Around Vancouver in 52 Restaurants > Americas > Canada
I am starting a new project, to do a world tour through Vancouver’s restaurants, reviewing one a week country by country. Starting at home, I badly wanted to launch with a review of Liliget Feast House – a First Nations fine dining restaurant where I once had an amazing dinner of elk and oolichans – but it’s unfortunately closed.
But it got me thinking about ethnicity and food and whether we have a specific cuisine in Canada. “Ethnic” is defined as “pertaining to or characteristic of a people, especially a group sharing a common and distinctive culture, religion, language, or the like.” (Webster) and my Oxford Companion to Food tries its best to tie the huge land mass and various climates together with the railways: “The mounds of crackling crisp Canadian bacon, the evenly grilled Calgary sirloins, the plump, pink spring lamb chops, the succulent goldeyes with their melting pat of parsley butter, the juicy lake fish, slightly charred, the Oka and cheddar cheese and the hot seasonal blueberry pies – all these came to be associated almost exclusively with out transcontinental train service.”
Cuisine obviously plays a big part in culture and “American” has several specific food cultures grown out of immigration and colonization. But Canada? If the airport gift shops are any indication, then maple syrup and smoked salmon are our national dishes.
French Canada does have a culinary tradition, however, so I went to find Frenchies Diner for an authentic Canadian lunch. Frenchies is a classic diner with red vinyl and checkerboard floors, but instead of burgers, their specialties are Montreal smoked meat sandwiches, tourtière meat pies, sugar pie and poutine – all classics in Quebec.
I ordered tourtière, a traditional ground pork pie recipe that shows its age by having been originally made with now extinct passenger pigeons. The pie was both flaky and filling without being greasy and doused liberally in ketchup (as tradition demands) it was perfect comfort food for a rainy afternoon. Frenchies makes 5 kinds of poutine – classic, smoked meat, bacon, chicken, and Italian sausage – so I subbed in a classic in place of my French fries. Sadly, it was not as good as the tourtière. The cheese curds were still cold and there was not enough gravy soaking the fries. The gravy was exquisite, however, not too salty. Thoughtfully Frenchies includes side dish of it and, poured over the poutine, it came out pretty well although I still prefer the poutine at Belgian Fries.
Full tourtières and sugar pies are available to take home, as well as cans of gravy if you want to DIY.
What do you think? Does Canada have a cuisine?
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Frenchies Diner
425 Dunsmuir Street, Vancouver
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Hi Degan! I love the new project. What a wonderful way to start the year. Looking fwd to following you every step of the way. Holla atcha girl if you ever need company <3
I’ve thought about that question before and I’ve always thought that Canada’s identity is too regional to truly have a national cuisine. I mean, there isn’t one cuisine that represents Canadians as a whole (Tim Horton’s, Ketchup Chips, and Kraft Dinner doesn’t count!). There are food items that are unique to Canada (butter tarts, apparently), but it’s not really a cuisine.
However, when you think about each province or region – there is certainly Canadian cuisine at a regional level, whether it be the salmon of coastal BC, or Alberta beef…. the Ukrainian delicacies of the Prairies… the Saskatoon-berries of Saskatchewan, the seal-flipper pies and cod tongues of Newfoundland, or the Digby scallops and lobster of Nova Scotia. This doesn’t even cover the indigenous game meat of the arctic territories, which is practically foreign to the rest of Canada. You’ve already covered Quebec, and Ontario can claim Tim Horton’s.
Really good point, Robin, and when I was pondering I did think of several regional dishes that would have fit, but nothing typically Canadian as a whole. Even the First Nation’s restaurant that I originally wanted to review would clearly have been very West Coast.
I tried the smoked meat sandwich for lunch, with a side of fries. Both pretty tasty! Since this is across from my office, I plan lots of future visits to try the poutine.
I think it’s a mismatch of everything… from poutine to pierogi… to donair to ginger beef. I have been pretty much everywhere from NWT to BC… all the way over to New Brunswick, and those seems to be the most consistent across the board. :\
I do know what you means though, but I am sure every country has similar difficulties trying to claim national dishes.
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There used to be a Frenchies on Commercial, which I think is now The Reef.
My friend took me once, oh gosh, like 4 years ago.
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Actually the cheese curd should still be cold -that’s usually how poutine is actually served in the greasy spoon of Quebec.
oooh! good to know. I have gotten used to Belgian Fries poutine, which I’m not sure is any kind of authentic. thanks!
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I*ve eaten here many times .The food is always good and plentiful.Smoked meats,hot dogs ans fries are authentic Mtl. style.Prices are fair and Michel Blais is a great guy…..
great place to eat!