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Cuisine of Toronto

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The cuisine of Toronto reflects Toronto's size and multicultural diversity.[1][2][3] Different ethnic neighbourhoods throughout the city focus on specific cuisines,[4] such as authentic Chinese and Vietnamese found in the city's Chinatowns, Korean in Koreatown, Greek on The Danforth, Italian cuisine in Little Italy and Corso Italia, and Indian/Pakistani in Little India. Numerous other world cuisines are available throughout the city, including Portuguese, Hungarian, Japanese, and Caribbean. Toronto's large Jewish population has also ensured a variety of Jewish restaurants and delis, with varying adherence to kosher rules.[5][6] In addition to ethnic cuisines, Toronto is also home to many fine dining establishments[7] and chain restaurants ranging from fast food to casual or upscale dining.

Neighbourhoods with prominent ethnic food

Toronto's Koreatown is home to a number of Korean restaurants.

Chefs

Notable chefs from or based in Toronto:

Restaurants

Culinary festivals

The Taste of Danforth is an annual festival in Toronto's Greektown celebrating Greek food and culture.

A number of culinary festivals take place in Toronto each year. In addition, food tours in Toronto, like those offered by Culinary Adventure Co.,[8] are an increasingly popular way for locals and tourists to explore the food culture of the city

Toronto-based culinary events and festivals include:

Breweries and wineries

The back of Mill Street Brewery Brew Pub in Toronto's Distillery District. Mill Street is one of several breweries based in Toronto.

Toronto has a long history of beer brewing. Eugene O'Keefe, founder of O'Keefe Brewing Company, grew up in Toronto, to which his family had emigrated from Ireland in 1832. O'Keefe was the first to produce lager beer in Canada along with the traditional ale and porter. See also: Canadian beer.

The Toronto Beer Festival is an annual event that showcases local craft beers. There are several breweries in the city, many of which are microbreweries:

  • Ace Hill
  • Amsterdam Brewing Company
  • Bellwoods Brewery
  • Great Lakes Brewery
  • Magnotta Brewery Limited
  • Mill Street Brewery
  • Steam Whistle Brewing
  • Cool Beer Brewing Company
  • The Granite Brewery
  • Indie Alehouse
  • Spearhead Brewery
  • Kensington Brewing Company
  • Black Oak Brewing Company
  • Junction Craft Brewing
  • Liberty Village Brewing Company
  • Muddy York Brewing Company
  • Left Field Brewery
  • Halo Brewery

Toronto's surrounding region has many wineries. The Sante Wine Festival is an annual festival which features vintages, noted winemakers and celebrity chefs.

Street food

A food truck parked behind an ice cream truck in front of Toronto City Hall

Toronto is not known for a diversity of foods from street vendors, however, there are numerous take-out restaurants. There are numerous food trucks around downtown Toronto, including in front of Toronto City Hall that sell french fries, hot dogs and pre-cooked sausages. Food trucks on the University of Toronto campus offer Chinese food. Along Dundas Street West, just east of Bathurst Street, a range of international street foods are sold from shipping containers converted to food stands. The stands are known collectively as Market 707.[9] There are also several food trucks, serving food that is more specialized, that can be found at special events.[10]

In the summer months, ice cream and pops are sold from vendors on bicycles while ice cream trucks ply the city streets. Frozen yogurt, although not found in street vendors, are popular and increasingly so, with many shops opening recently. The coffee culture in Toronto is also highly developed, with many independent cafes especially in areas like Queen West and Kensington Market.

Toronto a la Cart

Until 2009, hot dogs and pre-cooked sausages were the only kind of street food allowed by law.[11] The law sets extremely high requirements for street food vendors. However, there was an initiative to allow more varied and nutritious street food,[12] which resulted in the introduction of Toronto a la Cart in 2009.[13] Toronto a la Cart allowed vendors to sell halal foods such as kebab, falafel and shawarma. However, by 2010, Toronto a la Cart was deemed a failure by local politicians, due to the expenses to vendors from excessive red tape, and the program was discontinued.[14][15]

Unique dishes

Peameal bacon sandwich

Peameal bacon was a type of back bacon developed by Toronto-based William Davies Company. Today the peameal bacon sandwich is considered a staple of St. Lawrence Market.

Perhaps one of the most iconic and distinct Toronto offerings is the peameal bacon sandwich, normally on a Kaiser. Peameal bacon was originally developed by William Davies at the St. Lawrence Market. Some notable places offering the sandwich are Paddington's Pump, Sausage King, and Carousel Bakery; all located at St. Lawrence Market. Further east in Leslieville is Rashers, billed as North America's only bacon sandwich shop, recently opened and sells a peameal bacon sandwich that Toronto Life describes as "Toronto's iconic sandwich done right".[16]

East Indian roti

Another distinct Toronto offering is the "East Indian Roti", a variation on the stuffed Roti from the West Indies. Owing to Toronto's considerable immigrant populations from both South Asia and the Caribbean, a hybrid dish has been developed, using South Asian bread and curries as stuffing, for the otherwise West Indian dish.

Sushi pizza

A hybrid of sushi and pizza invented in the early 1990s.[17]

Others

Sushi pizza

See also

References

  1. ^ "accessed October 30, 2006". Toronto.ca. 2000-10-23. Retrieved 2011-09-29.
  2. ^ "Cuisines Restaurants Toronto, Restaurants In Ontario, Restaurants And Food Delivery, Food.ca-All about food in Canada! Canada Food Business, Wineries, Restaurants and Delivery Directory". www.food.ca.
  3. ^ "Turkish Breakfast Toronto". turkishmart.ca.
  4. ^ "Toronto | Toronto's Neighbourhoods". where.ca. Archived from the original on 2010-02-20. Retrieved 2010-08-24.
  5. ^ "List of Toronto kosher restaurants". Beth Tzedec. Retrieved 2010-08-24.
  6. ^ Canada. "Cultivating a devout following – The Globe and Mail". Reportonbusiness.com. Retrieved 2010-08-24.
  7. ^ [1] Archived July 4, 2008, at the Wayback Machine
  8. ^ Abel, Ann (March 13, 2017). "Eat the World: 9 Best Food Tours". Forbes. Retrieved October 14, 2017.
  9. ^ "Market 707". Scadding Court Community Centre. Archived from the original on June 18, 2017. Retrieved June 13, 2017.
  10. ^ "Street Food". Toronto Life Magazine. Retrieved June 13, 2017.
  11. ^ "Food Safety – Toronto Public Health". City.toronto.on.ca. Archived from the original on 2005-09-24. Retrieved 2010-08-24.
  12. ^ "accessed July 22, 2007" (PDF). Retrieved 2011-09-29.
  13. ^ accessed August 17, 2009 Archived June 7, 2011, at the Wayback Machine
  14. ^ Powell, Betsy (September 19, 2010). "Toronto a la Cart called an 'a la Failure'". Toronto Star. Retrieved December 24, 2014.
  15. ^ CBC News (April 13, 2011). "Toronto told to dump a la Cart". CBC. Retrieved December 24, 2014.
  16. ^ McInnis, Frances (August 20, 2012). "City hall budget warfare, round two: blanket freeze edition". Toronto Life. Retrieved October 14, 2017.
  17. ^ Liu, Karol (25 September 2018). "Was the sushi pizza invented in Toronto?". Toronto Star. Torstar Corporation. Retrieved 25 September 2018.
  18. ^ Flack, Derek (August 23, 2017). "Toronto's namesake cocktail is the best drink you've never had". blogTO. Freshdaily Inc. Retrieved 13 September 2019.
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