Toronto is getting a Filipino holiday pop-up that’s all about comfort food, community and solidarity with farmers back home in the Philippines.
On Dec 14, “Seeds of Solidarity: A Filipino Holiday Pop-up in honour of Filipino Farmers”, hosted by Pinay Collection and Kanto, will take over Food Hall TO in North York. At the heart of the pop-up is a special menu from Kanto, the Filipino food brand behind some of Toronto’s most nostalgic, street-food-inspired dishes!
We don’t know what dishes will be served, but the menu is inspired by on-the-ground stories from members of the Filipino peasant community, so it’ll connect what you eat directly to the realities of farmers growing staple crops back home.
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Alongside the food, guests can shop Filipino-made products from the Pinay Collection, a Toronto-based brand known for statement apparel and goods that celebrate Filipino identity and help fund community partners and grassroots organizers (perfect for meaningful holiday gifts!)
The pop-up is not just a food/shopping fair, it’s also an art and learning space. Kamalayan Konsciousness (a youth-led group that creates programs around Philippine identity, history and current issues) is curating a community art exhibition on land exploitation and peasant resistance in the Philippines.
Educational activations throughout the venue will walk visitors through the ongoing fight for land, livelihood and justice in rural communities.
The pop-up also doubles as a fundraiser, with proceeds from food and merchandise sales going to farming communities most affected by recent typhoons in Cebu, Negros, Bicol, Ilocos, Aurora and Isabela, as well as women farmers facing harassment and “red-tagging” by the state.
Funds raised will support three organizations: SAKA (an anti-feudal arts alliance backing peasant campaigns for land reform and food security), Kilusang Magbubukid ng Pilipinas, (aka, the Peasant Movement of the Philippines: a mass organization fighting for genuine agrarian reform), and Sugarfolks Unity for Genuine Agricultural Reform (SUGAR). This is an alliance of sugarcane farmers, workers and advocates in Batangas, pushing for fair livelihoods and the survival of the sugar industry.
“Seeds of Solidarity: A Filipino Holiday Pop-up in honour of Filipino Farmers” takes place on Dec 14 at Food Hall TO, 5210 Yonge St, North York, from 11:30 am to 7 pm.
You can find out more about the pop-up here.
