate family: maybe a sibling, maybe not, maybe both parents, maybe not (maybe a few steps and halfs), maybe they lived in the same city, maybe not, and all variations of a “nuclear” family. It was special that my uncle took me out every Sunday, it was unique that so many of my first cousins actually felt more like brothers and sisters, and it was remarkable, looking back on it now, just how close my parents were to their siblings; so close in fact, that filters and pretense never stood a chance—it was all candid, all the time… Sitting down with Maggie, I learned that our families were more alike than one would presume. Even though we come from different ethnic origin, family is what comes above all else. Family is a source of strength, it’s a reference for identity, and it acts as a reminder that life is more than the singular, individual life, it is philotimo.

Raised in a Greek Orthodox home, Maggie is a first-generation Canadian born to immigrants from Kalamata, Greece. Growing up, Maggie lived with her parents and sister, as well as her grandparents. “My grandparents raised us. My parents were at work making a living and my grandparents were at home with us,” she explains. “So much of what I learned comes from them. Because we had the chance to live with them, I got to hear so many of their stories and I’m grateful for that. They instilled great values in us.” Reminiscing about her younger years, Maggie reflects about how hard it must’ve been for her family to emigrate to Canada. Not speaking the language, confronted with their own survival skills to make a life for themselves in a foreign (freezing) land, ingrained with fear from the war, family, she realizes, is all they had. She explained how the Canadian government paid a hundred dollars a head for labour from Greece, so a lot of people flocked in this direction. She talked about how her father worked food-to-mouth building business after business trying to catch a break and make a life for his family in Montreal. He put in a lot of hard work, he suffered greatly, yet after a few failed attempts, Maggie’s father started a meatpacking company that turned things around for their family. Out on Park avenue, where many of the European immigrant families lived (think Mordechai Richler’s The Apprenticeship of Duddy Kravitz), Maggie’s instilled sense of community and contribution put her to task.

Spending mornings working to help her family in the meat factory, Maggie would make a little extra cash so she could pay for extra-curricular activities, Maggie says: “I remember cutting 300 pounds of meat at 8 years old, hands all the way down a machine. I mean, covered in meat, so I could make enough money to go see a movie at the Rialto. I would work every Saturday morning until 2pm, for what? To make enough money to see a movie. That’s crazy.” Crazy, but Maggie’s work ethic can find a clear thread to her past, learning to take pride in a job well done, the importance of being self-sufficient, and pitching into the family business to serve the greater good.

Always connected to her cultural heritage, Maggie grew up amidst a Greek community in Montreal, but she felt a constant pull to the mainland. In 2013, Maggie decided to leave Montreal for a few months and learn more about herbs and olive oil straight from the source with the intention of returning and starting her own business. It didn’t take long for nature to seep into her pores and teach Maggie one of the most transformative lessons of her life. “I grew up around meat, I worked with it, I ate, what have you. But I was disconnected from the fact that meat is an animal,” Maggie recalls. “I can still remember sitting on the top of a mountain, looking out, feeling the energy of the earth under me and all around me. I realized just how much of an urbanite I was and exactly what that meant. The city life was noisy, it divorces you from really understanding what you are eating. But in Greece, with the serenity of the quiet life, it all became clear.” Maggie returned to Montreal, and began the next chapter of her life: Mouton Vert. A real farm-to-table experience, Mouton Vert is a manifestation of Maggie’s values: simple, biodynamic foods, and a healthy more sustainable way of living. Having poured her heart and soul into her restaurant, Maggie created a home for herself at Mouton Vert. Inspired with the same traditions she grew up on, Mouton Vert is Maggie’s community, her family, her home. “I’ve created my own version of Greece right here in NDG. I’ve fallen in love with this place, and because of MV, my life is full. It’s the hardest I’ve ever worked, but it’s the happiest I’ve ever been.”

Growing up in Montreal gave Maggie a lot more freedom of self-expression than she would’ve had had she grown up in Greece. As she grew aware of her sexual orientation in her early 20s, Maggie ruminates about how hard it would have been to live as an openly gay woman in her hometown of Kalamata. She is grateful that regardless of the challenges she’s faced in her home here in Montreal, she still feels complete acceptance to be the person she is, because her family supports her as long as she is happy. With remarkable insight, Maggie’s resilience lends itself to understanding how fortunate she is to have had a profound relationship with her family members, who have all had a crucial role in shaping her belief system and way she sees the world.

“I was taught philotimo: respect others, take pride in your community, and think of others before you think of yourself. This is an important lesson, because it teaches you to value those around you; it teaches you to value the greater good.” Maggie’s sense of ‘the greater good,’ which seems to extend far past her immediate family, is in consonance with Robert Baden-Powell’s belief that we should “leave the world a little better than you found it.” A quote that resonates with the essence of what Maggie brought back with her from Greece when she brought Mouton Vert to our city. With a sincere sense of loyalty to her beliefs, Maggie fills our hearts with warmth, our bellies with healthy foods, and brings laughter and love to anyone who has ever walked through those Mouton Vert doors.