What to know
- Big Boi Fry-Bread opened June 30 inside Toronto’s Hangout Street shipping-container food market at 181 Parliament St.
- The Indigenous-owned food spot serves fry bread, powwow tacos, Three Sisters soup, chili, poutine and deep-fried desserts.
- Its “Take a Meal Leave a Meal” program lets customers donate $5 to provide someone with chili and two pieces of fry bread.
- Chef Ohitika says the program has fed 205 people so far, while the business plans to create more opportunities for Indigenous staff and youth.
Toronto’s Indigenous food scene has a new addition, and it is not just serving fry bread, but helping the community in need.
Big Boi Fry-Bread, described by its owner as Toronto’s only Indigenous food spot, is serving powwow tacos, Three Sisters soup, chili, poutine and deep-fried desserts. The business operates out of a shipping-container food-market setup at Toronto’s ‘Hangout Street,’ located at 181 Parliament St.
At the same time, the food spot is helping feed Torontonians experiencing food insecurity through a community-supported meal program.
Big Boi Fry-Bread opened on June 30 after approximately two years of planning, according to Chef Ohitika Okaga, owner/operator and co-founder of Big Boi Fry-Bread Inc.
For Chef Ohitika, opening the business has been a longtime goal shaped by his own experiences with homelessness, hunger, and working in the restaurant industry.
“I got into the culinary industry when I was 13 as a cook, just because I was homeless when I was 13, and it was the best way to find food,” he told Now Toronto.
Chef Ohitika has worked as a chef and bartender ever since, along with helping restaurants through consultations in his hometown of Kingston, Ont. He moved to Toronto roughly two years ago with plans to open an Indigenous food business and helped open up a popular after-hours restaurant inside a club during his time in the city.
Bringing Indigenous-owned food to Toronto
The name Big Boi has followed Chef Ohitika throughout his entrepreneurial journey. When he was younger, he operated a business called Big Boi Ice Cream on Wolfe Island and always wanted to carry part of that name into his next venture.
The food spot’s menu is centred around handmade fry bread, also referred to as bannock in many Indigenous cultures, which serves as the foundation for many of its dishes.
Chef Ohitika acknowledges there is some debate over whether fry bread should be described as a traditional Indigenous food. He says “powwow food” is a more fitting description for much of what Big Boi serves.
Along with fry bread and powwow tacos, the menu includes Chef Ohitika’s own deep-fried cheesecake and chocolate bars.
Several dishes feature ingredients that have long been cultivated by Indigenous peoples throughout the Americas, including tomatoes, squash, corn and beans.
The Three Sisters soup, for example, brings together corn, squash and beans. The name refers to the traditional Indigenous agricultural practice of growing the three crops together, allowing them to support one another while providing nutritional value when eaten together.
Big Boi Fry-Bread entered Toronto’s food scene after the closure of another business that had served Indigenous dishes. For Chef Ohitika, however, it is especially important that customers know Big Boi is Indigenous-owned.
“We wanted to make sure that it was very clear that we’re Indigenous-owned,” he said.
As the business grows, Chef Ohitika plans to prioritize hiring Indigenous staff and collaborating with Indigenous youth, pointing to a lack of employment and business opportunities available within the community.
Turning personal experience into community support
Chef Ohitika’s experiences with homelessness also inspired Big Boi Fry-Bread’s “Take a Meal Leave a Meal” program.
After entering the restaurant industry at a young age, he began noticing how much food businesses throw away and believed they could do more to support people experiencing hunger.
“I came to realize how much food goes to waste and how easy it is for any restaurant, really, to create a program like this,” he said.
Through the initiative, customers can donate $5 in person or online. The contribution provides someone experiencing food insecurity with a bowl of chili and two pieces of scone, or fry bread.
At the time of his interview with Now Toronto, Chef Ohitika said the program had fed 205 people, while 228 people had purchased meals for their neighbours.
“I’m still a very new business, and I’m not very successful, but this program’s already been able to feed over 200 people,” he said. “It’s really nice to see the program growing.”
Big Boi Fry-Bread’s late operating hours also help fill a gap for people who cannot access other meal programs during the day. The food spot remains open until 4 a.m., while Chef Ohitika says many food-security programs require people to arrive before approximately 5 p.m.
“When it comes to a lot of the food-security programs that we have across Toronto, you have to be able to get up and get access to that food facility by 5 p.m., or you’re not getting fed that night,” he said.
Chef Ohitika hopes to expand the size of the donated meals as the business becomes more established.
His plans to support Indigenous youth also extend beyond food. Chef Ohitika is preparing to launch Ivy Skate Co., an initiative that will provide skateboards to Indigenous youth artists to paint and sell. The earnings will then be split evenly with the participating artist.
