What're your opinions on Canadian cuisine?

[Hurgablurg]

I'm doing an essay on Canadian identity and I figured I need atleast one "interview" to balance out my sources and information. I figured that most people on the boards are probably in the United States, Britain, or other non-Canadian country, and I was hoping you guys could provide some normal, "off the street" opinions on Canadian food. What're some stereotypical foods you recognize as Canadian? Have you ever tried them, and if so, how did you like them? How do the foods compare to your regional equivalents? Are any Canadian foods or brands sold near where you are? How much does it cost?
Be sure to state where you're from (only if you're comfortable with disclosing your country of habitation), please!
And thank-you guys for the help!

UPDATE:
Thank you all so much for all the great perspectives and opinions! This is really going to help my project. Keep the discussion rolling, and thank you all again. You're all awesome!

[Aedilred]

The only foodstuff I would immediately leap to as identifiably Canadian is maple syrup. That probably does their cuisine a disservice but it doesn't have a lot of penetration here that I'm aware of.

The closest available parallel - aside from honey - is probably golden syrup, which is "unflavoured" (mainly just a rich sugar syrup). In comparison maple syrup is more flavoursome, and I'm a big fan. Compared to golden syrup, though, maple syrup is much more expensive and relatively hard to get hold of, so I rarely have it in. It's not hugely difficult to find, but it's not something you can rely on your local supermarket having in stock and so might have to go out of your way. Pricewise it's about £15/kilo at the lower end of the range, compared to roughly £2/kilo for golden syrup.

I'm in the UK, as my location status suggests.

[veti]

I am ashamed to say that, as a cuisine, "Canadian" has flown completely beneath my radar to date. I have never knowingly eaten a "Canadian" dish, unless you count "anything with maple syrup". And I've made a point of trying just about every cuisine that's been offered to me (I've lived in the UK, Australia and New Zealand).

[themaque]

Poutine is proof that god loves us, wants us to be happy, and wants us to join him very soon thanks to heart attack. Simply put, it's French Fried smotherd in brown gravy and cheese curds.

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My wife is from Washington State and she introduced me to it. It's Canadian originally, Quebec I think. I'm down in Texas and not many people have heard of it. But I know a FEW places that sell it. I've made it for some friends and it's not something most people can resist.

I've seen a few texas takes on it as well, so it's easily mutated to local tastes, but it's simplicity and deliciousness makes me say "THANK YOU CANADA."

EDIT: For those of you in Texas who want to try Poutine yourself, You can sometimes find Cheese Curds at HEB in the high end cheese department in most super-stores if not your local store.

[Hurgablurg]

I am ashamed to say that, as a cuisine, "Canadian" has flown completely beneath my radar to date. I have never knowingly eaten a "Canadian" dish, unless you count "anything with maple syrup". And I've made a point of trying just about every cuisine that's been offered to me (I've lived in the UK, Australia and New Zealand).

The only foodstuff I would immediately leap to as identifiably Canadian is maple syrup. That probably does their cuisine a disservice but it doesn't have a lot of penetration here that I'm aware of.

The closest available parallel - aside from honey - is probably golden syrup, which is "unflavoured" (mainly just a rich sugar syrup). In comparison maple syrup is more flavoursome, and I'm a big fan. Compared to golden syrup, though, maple syrup is much more expensive and relatively hard to get hold of, so I rarely have it in. It's not hugely difficult to find, but it's not something you can rely on your local supermarket having in stock and so might have to go out of your way. Pricewise it's about £15/kilo at the lower end of the range, compared to roughly £2/kilo for golden syrup.

I'm in the UK, as my location status suggests.

Thank-you both very much for the input! Here's hoping I can get a few more perspectives.
+ themaque as well!

[Errata]

Tim Hortons (never been to one to compare to US equivalents, but it comes up a lot). Kraft Dinner (we have it here, but we don't call it that or have it quite as often; and we don't put ketchup on it, that's gross). Maple syrup (we produce that in Northern states too, but Canada is known to export a lot of it). Poutine (have not yet tried it). Back bacon (it's OK; I prefer it to American streaky bacon, which I'm not a big fan of). Pale lager (I dislike beer, so can't tell the difference).

[Eldan]

Yeeeah... I don't have the slightest idea. Some thinking produced "maple syrup". And then "probably like American cuisine?"

Of course, then I remembered that I don't really have an idea about American cuisine either. Bad fast food hamburgers? Turkey? You make apple pies, don't you? It's in the proverb. But so do we, so that's not that special. Or corn. Popcorn? All of Mesoamerica does corn, too, and probably more of it than you.

[Errata]

All of Mesoamerica does corn, too, and probably more of it than you.

And most Swiss cuisine is only a minor variation on things available from your neighbors.

[Eldan]

And most Swiss cuisine is only a minor variation on things available from your neighbors.

I never claimed otherwise. There's pretty much nothing typically Swiss.

[Coidzor]

What're some stereotypical foods you recognize as Canadian?

Poutine is the only stereotypically Canadian food that I can think of offhand. Sure, Maple Syrup is strongly associated with Canada, but it's also American and is part of the shared heritage of both countries, same as beaver, as far as I've ever been able to tell.

Some Canadians claim native american/aboriginal canadian/first nations cuisine/foods as being "Canadian," but that always felt a bit sketchy to me.

Have you ever tried them, and if so, how did you like them?

I've never tried poutine. The closest to it that I've had was ketchup and milk gravy or sawmill gravy(milk gravy with cooked loose sausage in it) with tatertots and french fries and no cheese curds. So, y'know, completely different kinds of gravy and no cheese.

I've tried maple syrup, because I've had friends, family, and friend with family who were syrup snobs. Maple syrup is definitely superior to conventional table syrup found in the U.S., but I don't know if I've actually ever had Canadian-produced maple syrup or maple syrup made in the U.S. from materials sourced from Canada. If I have, then I haven't noticed any real distinction between U.S. and Canadian maple syrups.

How do the foods compare to your regional equivalents?

I believe the main difference between Southern waffles and Canadian waffles is that we're more likely to have butter pecan syrup than maple syrup if we're having proper, fancy waffles rather than vendor trash. I honestly don't know if Canada has been able to avoid having the standard breakfast syrup become corn syrup with some vague mix of maple and cane for flavor, but if they still use maple syrup even in pedestrian table syrup roles, then diner/dive pancakes and waffles and the waffles of those who aren't middle class (or possibly upper middle class these days), then that's another difference.

Otherwise... Southerners actually know how to make biscuits and Canadians don't even try, unlike Northerners who do sometimes try but never quite get the knack of it for whatever reason, possibly it's because they don't like buttermilk as much north of the mason-dixon line, possibly it's a bias against lard.

My understanding is that there's a lot of commonalities between Americana and Canadian fare, because of the nations' shared heritage and geographical proximity. So IIRC, for the most part I wouldn't be able to tell typical Canadian fare from things I or someone in my family might make at home.

Are any Canadian foods or brands sold near where you are?

I think there's some Tim Hortons scattered here and there. Or at least there have been around in some of the areas I've lived. IIRC Tim Hortons is a Canadian chain of donut and coffee shops.

How much does it cost?

Not sure, IIRC Tim Hortons are competitively priced considering their main competitors for donut shops are local stores/chains, Krispy Kreme, and/or Dunkin Donuts in the U.S. as far as I'm aware.

Be sure to state where you're from (only if you're comfortable with disclosing your country of habitation), please!

This is my recollection from having lived in Kentucky and Oregon.

Yeeeah... I don't have the slightest idea. Some thinking produced "maple syrup". And then "probably like American cuisine?"

Of course, then I remembered that I don't really have an idea about American cuisine either. Bad fast food hamburgers? Turkey? You make apple pies, don't you? It's in the proverb. But so do we, so that's not that special. Or corn. Popcorn? All of Mesoamerica does corn, too, and probably more of it than you.

No one makes High Fructose Corn Syrup and stuffs it into every possible food stuff like GastonI mean 'Murica!

Other than the fascination with corn syrup instead of cane sugar wherever possible and even in some cases where it wasn't but we did it anyway, the principle thing that Americans do that's not really as much of a thing in Mesoamerican cuisine is cornbread, which is primarily a Southernism and is basically a synthesis of the corn pone that Native Americans had been eating and the white colonists' ideas of what bread should be like. That's my recollection anyway, it's been a while since I skimmed over the history of cornbread.

[Hiro Protagonest]

Uh, I want to try fries and gravy at some point?

[JustPlayItLoud]

The only things I think of as stereotypically Canadian are poutine and maple syrup. Maple syrup is delicious. It's also readily available and only slightly overpriced. It's definitely a bit of a premium good, but not the same level as, say, saffron.

Poutine is also amazing, but I'm not aware of anywhere in New Mexico that sells poutine. A local gastro pub sells a "southwest" poutine, but it's vile. The sauce on the fries is green and there's neither gravy nor cheese curds. And somehow it tastes indistinguishable from the chili cheese fries from Weinerschitzel (a hotdog based fast food joint, for anyone unfamiliar). The closet you can get are the deep fried cheese curds they sell at A&W (they don't just make root beer, but also have fast food joints), which are pretty tasty but lack fries and gravy. Poutine is pretty much a DIY sort of thing, usually requiring you to use fresh mozzarella instead of cheese curds since actual cheese curds are hard to find. The two also taste virtually indistinguishable.

The most famous Canadian alcoholic beverages here are Labatt Blue, Crown Royal, and Canadian Mist which are all pretty equally terrible.

And I think a good portion of Americans are at least familiar with the concept of Tim Horton's even if, like myself, they've never been or even seen one in person. I hear the coffee is good and the donuts are decent for the price, much like our own Dunkin Donuts.

[Merellis]

Y'all never heard of Nanaimo Bars, Toutiere, Beaver Tails, Blueberry Grunt, or the Butter Tart?

[Flickerdart]

Ice wine is a mostly Canadian thing from what I've seen. Beaver tails definitely are, and they're delicious. Also we have amazing candy (Coffee Crisp, yeah!).

[Zyzzyva]

I have no idea what Canadian cuisine is, because, you know, default (the same way Ottawa Valley is the only unaccented English on Earth). Most Canadian stuff is individual foods, which have largely been mentioned anyways.

I never claimed otherwise. There's pretty much nothing typically Swiss.

...Edible cookoo clocks?

Uh, I want to try fries and gravy at some point?

Do it! Do it! (Remember the chess curds!)

Fun story: when I was in England once I ordered fries-with-curds and asked for a side pot of gravy for it and really freaked out the poor waitress.

The most famous Canadian alcoholic beverages here are Labatt Blue, Crown Royal, and Canadian Mist which are all pretty equally terrible.

...You don't have Molson Canadian down there? I mean, it's terrible too, but Canada. (I don't drink any of the above if there's any other option, but it's not like Budweiser or Coors is flying the American Beer flag high either. )

Y'all never heard of Nanaimo Bars, Toutiere, Beaver Tails, Blueberry Grunt, or the Butter Tart?

I worked at Beavertails in Ottawa when I was younger! And I once ate a Nanaimo bar in a bar in Nanaimo, just because I could.

And dulse! Don't forget dulse!

[BannedInSchool]

Just a "ditto" from me here. I've heard of poutine and ketchup on Kraft dinner as Canadian cuisine, both from TV, but never experienced either. Poutine sounds tasty with carbs, fat, salt, and protein, but ketchup on mac'n'cheese? Blech. Oh, and maple syrup is yummy good.

[Dodom]

I can't talk for the whole rest of Canada (it's big you know!) but Québec has traditional cuisine that was mostly handed down from French rural cuisine. Today it's mostly served for the New Year - the week between Christmas and the New Year is about the only time we remember we have traditions outside swearing and watching American detective shows.
So, traditional cuisine mostly appears as winter cuisine - fatty, rich things, stews and meat pies mostly. And of course the inevitable beans and lard - sweetened with molasses much more often than maple.
A few classics I can think of would be the Tourtière (the bird it was originally made of is now extinct, so any meat can go in it) and the Cipâte, a multi-layered pie with different fillings on each layer.
The stereotypical desserts are pretty bad, not much flavour outside the sugar. Sure anybody can enjoy something that's basically an excuse of a cake soaking in a sugary syrup, but it's nothing memorable. Pouding Chômeur is exactly what I described there, and Pets de Soeurs are pretty much the same, except with plain piecrust instead of cake.

I don't know enough to describe it myself, but for more "exotic" Canadian cuisine what would be more interesting to look at would be the Maritimes and Acadian regions. The former because they rely on fish and seafood a lot, the second because the Acadian nation was formed from a basically destroyed colony that merged with the local Natives and developped an unique culture that kept a distinct vibe from the dominant "North American" background up to this day.

[OrcusMcP]

As has been made clear, Poutine is definitely a stereotypical Canadian food, and not unjustly so. Maple syrup (the 100% pure stuff, I mean) is awesome, but I wouldn't call it a "food" itself, per se. Maybe that's just me. I will say, though, you haven't lived until you try the actual sap from the sugarbush.

It's hard to pin down exactly what Canadian cuisine is, because Canada is huge, sparse and diverse. What is common in Halifax can be completely different from what's common in Montreal, from Toronto, Winnipeg, Vancouver, etc.

To give a one line answer, Canadian cuisine is a cuisine of immigrants. Poutine is a great example of this: It's the perfect unholy union of French and English cuisine, with lots of animal fat in the form of both gravy (suet and drippings) and cheese curds (dairy fat), along with the greatest North American plant: the potato. (Yeah, tomatoes are awesome, but see above regarding glory of poutine.)

But even when you drill down, you see a lot of immigrant influence on what's popular and iconic to a particular city or region, and you especially see a lot of fusion of food. In Halifax, for example, there's a large Lebanese community and Lebanese inspired Donair sauce is considered a Halifax staple. Toronto is PACKED with different ethnic foods, and many of them are mixed in various ways. One popular spot I recently went to is called Banh Mi Boys, which mixes the flavours of Vietnamese and Korean foods like Cilantro, Kimchi and Soy with the awesomeness that are pork and fish tacos. Seriously, if you're ever in Toronto and you want to eat awesome for cheap, that's a good spot. Similarly, in Toronto, the Danforth is one of the most densely populated restaurant streets in the world, and half of them are Greek.

Food is an extremely regional thing even in smaller, older and more homogenous nation states, so a nation as big, young and diverse as Canada is going to have very marked differences in cuisine depending on where you are.

So that's my 1.43 cents (conversions, eh?).

[themaque]

Y'all never heard of Nanaimo Bars, Toutiere, Beaver Tails, Blueberry Grunt, or the Butter Tart?

I'm not wholly unconvinced you didn't just make all those words up to be honest.

I have heard of the Butter Tart only due to Alton Brown and a YouTube video from the past week. All the rest is Greek to me. (hrmmm speaking of which I need some Moussaka)

[thorgrim29]

Sure anybody can enjoy something that's basically an excuse of a cake soaking in a sugary syrup, but it's nothing memorable. Pouding Chômeur is exactly what I described there

That's why you do this version and impress the crap out of everyone: http://recettes-de-chefs.ca/danny-st...saint-cyprien/

But yeah, French Canadian traditionnal food is mostly labourer/lumberjack food, high on fat, salt and sugar, with a lot of boiled stuff. There is a bit of a revival going on now where chefs take these recipes and modernize them with high quality ingredients and better technique (as with the pouding chomeur recipe I linked, literally unemployed man's pudding).

Also of note in Québec is that there was a lot of Irish and Ashkenazim Jew immigration to Montreal at the turn of the last century, similarly to New York but from different communities usually. Off the top of my head I can't think of Irish recipes that made it in the "canon", but IMO Montreal style bagels and smoked meat are much better then their New York counterparts.

[Errata]

Beaver Tails

I think we had one of the first (only?) in the US here in Santa Barbara. It didn't last long, perhaps because people didn't know what it was and they didn't advertise. I'd forgotten about it completely, so it didn't occur to me on my list of Canadian cuisine. It was OK, but if they were still around I wouldn't go there often. The crepe place a couple blocks away fills a similar niche, and a patisserie half a mile closer that I would prefer over a beaver tail.

[Errata]

...Edible cookoo clocks?

Fondue. Raclette. They have some stuff, it's just not overly dissimilar from dishes in adjacent countries.

[OrcusMcP]

I think we had one of the first (only?) in the US here in Santa Barbara. It didn't last long, perhaps because people didn't know what it was and they didn't advertise. I'd forgotten about it completely, so it didn't occur to me on my list of Canadian cuisine. It was OK, but if they were still around I wouldn't go there often. The crepe place a couple blocks away fills a similar niche, and a patisserie half a mile closer that I would prefer over a beaver tail.

The thing about beaver tails is that they are almost strictly found at fairs, food trucks and roadside chip wagons. They're definitely not a restaurant food.]

They are, however, delicious. They're also known as elephant ears, if that name has more US penetration, or as a more general "fried dough".

[Coidzor]

Y'all never heard of Nanaimo Bars, Toutiere, Beaver Tails, Blueberry Grunt, or the Butter Tart?

Butter Tart is Canadian and not British? Huh. That and Beaver Tails are the only ones that ring a bell.

[OrcusMcP]

Butter Tart is Canadian and not British? Huh. That and Beaver Tails are the only ones that ring a bell.

It's definitely a British-inspired dish, but it's Canadian.

[Eldan]

...Edible cookoo clocks?

Cuckoo clocks are a German invention.

[Zyzzyva]

Cuckoo clocks are a German invention.

Orson Welles lied to me?

[veti]

Orson Welles lied to me?

He was the Voice of Evil in that movie. What did you expect?

[JustPlayItLoud]

...You don't have Molson Canadian down there? I mean, it's terrible too, but Canada. (I don't drink any of the above if there's any other option, but it's not like Budweiser or Coors is flying the American Beer flag high either. )

Molson is available but literally the only people I've met that have tried it have tried it at the same time as me. It's available bottled in some bars, but I sincerely doubt the freshness of said bottles. Labatt is occasionally at least available on draught. And you have a fair point about American macro brews. The advantage in this case is that I can pay for bad macro beer, or I can pay import prices for macro beer. I would assume anyone in Canada paying the premium for a Bud would be just crazy as me paying $9 for a six-pack of Labatt longnecks.

[Anarion]

I never claimed otherwise. There's pretty much nothing typically Swiss.

...Bankers.

Y'all never heard of Nanaimo Bars, Toutiere, Beaver Tails, Blueberry Grunt, or the Butter Tart?

I've never heard of any of those things. And I'm actually not entirely clear as to whether this whole thread is real, or an elaborate ruse by the Canadians for unknown purposes.