Welcome: Gather around The Low Table

A place for flavours, stories, and the joy of gathering.

Hello, and welcome! I’m Hugh—a photographer, former line cook, and now a Gastronomy and Culinary Arts student living in Türkiye. Food has always been at the center of my life: from the chaos of the line back home in Canada, to quiet mornings here in Türkiye with nothing but coffee and a simit. Along with my wife and newborn son, I love traveling and exploring new foods (though for him, it’s just milk for now).

So why The Low Table?
My family name is Luo-Tatebe, a blend of my dad’s Chinese surname and my mom’s Japanese surname. It’s not the simplest name, and growing up we got used to hearing all kinds of mispronunciations. At one of my sister’s figure skating competitions, the announcer completely butchered it—calling her Low Table! It became a family inside joke.

But over time, I grew to love the image the name conjures. A low table (like a Japanese kotatsu) is one everyone can gather around—open, accessible, welcoming. That spirit of belonging is what I want this publication to reflect. Even when I was homebrewing back in Canada, I called my little project Low Table Brewing, because the beers and wines I made were always meant to be shared with friends and family—something that brought people together at the table.

Exploring combinations of spices, hops, fruits, and yeasts

This space is where I’ll bring words and photography together to explore flavours, traditions, and the stories food carries with it—whether it’s my wedding cake that fell on the floor, or how drinking çay with a stranger led me to bathing in a thousand-year-old Turkish bath.

Think of this as a table we gather around. Sometimes it’ll be messy, sometimes it’ll be elegant, but it will always be full of curiosity, flavour, and conversation.

I’d love for you to pull up a seat, subscribe, and join me on this journey of tasting, learning, and storytelling. After all, there’s always room for one more at The Low Table.