True Patriot Tastes
Stalwarts of canadian cuisine by tim pawsey
Former French President Charles de Gaulle once
famously asked: “How can you govern a country
which has 246 varieties of cheese?” Substitute
“culture” for “cheese” and voilà! Canada’s culinary
quandary. Ask a local what defines Canadian cui-
sine and the chances are you won’t get a straight
answer. You might even get a blank stare — a polite
one, of course.
How can you pinpoint a national taste when
myriad ethnicities in the country span the globe?
Except for First Nations, Canada is a nation of immi-
grants — all happy to contribute to our hot pot of
handed-down recipes. Multicultural tastes mean
Canadian cuisine is based more on ingredients than
recipes; dishes vary by region, season, availability
and who’s cooking.
Canada is roughly 9,000 kms (5,600 mi) at its
widest, from the Alaska border to Cape Spear on the
Atlantic. So while (seal-) flipper pie may go down
well in Newfoundland, or pickerel in Ontario, a
West Coast treat is likely to be halibut cheeks, salm-
on candy…or chai latte.
Spot prawnS
A much celebrated crustacean, the spot prawn can
legally be caught for just a few weeks, from early
May into June. Spot prawns are best parboiled or sau-
téed with garlic. While most diners savour the peeled
tail flesh, purists love to suck the juices out of the
heads, which are prized for making bisque. Smaller
but more widely available side-stripe shrimp are
also popular. Serious foodies shun imported “tiger
prawns” as unsustainable imposters.
IcewIne
The first Canadian commercial Icewine was made
in the Okanagan in 1978. Hailed for its purity and
sweetness, it’s made from grapes left to hang until
frozen. The ripe grapes are also firm favourites with
avian and ursine aficionados, which consume much
of the costly harvest before it’s even picked. Riesling
makes the best Icewine. Even though trademarked
to thwart forgers, fake Icewine still happens. Always
buy from a reputable retailer and look for the VQA
(Vintners Quality Alliance) logo.
the nanaImo Bar
Aside from being the hometown of Baywatch
TV star Pamela Anderson, the Harbour City’s
other main claim to fame is its impossibly sweet,
unbaked, namesake dessert bar. It consists of a
wafer topped with custard-flavoured butter icing,
then covered in chocolate. Rumours that Nanaimo
boasts one of the highest populations of dentists
per capita in Canada are toothless.
poutIne
Often erroneously referred to as “Canada’s gift
to the world,” poutine is Quebec’s gift to the rest
of Canada. Its 1950s origins are based firmly in
rural La Belle Province, where someone, somehow
thought fries with gravy could be vastly improved
by adding cheese curds. Poutine’s efficacy as the
perfect antidote to consuming large quantities of
beer has since guaranteed its role as the one true
pan-Canadian “delicacy.”
Opposite, clock-
wise from top left:
A bacon varia-
tion of the classic
Caesar invented
in Alberta. West
Coast salmon
steaks. Poutine,
a Quebec export.
Nanaimo bars, a
dentist’s delight
the caeSar
Americans in particular have long been perplexed
by the notion that somebody would take a perfectly
good drink and add clam juice to it. But the “Caesar”
is just that: a Bloody Mary made with Clamato rath-
er than tomato juice. The brainchild of a Calgary
bartender in 1969, it’s usually mixed with vodka
and Worcester sauce, adorned with a lemon or lime
wedge and rimmed with celery salt.
maple Syrup
This iconic treat is another tradition originally
handed down by First Nations in Ontario — and
Quebec, which produces over three-quarters of the
world’s supply. Beware of imitations that use substi-
tutes such as maple flavouring and corn syrup. Pure
maple syrup, which is boiled down from 40 times
its volume in sap, must meet rigid colour and qual-
ity standards — and is always labelled Grade A.
cavIar
A few kilometres up the coast from Vancouver,
Northern Divine produces certified organic caviar.
The delicacy is taken from land-farmed Fraser River
white sturgeon, which take 11 years to reach matu-
rity in a state-of-the art 55-acre (22-hectare) hatchery.
The delicious eggs take months to prepare and the
end result is as superb as any caviar in the world.
Salmon
Wild salmon (that is, not farmed) is less abundant
than it once was, but it remains a staple offered in
many forms. Salmon candy (dried) is a real treat,
as is smoked salmon or salmon butter. But nothing
compares to a perfectly barbecued coho or sockeye
fillet with a glass of BC pinot blanc or noir. What
could be more Canadian than that?
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