(CS4.3) Finding Toronto's Little Manila: Food as a Gateway to Culture

In Toronto, the intersection of Bathurst Street and Wilson Avenue (‘Bathurst-Wilson’) is surrounded by a big box grocery store, a parkette, a gas station, and a strip mall. It may appear nondescript, lacking character-defining architectural elements that could make the intersection distinguishable. However, the Filipino community unofficially calls this place “Little Manila.” Unlike other cultural districts, Little Manila is a node. It is the only place in the city that features a tight cluster of Filipino-owned establishments at a street intersection.

Early publications on Filipino immigration named Toronto neighbourhoods, like St. James Town, South Parkdale, and Wexford Maryvale, as Filipino Towns because of 3 common indicators: the hospitals, the church, and the remittance centres – places where Filipinos go for work, community, or business. In 2014 & 2015, we led walking tours of St. James Town. However, tour attendees posted a recurring question – where do you find Filipino food? This led us to Little Manila.

Considered to be more than sustenance, food informs us about where people come from. It gives a sense of belonging, values, and cultural pride. In 2014, when the Filipino food festival, Taste of Little Manila, was first launched at Bathurst-Wilson, it attracted nearly 70,000 attendees. Today, it attracts over 400,000. Even on a regular day, Little Manila remains a busy enclave filled with patrons enjoying cuisines from Philippine regions, like Ilocos, Central Luzon, and Bicol. Why do Filipinos settle in Little Manila, and how did it emerge as an informal cultural district?

Since 2016, we have provided advocacy work, conducted oral interviews, reviewed archival research, and led walking tours to understand and promote the significance of Little Manila, as an informal cultural district in Toronto. This presentation will discuss the socio-economic and political factors that influenced Filipino immigration in Canada, and the gastronomical imprint it creates in Toronto’s Little Manila. It will also share how personal stories and collective identities from the Filipino-Canadian diaspora manifest in the physical spaces of Little Manila.