Filipino-Canadian chef, culinary storyteller, and author of Finding Islas. Available for cooking demos, media appearances, brand collaborations, and cultural events across Canada and internationally.
MB
Chef Marc Buenaventura co-founded iSLAS Filipino BBQ & Bar in Toronto in December 2017 — building one of the city's most distinctive Filipino dining experiences from the ground up, with no playbook and everything on the line.
Over eight years he ran the kitchen, managed vendors and staff, developed the menu, and became a recognisable voice for Filipino-Canadian food culture in Toronto. The food was always personal. The technique was always precise. The story was always the point.
"Food is not just nourishment. It is the most honest way I know how to tell you where I come from and why it matters."
In 2025, after closing both iSLAS locations, Marc began writing Finding Islas — a chef's account of food, identity, family, and finding a more honest and sustainable way to cook for others. He is now available for a select number of demos, media engagements, and collaborative events each season.
Marc takes a limited number of engagements each season. Every one is approached with the same intention: to bring something genuine, not something generic.
Live demonstrations at food festivals, cultural expos, corporate events, and community gatherings. Signature Filipino technique, personal storytelling, and a stage presence built from eight years of feeding rooms full of people.
Intimate multi-course dinners where each dish carries a narrative. Private events, brand experiences, and cultural programming. Executed through Islas Hospitality Group — see islasto.com for full details.
Recipe development, brand partnerships, media appearances, and culinary consultancy. Marc brings cultural specificity and genuine operator knowledge to every brand he works with — not a generic chef persona.
Marc speaks on the themes that emerged from eight years operating iSLAS — culinary heritage, the immigrant operator experience, and the gap between cooking well and running a business well.
Filipino culinary tradition through a Canadian table. The story behind the regional dishes, the techniques, the ingredients. Why representing a cuisine well requires more than a menu — it requires understanding where the flavour comes from and who it serves.
The 2025 research journey through the Philippines and Japan. What returning to the source taught a Filipino-Canadian chef about authenticity, evolution, and the discipline of cooking with intention rather than imitation.
What it actually takes to open and run a small business as a Filipino-Canadian operator. The systems no one teaches you. The networks you build from scratch. The reality of scaling a business while still cooking your own food.
Why cooking well is not enough. The operational reality of running a restaurant — permits, suppliers, payroll, POS, customers, staff. How those eight years of friction became the foundation for Islas Tech.
A chef's account of food, identity, family, and loss — and finding a more honest, more sustainable way to cook for others. Finding Islas is the story behind the kitchen: what it cost to build iSLAS, what was lost when it closed, and what it means to carry the flavours of home into a country that is still becoming yours.
It is a book about Filipino culinary tradition and the generations of hands that shaped it. About a family legacy that made the Canadian chapter possible. About what happens when a chef stops cooking to survive and starts cooking to say something true.
If you are a publisher, editor, literary agent, or media organisation interested in Finding Islas — use the form below to get in touch.
Marc reviews every inquiry personally and responds within 48 hours. No automated replies. If there's a genuine fit, you'll hear directly from him.
Inquiry received — thank you. Marc will be back in touch within 48 hours.