What is Canadian Food?
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- Опубліковано 24 чер 2024
- What is Canadian cuisine? Beyond maple syrup and poutine, it's hard to picture what kind of food comes from this country. This time, I tried to chart the history of Canadian food and figure out if there's really such a thing as Canadian cuisine.
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Credits:
Producer - Matthew Li
Production Assistant - Mana Chuabang
Script Supervisor - Russell Medcalf
Special thanks:
Louis Govier
Yusef Iqbal
Yeevonne Lim
Dylan Payne
Brandon Goddard
Sources:
Speaking in Cod Tongue by Lenore Newman
Timestamps:
0:00 - How maple syrup was discovered
0:54 - What is Canadian food?
3:27 - What ingredients are special to Canada?
8:56 - What dishes are special to Canada?
11:41 - The answer to Canadian food
13:40 - Final message
One think that I don't think you mentioned is how many of the Québécois culinary classics are enjoyed privately in the home, and never were widely commercialized. Tourtière, Sucre à la Crème, Tarte au Sucre, Oreilles de Christ, Soupe au pois, Pouding Chômeur, etc. Quebec has historically been a very poor place, and the everyday food of its worker population probably just wasn't considered noteworthy enough to be celebrated.
I'd wager it could be similar in other parts of the country: the rich people ate whatever foreign food was fancy at the time, all the while the truly Canadian foods which were enjoyed by the working classes stayed as family recipes, never to see the limelight.
vol-au-vent, lobster guédilles, boudin, cretons, hot chicken, cipaille, épinette, fèves au lard are all pretty unknown outside of Quebec too.
Des fèves au lard, Grand-pères ou dumplings, viande mélangée mijoter , etc
The California roll was arguably created in British Columbia.
Canada actually has a few set of unique culinary traditions such as Acadian and Quebecois.
What about beaver tails, donairs, ceasar cocktails, and ginger beef?
If you're curious about butter tarts, you'll also want to try tarte au sucre (sugar pie). Think butter tarts, but creamier and without the nuts. You're right though, as a country populated by immigrant cultures and where First Nations people are still discriminated against, most of our food is reinterpretations or recombining of other traditions' foods. The seasonality of ingredients is still a big things (probably because of weather), I, like a lot of people, will only eat strawberries or corn on the cob during strawberry or corn season, because that's when they are good.
They have really good burgers, but in Quebec it is like a hybrid of French food along with local ingredients like Venison, Lobster, maple syrup, etc...ok maybe you are right it is syrup and poutine
Ive lived in Canada my whole life and I cant even tell you what Canadian food is. A lot of it is repackaged british and french food like Shephards Pie (Paté Chinois in quebec), or like you said, comes from immigrants. In Montreal, where I live, for example, we are known for our bagels and smoked meat, which comes from jewish immigrants.
Smoked Meat is Jewish? You sure? You guys have similar to US cuisine. Italian, French, fast food, Chinese, Sushi,
@@MbisonBalrogMontreal-style smoked meat (known as Montreal Smoked Meat in Canada) was historically made by the large Jewish population in Montreal.
@@dimsum81 they make it themselves or commissioned outside chefs?
My problem with this video is he says America has it's own cuisine but Canada doesn't. Pizza is italian, burgers are german, etc. Most american cuisine is just like Canadian cuisine, it's immigrant cuisine with the new world twist.
@@krazeeeyezkeithSort of, but Southern barbecue, many sandwich types(including the Hamburger) are largely American in origin, and the pizza types of the US are so different that they might as well be separate dishes.
Addendum: and anecdotally my personal experience with food in Canada is that besides a few select dishes it largely emulates the US culinarily.
This is an absolutely terrific video. So interesting and informative, and very well produced/presented. I especially love your discussion of indigenous peoples, who are often forgotten when we talk and think about where cuisines come from. Can’t wait to see what more you have in store!
It's one of the most poorly researched videos on this topic I've watched. Canada doesn't have a cuisine if you get all of your information from what McDonald's sells.
Maple syrup is mainly produced in the North East of North America. As 80 % of the world production is in
Québec.
I remember maple syrup is also used for frying eggs. Never tried it. No idea
As a Canadian, this is a great introduction. I doubt many Canadians know some of these information. There are many more traditions and ingredients that one day, I hope, you are able to cover.
Can't wait for more next year!
Thanks for covering this subject. You're correct in that Canada's cuisine is not a singular homogenous story. The problem is that we're humble and don't feel the need to spread our culture. Nor do we have the resources to do so (ie. through media and movies). I think its a good thing that Michelin guide has come to Toronto to help organize and identify what makes Canadian cuisine. It turns out, much of it is borrowed from other cultures and fused with each other and traditionally Canadian cuisine. It's quite interesting. I sure hope we get the recognition we humbly deserve.
You got a lot to be humble about. That you get fantastic Indian/Chinese is good enough.
Hollywood promotes a very positive image of Canada so you get the affect of having a powerful face to the world while also not proclaiming it yourselves. You guys got a good thing going 😂
There are so many classic Canadian cuisines to choose from that you either need to be totally accidentally ignorant, or willfully ignorant to think Canada doesn't have it's own cuisine.
From the Native Canadian dishes like Bannock, Pemmican, Barley stews, to the Quebecois Tourtières, Pea soups, and Fèves au lard -- Canada has a LOT going on food wise if you actually pay attention.
As a Canadian who loves to cook, I think we have the market beat on the best dessert of all time, the glorious Buttertart. You haven't lived until you have tasted a warm Buttertart, with a wildly flaky crust, oozing with warm maple syrup and raisins. It's a sinful delicacy.
True. Australia is a true example of a country not really having a cuisine of their own. They mostly only have native ingredients, that they make into whatever.
Butter tarts (not made with maple syrup btw), muktuk, seal, cod cheeks, blueberry pie, pan fried haddock, lobster rolls, smoked salmon, wild cranberry jam, pouding chomeur
As a kid in the 70's in a Toronto suburb, we used to joke that Canada's national dish was starch. My grandparent would sometimes drive to see us from the Maritimes & they wouldn't stop at a restaurant but would put a chuck roast, potatoes, carrots, turnips a bit of water, salt & pepper in a pot, cover with tin foil, wire it shut. The pot was secures next to the engine & when they stopped for the night they had "boiled supper" hot from the pot. Build supper was a staple when we went down east.
Awesome
I always learn something interesting from your videos, which keeps me coming back! First time hearing about the "Land v. Creole" concept, but applying it to Canada is quite illustrative. I had the thought that settler Canada is inventing a "Land" and a nation in the place of Indigenous food cultures that were co-opted or suppressed across the country's widely varied landscapes. The "Land", when framed as a singular element, should be recognized as a recent invention serving the settler state. For example, in British Columbia the native Bigleaf Maple has not been used historically for syrup production because the mild maritime climate is not conducive to traditional sapping as it is where other maple species grow in the east. In BC, maple syrup is arguably a "Creole" element that has been popularized by the region's inclusion in the new settler state, Canada. Now, with modern techniques, there are experiments in boutique production of bigleaf maple syrup by settler and Indigenous organizations in British Columbia, which could arguably be called part of a Canadian Creole cuisine.
Just stumbled across your channel today and I'm glad I did. Can't go wrong with a very well edited and executed video in the style of a Johnny Harris/Vox doc. As someone who's just recently started their own YT journey I wish you all the best on yours!
- Alex
As a Torontonian, and by extension, a Canadian my whole life, I also struggle to think of Canadian cuisine outside of Maple Syrup and Poutine... 😂
Do they eat Poutine in Ontario and west?
@@MbisonBalrog not as much as in quebec but yes
Both from Quebec . Yes 80 % of the Maple syrup production is in Québec
Great video, Matthew! Living in Canada (specifically British Columbia) my whole life, you definitely hit the points about the seasonality of ingredients and the diversity of cuisines available especially within our larger cities. For example, we have an Afghan restaurant, a Spanish taperia, a Thai restaurant, and a French bistro within walking distance. If you love picking and eating fresh berries, I highly recommend visiting during the summer.
Really love your content. Keep up with your amazing work😊
Great video! In my family, we have a deep cuisine culture of canadian cuisine like cippate, poudding chômeur, gâteau au graine rouge and ect. I have always been surprised no one knows the food I have always loved! Thank you!
One of the best fusion dishes we have is butter chicken poutine. It was a combo made in heaven.
Same with Portuguese churrasco chicken poutine. Very good restaurant in Montreal called Ma Poulet (My Chicken) makes it.
Your other channel rc anime.The last video you posted was 5 years ago.And the community post was 8 months ago.I liked the perspective of the videos you make. Your way of presenting a complex and diverse topic in the most personal yet simple way to understand is good. I am following your channel for years .So is the channel dead or a new video might be on way. I think the best video you had was the naoka yamadas depiction and the background video. As a viewer your video makes us realise the importance of watching a content in general. I hope you post soon
He's also RC anime?
There are specific dishes from Newfoundland and Labrador (our eastern-most and newest province) which have a long history but not eaten elsewhere in Canada. NL was an independent dominion until 1949 and many of its traditions and accent are more reminiscent of Irish than North American English.
Fish n’ Brewis, Cod Tongues (hence the book name) and Jiggs Dinner are some foods that come to mind.
I'm binge-watching your channel and learning a lot! Greets from Brasil!
😮
You mad lad!
I'm so happy you did this video
Amazing videos always!
I grew up in Alberta Beef country and now live on the west coast of BC and salmon country! Agree Canada is widespread and diverse like it’s people really. Nanaimo bars are so easy to make, do it! I’d love to send you some candied salmon, it’s like nothing you’ve had before! Thank you for educating, I really love your content!
Thank you for covering Canadian cuisine :)
Really enjoyed this one! If there's one thing that Canada is good at, it's reminding everyone else that Quebec exists
In addition to Hawaiian Pizza, California maki also came from Canada, BC specifically.
alot of times i only figure out something i like is canadian only is because i cant find it in the states or people i know have no idea what im talking about. Its always so funny when people find out that Hawaiian pizza and California Rolls/Westernized Sushi is actually from Canada. It really doesnt help when we name stuff after american stuff though hawaiian pizza made sense since hawaii is known for its pineapple industry
Look in to Georgian food. I think you'll enjoy it. Thanks you for your work.
Maple syrup, poutine, and Tim Bits. That's all you need to know. ❤🇨🇦
Well done Matthew! Food binds Humans to each Other. Such a humble subject that all partake and describes the Society and its Heritage. jimmy
Donair, donair pizza, hawaiian pizza, wild blueberries, wild strawberries, saskatoon berries, butter tarts, nanaimo bars, fried clams, clam chowder (our own style), crab, lobster, lobster roll (our own style), montreal bagels (they're way different), montreal smoked meat, california roll, sushi pizza, ginger beef, canadian / peameal bacon (sandwich), kraft dinner, split pea soup, cedar plank salmon, candied salmon, bannock, frybread, beaver tails, and poutine!
You forgot New England, USA. We've been doing it as well since European Settlement began in the 1600's and it is a big industry in sections of VT, NH & ME. But this doesn't take away from the Canadian love of it.
Canada's food is exactly like US. They have similar imigration patterns. US just has lots more latino food, but Canada is catching up with that. Canada seems to have more game entrees in restaurants though.
Boiled dinner, aka corn beef cabbage is popular on the east coast and something you never find in the west. Nanaimo bars are way too sweet, I'm surprised that the US didn't pick it up, it's really extreme. Butter tarts are one of my favorites, I always thought that they were Acadian, by the way that's the same as Cajun, it was just changed due to the southern accent!
Bruh I just found this channel but I have watched all your videos just today! Inb4 it blows up
The most canadian (quebecois) cuisine one can get is to go to a sugar shack, especially during the maple syrup season. It is a restaurant where they make maple syrup, but also serve a lumberjack menu, on which you will pour maple syrup on pretty much everything. The meal will finish with maple toffee. A fun experience, not something you want to eat everyday.
Love your work. a true food historian
Oh, I also recalled at least once a summer we'd have a salmon supper. In the 70's you could get wild Atlantic salmon, we always had dulce poached with the salmon. There was always was new potatoes, corn, maybe some clams & lobster & my Grandmother always brought fiddlehead she'd picked in the spring out of the freezer.
omg i love sea hawthorn berry, 5:26 - 5:28, you have no idea how happy i got seeing those. and also my comfort meal is a side of casear salad, blueberries (or whatever is freshest from the bush), and salmon coated in lemon pepper sauteed with butter and maple syrup (technically candied IG) .
On collecting tree sap: in Poland we have a long tradition of collecting birch sap. Birch trees were one of the most sacred trees for slavic tribes ( en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Birch_sap ). It's kinda similar to what native American tribes did with maple trees, how they treated them and what they symbolized
I think Australian cuisine is ignored
what's Australia?
@@offthemenuytbigger version of austria
@@k.j.estoniatan😂 With all kinds of things that will kill you..
Being such a relatively young country, Australia hasn't yet had time to develop a distinct culinary culture. It still has a lot of influence from the UK (due to colonisation) and the US.
what the hell??? didnt realize that that was a thing lol
A few other Canadian dishes I'd highly recommend are beavertails, donairs, garlic fingers with donair sauce (no east coast pizza party is complete without it,) and fries with the works (which is loose ground beef, green peas, and onion mixed in gravy and put on top of fries.)
Poutine is fries, gravy, and cheese curd. Cheese (not curd, actual cheese), chips, and gravy is the national dish of the Isle of Man. 😉
Being Canadian I do believe that seasonality is what mainly drives our food. Berries (although I have never heard of the 3 you mention by name, they aren't available in Ontario I guess) get ridiculously expensive and lower quality out of season, so they aren't worth eating then. Same goes for a lot of other ingredients.
Regionality is also important. Lobster is big in the Atlantic provinces, but here in SW Ontario it's expensive and not as fresh, so it doesn't tend to be eaten. Freshness is important, and when you're dealing with the distances in Canada it makes eating local a lot more important.
Hello Matthew. New subscriber from Houston, Texas. 🙋🏻♂️🤠
You could DEFINITELY make candied salmon for yourself!
You mentioned regions in Italy, well you may have to break that down even farther in Canada. We are a huge country, and each province has areas that cook and prepare food differently. Same thing goes with our dialects. 😅 (PS. I love eating cod tongues.)
There are a lot of things that we've forgotten how to use. I'm not a forager, but i'm often finding things when I'm just walking around outside: black walnut, ramps, morels, griotte, myrtille, spruce tips, sumac, jerusalem artichoke, horsemint, nettles, service berries, mulberry, elderberry, chicken of the woods, lobster mushroom, butter nuts, salsify, camas plant. The thing I've never been able to find are Pawpaws, and i've actually put effort into trying to find them. Pawpaws are my holy grail.
Game meat also used to be more common when I was a kid: moose, wapiti, deer. catching fish like walleye, pike, plaice, trout.
interesting beginning on canadian food. Check the '' encyclopedie of food in new france'' not shure its been translated in english. i ve discovered it lately You would be surprise of the extent of the mix with the old world and the new and nature in cuisine . Some of the food you have in the us come also from that time. in that period our ancesters used many spice and product from nature witch is been rediscovered today. Plus in that period you would be surprise of the quantity of diverse food product coming from around the world olive oil, wine spice .... to culminate in a AKA Canadian cuisine.
Fun facts: Ice wine was really popular in the 1750s-1820s in the nobility of western europe. At first it was regular wine was used and the bottle where put into ice (so not really ice wine per say ). After ice wine was invented, they directly use ice wine instead. They even have some ceramic crockery specificaly design to cold the wine. the ice wine bucket in ceramic looked like a bucket with a wavy edge where you put the glass in the crook of the wavy edge. the bucket itself was full of ice and can maintain the wine icy.
One of the butler task was to take care of the ice, changing it if it was melting too much. So when the nobility was fading away, so the butler with his bucket of ice.
I know that because i assisted a guide during a conference about "the art of eating well in france from the middle age to the 18th century"
As a kid visiting New Brunswick I always found Finnan Hardie a bit strong, but it grew on me more over the yeas, as did Pickled Herring & lunch of sardines on toast I always loved. Perhaps that's why New Brunswickers are referred to as "Herring Chokers". BTW, there are some Acadians who claim that Poutine is actually an Acadian dish imported to Quebec from New Brunswick.
You mention First Nation cuisine, but didn’t mention game meats. Venison, reindeer, elk, etc. are a few. For the most part they’re quite delicious.😊
is the 4th of July not a holiday in America? its the equivalent of Canada day, a butter tart is basically a small pecan pie
Butter tarts are wide and varied.
But for the basic butter tart. Image a handheld (I would say single serving, but really who can only eat one?) a pecan pie without the pecans. This could be with or without raisins. Very polarized about raisins. It’s either yes or no. No maybe; then again, raisins are just humiliated grapes. lol
Though it falls under Canadian Creole, the Halifax Donair is worth looking into as well... especially the sometimes serious sometimes not fight Halifax has with Edmonton about being the Donair Capitol.
Thousand island is on st Lawrence river and created thousand island sauce. Right?
Banok bread (First Nations) and peirogis (Ukrainian dumplings) are two I have heard of
"...she went to different markets in cities across Canada and found that Canadians were very dependent on seasonal foods which dictated what they ate"
Uh...because she was going to farmer's markets? So obviously? Or is there actually some data that Canadians rely more on farmer's markets than Americans? Obviously if you are already shopping at a farmer's market you are going to rely on local, seasonal food. The data I found says "a total of 86.6% of consumers primarily buy their fruits and vegetables at a grocery store, [and] 4.6% claim that they buy most of their produce at a farmers’ market."
I just got done eating seaweed last night (love me some seaweed) so they need to start exporting dulse to the U.S.
Garlic Fingers, Donairs, Newfoundland Fries, and Bannock (Indigenous version not UK version).
Poutine looks like fast food fries, but I'm sure with the right chef it could be made more unique!!! With all the berries and spices in the world that aren't used or known many nations could have far more ingredients for national dishes and I'm sure Canada has many berries and spices it doesn't use or hasn't even documented yet.
Like australia about as diverse and similar
I’D LOVE me some candied salmon
Please do native american cuisine too.
Settler colonial states in general struggle with their own identity. As their existence starts of settler from the old world displacing the original inhabitants. Some will adapt the original inhabitant (indigenous) cuisine and mix it with the settlers and other immigrant groups like Mexico and Peru. And others will absorb others immigrants group to enhance the settlers food or create new ones like the US and Canada. But Canada has the misfortune of being overshadowed by its brother the US. It’s a very similar relationship with Argentina and Uruguay or Peru and Bolivia.
Does the USA not have the Mc Griddle?
Howdy, as a British columbian, candied salmon is really tasty. You should try it.
It's a good subject. But you have only scratched the surface here. If you take only Quebec, there are many local dishes that make a solid cuisine.
It was more than 20 years ago more like 40 years ago the US basically took it and called it Disco Fries.
The canadian cuisine has been much more influenced by the cuisines of the colonial powers that created the country than it was influenced by the natives. British traditions are everywhere in this country and Quebec was influenced by France. We have a very different culture than Alberta for example. The natives had a big influence in the beginning of the colonization and a lot of knowledge of the land has been transferred to the colonists at that time. But after that the native culture was pretty much non existent in public spaces until recent years
Being from Alberta and traveling is crazy basically all the beef in the world feels like leather to me
look up cipaille
I see Taiwan but no other video it features in?
It's footage for a future Taiwan video in the works!
The ice wine doesn't surprise me: The climate change is real - German winters are getting more and more mild...😬 Thank you for showing me something new I never thought about! 🧡 As someone who encounters cultures through food: I'm getting hungry! 😋
You didn't get to the East Coast? Jeez, you're missing stuff like Acadian poutine balls, poutine á trous, pets de souer. And the Halifax NS Donair, the Donair pizza based on it, Cows ice cream from PEI have a bewildering selection of ice creams. And they have chocolate covered potato chips they call Cow Chips, and hilarious merchandise. PEI with its rich red soil is the potato capital like Idaho is for the US. and Newfoundland has a cuisine of its own, like fish and brews (boiled cod and hard tack), peas pudding, boiled cod tongue like in the book title... the best part of travel is eating what isn't available at home, eh!
Maybe i want make a sandwich with candied salmon
Lentils. Canada is the number one worldwide producer of lentils.
جميل❤❤
so much diverse cuisine in canada was forcibly repressed during our colonial, genocidal history. i can't even imagine what we've lost and i really hope the renewed cultural pride we're seeing now saves these dishes from being forgotten. i think a big thing that sets canadian cuisine apart from, say, korean or scandinavian food is that the majority of what we eat isnt actually from this place, it's half a step removed from european food. not to say that cuisine cant have outside influences, but when france and england already have the same stuff but more prestigious, and for your whole history your powerful class is actively trying to destroy the 100s of unique cuisines already present while making themselves look as much like europe as possible...it's hard to make a name for yourself lol
I don’t recall any cuisine being “suppressed” . People ate whatever the F they wanted… Sometimes pigs feet and meat jelly turn people off..
They don't teach you about canada in the US. Anyone can put 2 and 2 together to know some kind of national day exists.
The problem is that most human dishes are pretty similar especially depending on the temperature and what you can grow etc so most canadian cuisine is ordinary homemade stuff that isnt commercialized or cant effectively be advertised to the world isnt gonna succeed. . .
ill be honest maple syrup in coffee slaps
obviously loved the video but , dude you used to be a Anime youtuber and now you live in japan , just restart RC Anime come on , i have to say as a Hotel Management student and who loves food and finding out you used to be a Anime youtuber , man i have become your fan , love you man and love your videos , it has great production and strong content CRAZY anyways all the best for your future endavours
I really appreciate that you made a video about this subject. But as a Canadian I can tell you that Canadian cuisine doesn’t really exist. It should be called Canadian cuisines and not cuisine. I can’t think of a single dish that represents the whole country even if I spent my whole life in Canada. In fact I never eat most of the foods that you mentioned.
You could actually divide the country into four différent culinary zones (with some exceptions) : the western part (BC to Ontario), Québec, the northern part (mostly native people) and the Atlantic regions
Putin is a working class food eaten in Quebec. They have it as breakfast and dinner after work. Cheap and fast. That’s all
Canada is a nation made up of two colonies at the end of the day, a British one and a French one. And given that both have always disliked eachother to a pretty large degree for a pretty long time they both leaned into _their_ thing heavily. Poutine is basically the one dish both of them could agree on.
Actually in America we use Pancake Syrup, like Aunt Jemima which is only imitation Maple Syrup. Many Americans are not aware of this. They put syrup on their pancakes/waffles thinking it is Maple Syrup but is actually just HFCS (high Fructose Corn Syrup) mixed with other industrial chemicals. If you want 100% Maple Syrup you usually have to ask for it and may be charged extra.
Everyone knows the difference between maple syrup and pancake syrup.
@@Ace-mw9pm not in America especially amongst poor
Seafood
It's a stretch to call this list of ingredients & limited number of dishes a 'cuisine'. There is nothing wrong with being cuisine of cuisine. With the genocide & marginalisation of indigenous people that pretty much sums up the Western Hemisphere. New, as in creole or what was created by Africans brutally transplanted is the only exception.
PEMMICAN!
I got you bra, you can visit Canada!! Flair airlines, Lynx Airlines, Aeroplan points, thank me later 😊
There is no singular cuisine
Poutine = patatas bravas
Patatas bravas is from spain
Bacon
I have been here for 6 months and the food culture is almost as bad as the USAs. Tim Hortens and shitty fast food everywhere.