St. Lawrence Market - Hogtown's Pantry

A stop on Toronto Downtown Walk, a free self-guided tour.

Follow your nose into one of the world's great food halls. Toronto has held a market in this neighbourhood since 1803, when Lieutenant Governor Peter Hunter set up a weekly market for the young Town of York. It was the heart of town life, and in those early years, a hard thing to remember, enslaved people were among those sold at auction on the market square.

The South Market building holds a surprise. Its core was built in 1845 as Toronto's City Hall, and the old council chamber upstairs is now the Market Gallery. National Geographic named this the world's best food market in 2012.

Now the food. Toronto earned the nickname Hogtown from its pork-packing plants, and its signature bite is the peameal bacon sandwich: cured pork loin rolled in cornmeal, griddled and piled on a bun. The Biancolin family made it famous at Carousel Bakery. The South Market is open Tuesday to Sunday; check the website for current hours.

Getting here: Continue east along Front Street for two blocks; the South Market is the long brick hall on the south side of Front at Jarvis Street.

Did you know?: Peameal bacon is named for the ground dried peas once used to coat it. Cornmeal replaced the peas around the end of the First World War, but the old name stuck.

Photo op: From the north side of Front Street, frame the South Market's long brick front and its central entrance, the surviving heart of the 1845 City Hall.

More on Wikipedia: St. Lawrence Market · Peameal bacon · Old Town, Toronto

St. Lawrence Market - Hogtown's Pantry

Stops on this tour