Discovering the Peameal Bacon Sandwich: Toronto’s Most Underrated National Treasure

If you're in Toronto and wondering what the heck a peameal bacon sandwich is, you're not alone. You're also in the right place to find out. This isn’t poutine. It isn’t maple syrup. And for the love of all things porcine, it is not “Canadian bacon.” Let’s clear the griddle and dive into the most delicious regional food you probably didn’t know was regional.

Peameal bacon sandwich at Paddington's Pump

🤯 Wait — Peameal Bacon Isn’t Everywhere?

It wasn’t until I became a tour guide that I realized peameal bacon is a Southern Ontario thing. I grew up with it. It’s a staple in the GTA—like bagged milk and being mildly annoyed by the Gardiner. I just assumed everyone knew what peameal bacon was. Spoiler: they don’t.

Most of my guests—even other Canadians—have never heard of it. Some think it’s just another name for Canadian bacon. (It’s not. That stuff is basically glorified ham.) So let’s set the record straight.

🐖 What Is Peameal Bacon?

Peameal bacon is made from boneless pork loin—the leanest, meatiest part of the pig. It’s trimmed, wet-cured in a brine, and then rolled in cornmeal, which gives it that golden crust when fried. The name comes from an older version that used ground yellow peas (aka “peameal”) to coat the outside, but that changed around World War I when peas got expensive. Cornmeal stepped in and never left.

It’s not smoked, so it stays juicy. And when it’s cooked on a griddle? You get tender, salty meat with a crunchy edge. Basically, it’s bacon for grown-ups.

❌ What Peameal Bacon Isn’t

It’s not “Canadian bacon.”

It’s not ham.

It’s not the sad, floppy circle on a fast-food breakfast sandwich.

That stuff is smoked, thin, and pre-sliced. Peameal is fresh, thick, and fried. If Canadian bacon is a handshake, peameal is a bear hug.

🥪 So What’s a Peameal Bacon Sandwich?

The peameal bacon sandwich is Toronto’s pride and cholesterol. It’s simple: thick slices of peameal bacon, hot off the griddle, slapped on a soft kaiser bun. That’s it. No lettuce. No tomato. No apology.

If you're doing it right, you're at Carousel Bakery in St. Lawrence Market, asking for the version with maple mustard—a sweet-savoury blend that adds just enough zing. The mustard is a nice little Canadian flex too, since mustard is one of Canada’s major prairie crops. Maple + mustard + pork = basically a food group in this country.

🧔 The Man Behind the Meat: William Davies

The story of peameal bacon starts with William Davies, a British immigrant who set up a pork stall at St. Lawrence Market in 1854. Within a few decades, he built the William Davies Company—which became the largest pork processor in the British Empire. He exported so much pork to the UK that Toronto earned the nickname “Hogtown.” His operations stretched from Front Street to the Don River, right through what’s now the Canary District, which today smells more like brunch than bacon.

🛒 Before Supermarkets, There Was Davies

William Davies didn’t just revolutionize pork production—he also brought it straight to the people. By the early 1900s, his name was on butcher shops all over Toronto. His retail stores were clean, modern, and ahead of their time—offering pre-packaged bacon, ham, and lard to a public used to street carts and questionable hygiene. You could say he was Canada’s first bacon-to-table pioneer.

🐐 The Goat That Took Down a Bacon King

In 1920, William Davies—multi-millionaire meat baron—was reportedly killed by a goat while visiting a farm. One horned headbutt, one fall, and that was it. Not exactly the Shakespearean end you’d expect for a man who put half a million hogs a year through his factory. Maybe the goat was in cahoots with the pigs? Nature’s weird like that.

🏭 From Peameal to Maple Leaf

After Davies’ death, his company merged with Harris Abattoir and others to form Canada Packers in 1927. That became one of the biggest meat companies in the country, and their Maple Leaf brand was so successful that it eventually became the company. In 1991, Canada Packers officially changed its name to Maple Leaf Foods. So yes— that peameal bacon you're biting into at St. Lawrence Market has a direct corporate lineage to a multibillion-dollar food giant. Not bad for something that started as a side hustle in a market stall.

📍 Where to Get One

• Carousel Bakery, St. Lawrence Market – legendary, fast, and no-frills

• Paddington’s Pump, same market – if you want a sit-down version

• Other spots across Toronto try to copy it, but this is the source. If it’s not griddled, hot, on a soft roll, and rolled in cornmeal, it’s not the real thing.

  
  

🐷 Final Word

Toronto didn’t invent bacon—we just perfected it. The peameal bacon sandwich is hyper-regional, hyper-delicious, and criminally underrated. It’s salty, simple, and ours. It’s a sandwich so iconic that tourists take food tours just to try one. And yet, most locals still don’t realize how rare it is outside the GTA.

Want to eat like a real Torontonian? Start here.