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What exactly is Canadian cuisine? Is that actually even a thing?
To the average person -- and even the average Canadian -- that question is a bit of a mystery, cause there isn’t really a strong national culinary identity the way there is in Italy or Mexico, for example. For the most part, there are just a few foods that come to mind, like the ones pictured here.
Clockwise from upper left: poutine (French fries with cheese curds and gravy), Nanaimo bars (a dessert consisting of a wafer with nuts and coconut, custard icing, and chocolate ganache), butter tarts (similar to American pecan pie, minus the pecans -- held here by Jusep Sim of Chopsticks + Forks food tours), and tiger tail ice cream (orange-flavored ice cream with a black licorice swirl).
But Canadian food is so much more than that! On the latest episode of Far From Home, my friends at Canadian Geographic Travel send me north of the U.S. border on a delicious journalistic journey. Along the way, I meet a celebrity restauranteur and a chef who takes inspiration from his First Nations heritage. I also learn about the amazing culinary melting pot that exists in the city of Toronto. In the end, the answer to my original question turns out to be both much more complicated and much more fascinating than I ever imagined!
A version of this piece originally ran on Here and There, a Canadian Geographic travel podcast. Canadian listeners might also appreciate my documentary reexamining the legacy of the Tom Thomson and the Group of Seven painters.
Banner image: Ron McKinlay shucking scallops from the Canadian Maritimes at Canoe restaurant in Toronto, where he's the Executive Chef