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NoIndex

2011 Hero: Indie Food Culture

Nominated for: giving us street food worthy of our food-loving city.

By Lindsay Lafreniere • Illustration by Matthew Daley

Torontoist is ending the year by naming our Heroes and Villains—the very best and very worst people, places, things, and ideas that have had an influence on the city over the past twelve months. From December 12–23, the candidates for Mightiest and Meanest—and new this year, a reader’s write-in option! From December 26–29 you’ll be able to vote for Toronto’s Superhero and Supervillain of the year, and we’ll reveal the results December 30.

Move over, Winterlicious and McDonald’s. Independent food culture in Toronto is on a serious upswing.

In 2011 Torontonians gathered on the streets, in parking lots, and at old factories to eat, and eat well. This wasn’t the work of celebrity chefs, Food Network personalities, or large corporations, but instead simply came courtesy of motivated people who love to cook and eat, and who want to make good food more accessible—and fun—for the rest of us.

Take, for instance, the Toronto Underground Market (TUM), which started in September. It’s been held only three times so far, but is already incredibly popular, selling out weeks in advance. TUM is held in that beautifully industrial space, the Evergreen Brickworks, and is a place for home chefs or wannabe culinary superstars to peddle their delicious creations.

TUM was created by Hassel Aviles, and one of the market’s most popular stands, La Carnita, is run by her husband, Andrew Richmond. La Carnita is a fantastic idea: it’s a pop-up shop that sells you limited edition prints and then gives you incredible tacos for free. Fortunately, it doesn’t only make appearances at TUM—it shows up on occasion elsewhere in Toronto. Times and locations are announced on Twitter, then it’s a mad rush to get those desirable tacos.

La Carnita has also popped up at 86′d Mondays and Food Truck Eats. 86′d Mondays are held at The Drake and hosted by Ivy Knight, cook and food writer. Technically these are industry nights for chefs, but anyone can attend. Knight creates fun events centred around food, like battles (best pickle/preserve/salsa etc.), food photography competitions, cookbook swaps, and oyster shucking. Entrance is free and there are generally some free food or alcohol tastings as well. Food Truck Eats, meanwhile, held its first event in July at the Distillery District, with several more very heavily attended events taking place in other locations since. (In fact, being too popular seems to be the biggest challenge organizers are facing.)

Gatherings like Food Truck Eats are especially important because Toronto’s food truck rules are incredibly strict. Food trucks can only operate in downtown Toronto if they have a permit for a specific location and meet the same standards and conditions as a regular restaurant kitchen. They can’t operate near any fixed-location restaurant with similar food, or religious centres. They can, however, operate in private lots, which is where the Food Truck Eats events take place.

In the aftermath of Toronto’s overly regulated, badly bungled attempt to institute a new food cart system, all these events gladden our hearts—and stomachs. Food trucks have been gaining popularity in cities like L.A., Portland, and heck, even Calgary, and it’s about time Toronto got on board. We have one of the most vibrant, eclectic food cultures in the world when it comes to restaurants with fixed addresses. It’s time our street food culture caught up, and we salute the pioneers who are leading the way against over-regulation, and towards deliciousness.

Comments

  • Anonymous

    What’s with the derogatory “even Calgary” remark? Calgary is a pretty big, cosmopolitan place, and its municipal government doesn’t feel the need to regulate everything into oblivion (see Toronto a la Carte). It makes sense they’d have good street food.

    • Anonymous

      This is Toronto, we don’t like Calgary.

      Calgary is the new Montreal.

      Get with it.

      • Anonymous

        I wonder what that makes Montreal.

        • http://twitter.com/ChrisDartCOTF Chris Dart

          Either the old Calgary or the new Winnipeg, I think.

        • Anonymous

          Montreal is the new Ottawa.

      • http://twitter.com/yycfoodtrucks Calgary Food Trucks

        Calgary is who will guide your city into understanding food truck culture and allowing it to happen. Be grateful

        • Anonymous

          Typical Calgarian smugness!

          All kidding aside, the rules regarding street food here are preposterous.

    • Junctionist

      Calgary is only emerging. It’s still going to take time to shed that image of being the kind of sleepy city characterized by 9-5 downtown surrounded by sprawl subdivisions.

  • http://twitter.com/spotlightcity Suresh Doss

    Wanted to clarify a couple of things.
    Personally, i don’t see the point comparing Toronto’s Food truck scene to Calgary. Each city is unique.

    But lets compare for argument’s sake.
    Toronto had a gourmet food truck before Calgary. Heck, even as I’m writing this, I can count at least 18 gourmet food trucks in the GTA, more than Calgary. While the Calgary mayor was considering changing the rules in Calgary in July, we were gearing up for our second Food Truck Eats event (over 10,000 attendees).

    On the flipside, Calgary has more support for trucks from the city, Toronto has some support, but not enough. The Mayor promised to, and did, cut through the red tape by bringing the right groups together to make it happen. In Toronto, much like with everything else, people are very sensitive about changes, and the A-la-cart program is still a sore subject.

    The Calgary trucks have more flexibility, meanwhile in Toronto the only trucks that are curbside are the chip trucks. But the last time I checked, our landscapes are totally different. Look at what’s happening in the US, each state and its unique landscape is presenting a number of different challenges to the Food Truck movement.

    Let Calgary do what they’re doing, and we’ll do what we’re doing.

    Contrary to belief, the rules aren’t that strict. Toronto Public Health has been really supportive, trucks are allowed to serve the gourmet foods they want to serve, they’re allowed to be at events and private properties as long as they have their MLS license, and going into 2012 you’ll see the trucks everywhere, including 7-8 new ones. As of now, I can count atleast 8 major Toronto festivals that will have gourmet food trucks.
    The rest of the rules will change when the Toronto Street Food Project launches in January, pushing for updated and fair bylaws, licensing and standards.

    “They can’t operate near any fixed-location restaurant with similar food, or religious centres. ”
    Incorrect. Otherwise, I wouldn’t have been able to host the 6 Food Truck Eats events that we’ve hosted so far, once a month. Generally speaking, the BIAs and restaurants have been very supportive of FTE and have participated in 3 of the major events (50% trucks 50% restaurants).
    If you mean super close proximity (under xx metres), well, that’s the rule everywhere, even Calgary :) .

    Maybe one day we can have the Calgary food trucks and the Toronto food trucks side by side for one big party. They’re only 3400kms apart.

    Suresh
    /food truck eats

  • Stopitman2001

    Even Hamilton has pretty lax rules regarding food carts/trucks. I’d say look to them regarding some regulations, as they seem pretty eager to attract people back in the old, lower city. Recently they allowed chickens to be kept in backyards, too, so maybe it’d be smart to look at them because they’re just down the road and have to follow the same provincial legislation.