Some foods taste like a city, and Toronto’s is peameal bacon on a bun.
What is peameal bacon?
Foodland Ontario describes peameal bacon as lean and tender, and says it originated in Ontario. It is cut from the pork loin, cured in a brine and rolled in cornmeal, and sold sliced or by the piece. That cornmeal coat is the look to watch for when you order.
Why does Toronto have a pork-packing story?
Because the city has a Hogtown past. The Dictionary of Canadian Biography tells the story through one provision merchant, William Davies, who emigrated to Canada in 1854 and entered the provision business in Toronto. He formed William Davies and Company in 1857. In 1860 he began shipping cured sides of hogs to England, copying several other Toronto provision merchants.
In 1874 Davies built a large packing and slaughterhouse on Front Street near the mouth of the Don River. He specialized in leaner, lighter hogs, often fed on a peameal mash. The biography mentions peameal only as hog feed, and it does not credit Davies with creating peameal bacon or the sandwich. The biography adds that the Davies company was said to have been the largest pork-packing operation in the British empire, and that it seems Toronto’s nickname, Hogtown, dates from the early 1900s.
We will not claim more than the sources do. The biography is about the packer and his hogs, so it is a story about Toronto’s pork trade rather than the origin of the sandwich. It still makes a very good backdrop for the next bite.
A pen of hogs at the Wm. Davies Co., Toronto, before 1927. Library and Archives Canada.William James Topley, Library and Archives Canada, via Wikimedia Commons / Public domain
What does St. Lawrence Market have to do with it?
A great deal. The City of Toronto Archives holds a photograph of a William Davies Company stall at St. Lawrence Market, which ties the packer’s name to the market where the sandwich now lives. Today the St. Lawrence Market District is a public asset managed by the City of Toronto’s Corporate Real Estate Management Division. The South Market is open six days a week and holds more than 60 specialty vendors, and the wider complex has served as a City landmark for more than 200 years.
The William Davies Company stall at St. Lawrence Market, circa 1911. City of Toronto Archives.William James, City of Toronto Archives, via Wikimedia Commons / Public domain
The sandwich earned its civic title in 2016, when it was declared the city’s signature dish by then mayor John Tory. The market’s own vendor page for Carousel Bakery says its version was named Toronto’s Signature Sandwich in that same year.
Where should you eat one?
Our list is short on purpose. We include a place only when we can confirm it is open and serving, so this guide grows as we verify more stops.
The market lists Carousel Bakery at Upper Level 42 as the home of Toronto’s World-Famous Peameal Bacon Sandwich. CP24 reports the sandwich comes on a country bun, with or without mustard. The bakery has been at the same spot in the market for over 30 years.
In July 2025 the City recognized the bakery’s owners with a key to the city, a nice reminder that a sandwich can be a civic landmark. The bakery also offers other sandwiches and wraps, plus a display of breads, rolls, Montreal-style bagels, baguettes and pastries.
Our pick is to keep your first order simple, so you can taste the cornmeal crust and the pork without distractions. Check the market’s page for stall details before you go.
A tip from us, and it is only a tip: bring a friend and split two sandwiches so you can compare one with mustard and one without, side by side. It is the closest thing to a tasting flight a bun can offer, and it makes for a very good argument on the walk home.
The Carousel Bakery stall at St. Lawrence Market.Leventio / Wikimedia Commons / CC BY-SA 4.0
What should you look for when you order?
Three things, and all of them are opinion. First, the crust: you want to see that cornmeal coat on the edge of each slice, because that is the signature of the cut. Second, the bun: keep it simple and let the pork lead. Third, the mustard: ask for it the first time, then decide whether you are a mustard person or a plain person on your second visit.
It also helps to know what you are standing in. The North Market building hosted its first Saturday Farmers’ Market on April 5, 2025, after its redevelopment, so a Saturday visit now gives you two buildings to explore. That is plenty of room to turn lunch into an afternoon.
How do you turn it into a market day?
Treat the sandwich as the anchor and build around it. Go early enough to enjoy the market before the lunch rush, take your sandwich somewhere you can sit, and then wander. On Saturdays the North Market is primarily known for its Farmers’ Market, which makes a good second act.
Peameal bacon is Ontario’s cornmeal-crusted pork loin, Toronto has a Hogtown pork-packing past, and the market’s Carousel Bakery has served from the same spot for over 30 years. That is a lot of history for a lunch you can hold in one hand.
Send this to the friend you would bring to the market and let them order first.
