What is Canadian food? A question I found myself asking lately. After much searching and speaking with long time Montreal locals I have compiled a short list of very delicious Canadian dishes/foods. Some may be modified dishes from our ancestors in Europe other completely new entities that sprang forth from locally accessible ingredients. The style is certainly Canadian eh! Here is a couple to check out.
Canadian Bacon:
Ah Canadian bacon, Roll-Royce of the bacon world. I have tried bacon from many countries including the United-States, Japan, Italy. I have to say nothing compares to this one of our local specialties. There are a few reasons why Canadian bacon is top notch. One being we have very good quality pig farms here in Canada. One of the most popular type of pork in Japan was Canadian pork, to the extent that in grocery stores they have huge signs advertising just that. A lot of our bacon is also maple cured and smoked which adds a very Canadian touch that is hard to match.
Maple Syrup:
Learned from the first nations in what we now know as Canada, tapping trees for its sweet sap and boiling it down to a thick, sweet syrop. Canada is the largest exporter and producer in the world. The leaf of the maple tree is also on our flag eh?
Poutine:
A Quebec native dish and possible one of the most unhealthy things you can eat. In fact you would be hard pressed to find this outside of Quebec. Made from french-fries, gravy and unripened cheese curd. This dish made popular by the large amount of “greasy spoon” style eateries in Quebec is a local favourite.
Sheppard’s Pie:
Although not originally Canadian this dish was adopted in Quebec from Europe and changed into its like named but different Canadian counter-part. Although we do call it “Sheppard’s pie” there is no lamb or mutton in this dish. In french it is called “Pâté chinois” and translated as “Chinese Pie”. Essentially mashed potatoes, corn and ground beef layered in that order from top to bottom. Variations exist using cream corn, ground pork and different flavoured mashed potatoes.