Retrospective: East Chinatown Food & History Walk

On August 17th, 2025, I hosted my very first Food & History Walk! These walks are a initiative created for a variety of reasons listed below:

Intention

To introduce local perspectives, stories, and challenges to visitors of new places.

Invitations

1. Three stories of East Chinatown residents and informers that introduce the past, present, and future of East Chinatown
2. Using food to build on these stories; highlighting imported flavors to each story
3. Creating opportunities to connect with each story, imploring on the impact on the community.
4. Opening a window to explore additional stories in new places.

Desire

For visitors to see the neighborhood beyond its Chinese identity, and rather a place where people from all over gather and draw inspiration from its past & present into the future.

Experiences

What happened?

On this tour, we were able to visit a plethora of different sites, restaurants, and look at some of the community revitalization initiatives that have taken place since the 2010’s.

Restaurants

• Que Ling
• Issho Coffee
• Onyx Chocolates

Sites

• Dr. Sun Yat-sen Statue, East Chinatown
• Charlie’s Meats Original Site
• Hubbard Park
• Toronto Chinatown Archway (Chung Hwa Men)
• Murals of the Wonders of the World
• Chinatown Architecture

Stories

• The Pioneers of Chinatown: The move to Gerrard & Broadview
• Waves of Influence: Exploring the cultural changes in the Chinese Diaspora
• Immersion of Diaspora: How this generation of East Chinatown residents have melded this space into their own
• Grasping of an Identity: Suburban Chinatown to Now (story was not told)

Feedback

• Tour was great, particularly enjoyed the framing of each story from past, present & future
• Liked all of the historical backgrounders that aren’t evident in today’s East Chinatown

Reflection

• Reduce talking portions to engage with the audience with questions and pondering periods
• Be cognizant of the time and set time limits at each stop
• Food stops need to be scattered throughout the tour and not primarily focused at the later portions of the tour
• Dedicate more time to flesh out the characters of each story and ensure they are incorporated at each stop & location
• Reduce rambling, and ensure you are incorporating each food stop into specific stories along the tour
• Prepare photos of each reference to the past, or things you point out
• Be confident during the talk, no self-depreciation.