OttoSchloss
Active Member
if I asked 100 people in Toronto what food are we known for, I don't think one would say Peameal on a bun. It wasn't even on my radar. As I said as well, I spent a summer telling tourists where to go and not once did one ask me where you can get a good peameal sandwich, so we certainly aren't well known for it in the same way we associate bagels and poutine with Montreal.
It doesn't mean it's not a quintessential Toronto food. Toronto doesn't promote the peameal on a bun thing and really if you were born after 1980 it probably isn't even on your radar. But it doesn't mean it's not a food already associated with the city. The tourism board tends to promote the big attractions (tall buildings, ethnic enclaves, shopping etc.) and really those are the same things you can probably find in any city. The trick is to promote the things Torontonians do and eat to give the "Toronto experience". That's how an identity is born. I'd argue we already have one, we just suck at promoting it. Montreal is great at this, without really having all that much to promote, New Orleans is another city that's good at it too. You can exhaust all of San Francisco's "tourist" experiences in probably 2 days BUT in addition you can have the "romantic" San Francisco experience too and stay a week.
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