Hassel Aviles’ efforts to create Canada’s first underground food market are about to pay off. On Sept. 24, Evergreen Brick Works will host the Toronto Underground Food Market’s first event, bringing in a lineup of home-cooking virtuosos.
“If you look at definitions for ‘underground,’ you see things like ‘alternative,’ and this is an alternative way of selling food,” says Aviles, the market’s creator. “It’s helping Toronto home cooks from the underground.”
It seems to be proving the same point that Food Truck Eats has been pushing all summer; namely, that Toronto is lacking street food cred. With a monthly underground market, streetwalkers and foodies alike will get the chance to taste unique home-cooked dishes (without having to endure a night at the in-laws).
Unlike a farmers’ market or a food festival, vendors will not have to be certified. Their fee of $150 will cover the use of a commercial kitchen and transportation to the event. All food must be prepped and cooked in the on-site commercial kitchen. Because vendors do not need to pass any health regulations, the communal kitchen will have a certified supervisor on duty at all times.
“We are working with Toronto public health and will have a meeting before to go over the rules of the kitchen,” Aviles says.
Vendors will serve everything from macaroons to Philippine street food; chicken curry to pulled pork and beef sandwiches. Essentially, anything that you could want from a home-cooked meal.
The market will take place every month from 6:00 p.m to 11:00 p.m, except in December. Vendors will be stationed along the sides of the Brick Works Holcim Gallery, so people have space to walk freely through the middle. “It’s an evening thing. A social food market.”
Taking inspiration from San Francisco’s underground market, Aviles has created the first one ever in Canada. “The San Francisco market became a small incubator where people were networking. Partnerships came out of it; I hope that comes out of Toronto’s,” she says.
Toronto Underground Food Market, Evergreen Brick Works, Sept. 24
