Entering the Year of the Horse
As we step into the Year of the Horse, some of us are breathing a little easier. The past year felt ominous for people whose zodiac signs were said to “clash” with the year. Of course, we hope for a better year every year, but lately that hope feels less like a cliché and more like a necessity. It’s hard not to feel it when you see people suffering, in one way or another, wherever you go.
This past week, we published our first female profile, featuring a close friend of ours and a powerful example of leadership: Yifei Guo. She has taken on the responsibility of managing a business facing real difficulties, and she’s determined to turn that challenge into her legacy. This profile is long overdue, because one of the reasons we built Snout & Seek in the first place was to tell the stories of women in the food industry who are fighting their way forward and creating change. And while this is a series centered on women, it has never been only about women. Along this journey, we’ve met countless cooks, chefs, bartenders, technicians, and artisans whose work remains unseen simply because they lack resources and exposure.
Now that we’ve crossed the first quarter of this century, it’s becoming harder to look away from a simple truth: life is not fair. Some people are born into wealth, security, and respect. Others are simply trying to survive. The gap between the rich and the poor keeps widening, and with it comes the uneven distribution of power, opportunities, and support.
I could never call us underdogs. We are lucky. We were born into families that gave us resources, and we’re also fortunate to have something else: the ability to empathize, and the willingness to stay open to what we see around us. We love the good things in life: great food, good wine, moments of beauty and craft. And we still believe in life in the sense that we want those things to stay, to last, and to matter. But it’s painful to watch wonderful restaurants close. It’s painful to see how some high end places exist because of the “affluent past” behind them, while talented people with no safety net have to climb endlessly, just to earn a tiny fraction of what the top 1% already have. That’s reality. We don’t deny it.
But we still want to do something. Even if it’s small. Even if it only shifts the spotlight a little. We want to make room for the people who are too often treated like nobodies, and to diversify what the world gets to see, value, and celebrate.
That’s why we’re excited about the year ahead. We’re welcoming new members to our team, and with them, new stories and cultural heritage that deserve to be heard. For us, food is a vessel. It carries who we are, what we care about, and where our hearts lie.
As the Japanese writer Haruki Murakami once wrote:
“Between a high, solid wall and an egg that breaks against it, I will always stand on the side of the egg."
Now, more than ever, we want to tell the stories of overlooked people, to stand beside them, and to face the wall with them. Thank you for your support and we will see you soon.
A Tianjin, China native - Chloe has a deep appreciation for all things hotpot. Her appreciation of food and culture runs so deep that after a successful corporate career, she decided to uproot her life in China to attend Le Cordon Bleu Ottawa and Madrid. After working in the culinary industry in Canada, she decided to found Snout & Seek!
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