If you thought Facebook Marketplace was just for unloading cheap IKEA furniture and hunting down retro toys, think again. Toronto food creators are now using the platform to track down everything from homemade lasagna to Japanese-style cinnamon rolls — and driving across the GTA to see if the food is actually worth it.
Buying home-cooked meals isn’t exactly new in Toronto. For decades, immigrant communities across the GTA have relied on word of mouth to find home cooks serving regional dishes that restaurants didn’t offer, from Trinidadian rotis to homemade dim sum. Facebook Marketplace has simply given that underground food economy a much bigger storefront.
Toronto YouTuber Shoshana Rose has built a popular video series around trying peer-to-peer meals across the city. Now, Yoyo, the GTA food creator behind @yoyoyummyyy, is doing the same with a series built around one question: Is Facebook Marketplace food worth the drive?
The latest creator capitalizing on this hyper-local wave is Yoyo, the GTA voice behind @yoyoyummyyy. Known for hitting up viral spots like Beast Pizza for their iconic beef patty pizza, Yoyo recently launched a series asking a simple question: Is it actually worth driving across the GTA for Facebook Marketplace food? Judging by the views, people in the city are completely hooked.
For his first stop, Yoyo headed 45 minutes north to Newmarket to try Japanese-style milk bread cinnamon rolls from home baker @bakeitbykristen. The video quickly racked up more than 373,000 views.
Next up was a homemade Italian feast from @phatgurlfoodie, run by local cook Vanessa Nina La Porta. After losing her job in April, La Porta turned to Facebook Marketplace as her main source of income, selling fresh focaccia, meatballs, tiramisu and lasagna. Yoyo tipped her extra cash before digging in.
“I want to beat someone up right now,” he joked on camera after trying the food, calling the lasagna one of the best he’s had in the city. That video pulled in another 171,000 views.
Would you buy your next Sunday dinner off Facebook Marketplace?