Hassel Aviles is on a mission to put food underground. And no, she’s not planning on sowing a garden. Instead, the born and raised hogtown girl is well on her way to setting up Toronto’s first-ever underground food market.
“One of the reasons I’m doing this is to fill a void in Toronto’s food industry,” she says. “When it comes to street food, we’re not very multicultural, we don’t really have a good selection … it’s embarassing.”
Aviles cites Toronto’s dubious a la cart food program as an example of how the city has failed when it comes to offering a variety of cheap but tasty street food options. That’s where the idea for the new market comes in.
The Toronto Underground Market is very much based on a concept that’s recently taken San Francisco by storm. In 2009, Iso Rabins conceived the SF Underground Market, which is about people who love to cook coming together and offering their own home-cooked dishes at cheap prices. It’s more grassroots than a farmer’s market, where vendors must be certified and must have used a commercial kitchen. At an underground market, anyone can sell their gastronomic wares as long as certain health and safety requirements are met.
Just last week, Aviles put out some social media feelers to see if anyone in the Toronto area would be interested in participating. She says the response has been astronomical. “I’ve received hundreds of emails,” she says, adding there’s been interest from the likes of brewers, homemade jam-makers and gluten-free bakers.
Currently Aviles is in talks with a health inspector, a food safety inspector and a lawyer to ensure she can legitimize the market (yes, this underground market will be legal). After that is sorted out, she says the next step is to line up official vendors and secure a venue. She has a few places in mind, but didn’t want to elaborate.
Ideally, she’d like to see an indoor/outdoor marketplace, probably in an industrial building or warehouse, where there’s lots of space. She’s also been emailing back and forth with Rabins in San Francisco to nail down the details. The San Fran market costs $5 to enter, and all dishes are between $3 to $7. Aviles says she’d like to do something similar here. If all goes according to plan, the first Toronto Underground Market will be held this fall.

 “There are hundreds, thousands, even millions of people in the city who love to cook and want to do more with it than just feed friends and family,” she says. “This is really about bringing those entrepreneurs without financial support and helping them develop from the ground up.”