Early settlers faced many challenges, and the first Canadian cuisine consisted of eating what you could hunt, fish, and forage – most of it learned from the native peoples, saving many a fur trader and explorer from certain starvation.
As a result, there is no single cuisine that defines Canada but rather one made up of several components. There are more than 80 cultural communities, and some 5,000 restaurants at any given time in a city such as Toronto, where the Italian population rivals a mid-size Italian city and Chinatown is one of the busiest in North America. If a food or ingredient exists, it’s probably available somewhere in Canada, and definitely in the larger cities.
Over the past 400 years, successive streams of immigrants have brought their recipes and ideas with them, each contributing to Canada’s food culture.
Foreign visitors can be forgiven for thinking that mainstream Canadian food is interchangeable with American. Hamburgers and French fries are standard fare at any Canadian shopping mall, just as in any American city. But a closer look reveals Japanese sushi, Korean bulkokee, Chinese stir fry, Ukranian pierogies, and Greek souvlaki. Canadians are used to combining foods from four or five cultures on the same plate and see nothing unusual about this approach to eating.
Try some crêpes along rue St Jean, Québec City.
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The 100-mile diet
The various trends and obsessions with fresh and organic are at home in Canada. First Nations cultures all across the country evolved diets and favorite foods that were directly related to what was available and what could be stored for the winter. As a country of abundant game, fish, corn, squash, beans, berries, and greens, the cuisine was varied in summer, but very limited during the long winters. Much of the food eaten by settlers and colonials was an attempt to recreate food from the countries they had left behind; this not being practical, they began to adapt to the land and learn a new way of eating.
Now, modern technology has helped farmers cultivate more exotic foods in Canada profitably, so the bounty that can come out of a local Canadian garden is truly astonishing.
Fresh pickles and blue carrots in Saskatchewan.
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Food for all tastes
The ethnic diversity of immigrants brought with it all manner of food styles and tastes. The country is almost pathologically receptive to whatever is happening on the international food scene, so what you can expect in Canada is a cuisine that’s like an orchestra, with native and colonial strands and a plethora of richly varied imports. Churrasco-style (Portuguese) barbecued chicken can coexist with Jamaican ginger beer, as can Armenian lahmajoon (flatbread spread with ground lamb) with Thai salad and real ale from a microbrewery. The idea of melding all these cuisines into one distinct Canadian school of cookery has largely failed: simply put, Canadian cuisine focuses on the best of all its constituent cultures.
Fiddleheads at the market.
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Of course there are the regional specialties that the whole country enjoys and that people use as a shorthand to define a region and its culture. In the Maritimes, for example, it’s lobster, mussels, oysters, and fiddlehead greens (ostrich fern), along with Prince Edward Island’s famous potatoes; in Québec, maple-sugar pie, Oka cheese, and old-style bagels; in Alberta, possibly the best beef on the continent; and in British Columbia, cedar plank salmon.
Canadian maple pies.
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There are few exclusively Canadian foods. However, butter tarts are so prevalent in Canada that they deserve special mention. The doyenne of Canadian cuisine, Elizabeth Baird, in confirming their unique position, even recommends them as a great treat for Canada Day (July 1). Their origin is unclear but one theory claims they are an adaptation of the southern US pecan pie. These little pastry shells, filled with a sticky mixture of butter, brown sugar, corn or maple syrup, and sometimes raisins or pecan nuts, are the subject of endless debates: should they be runny or chewy, is sugar or syrup or both the best, and where are the best butter tarts in the country?
Pick of the Wines
Ontario and British Columbia wines consistently win major international awards. The quality assurance program VQA (Vintner’s Quality Assurance) ensures that labeled wines come from specified lands as well as pass sensory tests to confirm varietal characteristics. Every winery has something special to offer, but here are a few of the highlights:
In British Columbia: Black Hills Winery, Lake Breeze Vineyards, Quails’ Gate Winery, Sumac Ridge Estate Winery, and Tinhorn Creek Vineyards.
In Ontario: Cave Spring Cellars, Château des Charmes, Malivoire, Thirty Bench Wines.
That finishing touch makes all the difference.
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Creating a Canadian cuisine
Today Canada is home to some of the finest chefs in the world, many of whom create “market-inspired” cuisine, relying on the excellence and abundance of local ingredients to craft inspired dishes with blueberries, fiddlehead greens, wild rice, maple syrup, bison, and seafood. One well-known Canadian chef, Michael Stadtlander, abandoned Toronto to move operation to a farm in the country, where he could switch to the 5-mile (8km) diet for his patrons.
Canadians are keenly aware of their country’s gastronomic resources, and are using more homegrown foods and produce. Indeed, menus have become longer, not because there are more items, but because the descriptions include the provenance of the main ingredients. In Vancouver, the duck will be Polderside, the pork Sloping Hill Berkshire, the oysters Fanny Bay, the lamb from Salt Spring Island or perhaps Peace River. While the descriptions may seem pretentious, they aren’t – people here genuinely care about their food and are interested in knowing everything about it, not least its provenance.
In the Atlantic Provinces, the first French settlers have left a lasting and treasured legacy. Although most of those settlers, the Acadians, were forcibly removed by the British in the 18th century (transported south to Louisiana, becoming the forefathers of today’s Cajuns), many managed to return. Their influence is apparent in Nova Scotia and New Brunswick cuisine, in galettes (oatmeal and molasses cookies), fayots au lard (pork and beans), and poutines (delectable fruit pastries, not to be confused with the poutine of Québec, French fries topped with gravy and cheese curd). Halifax became the center of British social life, German farmers settled in Lunenburg, and the Loyalists brought with them the flavors of New England and the South. In the 19th century, Irish and Scottish immigrants introduced oatcakes and shortbread, along with traditional stews.
Some of North America’s oldest culinary traditions are found in Newfoundland, settled by Irish and English fishermen. Salt cod, salt beef, pork, molasses, and root vegetables are still staples today, although many of the recipes have been updated.
Most of Québec’s early settlers came from northeastern France, some from the Charente-Maritime region north of Bordeaux. Today, its cuisine draws gourmands from all over the continent, both with its traditional fare, such as tourtière – a meat pie with ingredients that vary according to region – and contemporary French cuisine, using local products including foie gras, cassis, and shockingly good cheeses.
Wine for sale at Blasted Church Vineyards.
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Long before the first European settlers arrived in southern Ontario, the Huron and Iroquois nations were cultivating corn, pumpkins, and beans. The United Empire Loyalists who came north after the American Revolution were mostly of British stock. The province’s culinary contribution today rests on its agricultural produce, its wines from Niagara vineyards, and Toronto’s unbelievable array of ethnic cuisines.
Manitoba, Saskatchewan, and Alberta have come a long way since immigrant Scottish crofters to the prairies survived on little more than oatmeal, and the Métis cooked according to the traditions of their Indian and French-Canadian heritage. Mennonites, Scandinavians from the Dakotas, and American ranchers moved north, and cowboys lived on steak, beans, flapjacks, and raisin pies. Ukrainians, Eastern Europeans, Icelanders, European Jews, and Chinese, with their own culinary traditions, contributed to shifting the emphasis from a heavily British one to a brave new multicultural world.
British Columbia enjoys the flavors of Asian cuisines as well as the initial British penchant for joints of meat and hearty stews. Vancouver enjoys a restaurant scene that is hard to beat: its environmentally aware populace have supported sustainable programs, including Green Table, whose member restaurants commit to reduced waste and more recycling, more eco-friendly practices, and more products that benefit the local economy.
The gourmet influence extends to the Yukon, the Northwest Territories, and Nunavut, at least as far as serving tourists is concerned. After decades of canned and packaged foods, people are slowly refocusing on the bounty of the land, including caribou, moose, arctic char, and wildfowl.
A fine selection of freshly baked bread.
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Drinks
Wine and beer are mentioned in separate panels – suffice to add that there are impressive selections of both. Aside from beer and wine, Canadians like their share of spirits. Globalization has had its influence on the bar scene in cities across the country, so vodka rules, but more as a statement of identity. Downtown bars in Toronto and Vancouver frequently boast selections of single malt whiskies to rival anything in Edinburgh.
Whether it’s a classically Canadian Caesar with its clam and tomato juice, tabasco and Worcestershire or an espresso Martini (equal parts of chilled espresso coffee, vanilla-infused vodka, Kahlua, and Frangelico), Canadians like to make statements with their choice of drink. Canada, despite high taxes on alcohol, boasts some of the most ardent supporters of the highest quality products. For visitors, it’s a great opportunity to taste magnificent wines from all over the world.
A Quick Guide to Canadian Beers
Part of the Canadian stereotype is beer, along with back bacon, hockey, and winter. While the rest may be questionable, the beer part has a ring of truth. Canada has a long brewing tradition, initially dominated by Molson and Labatt’s. There were some smaller regional breweries, but nothing really exciting until microbreweries took off in the mid-1980s. Microbreweries focus on offering natural beers of distinction and taste, and brew-pubs across the entire country now produce an array of specialty beers, from ales and lagers to bitters and stouts.
The big breweries have formed alliances with (or been bought outright by) international consortiums, so the quest for a truly “Canadian beer” leads the discerning drinker to the craft breweries. Passionate beer devotees now make the discovery of each town’s best beer an exciting adventure as important as any museum, park or historic site. Forget the multinational brands: choose the local beverages and compare across the regions. Here are a few producers and noteworthy beers to watch for:
Gahan House – Iron Horse Dark Ale
Granite Brewery – Peculiar
Phillips Brewing Company – Blue Buck Ale
Picaroons Traditional Ales – Winter Warmer
Propeller – Honey Wheat Ale
Yellowhead – Yellowhead Premium Lager
Yukon Brewing Company – Espresso Stout Midnight Ale
Canada has a long brewing tradition.
Alexander Keith Brewery
On the non-alcoholic front, the European-style cafe, complete with croissants and pains au chocolat, was once to be found only in Montréal, but now cafes are readily found in all cities and many smaller towns. While Starbucks outlets abound, there are plenty of independents offering a quality personalized experience as well. Even the Canadian doughnut chain Tim Hortons has developed its version with its iced cappuccino (not something that would appeal to a diehard Italian coffee-lover, but a step up from drip coffee with a scoop of ice cream…).
