#39 Canada
- Jen
- Jul 13, 2021
- 4 min read
Updated: Jul 4, 2022
Maple syrup
Not so long ago, a friend asked me what my favourite tree is. Without even taking a moment to consider my response, I blurted out “maple!”. As my arboriculture knowledge tends to none and I cannot distinguish a maple tree from any other tree in the forest, this is solely because maple tree sap is Heaven.
A lovely ending to my tale is that this conversation took place whilst en route to a wedding, where it turned out the bride and groom had named the tables after types of tree. Guess which table I was on…!
Almost all of the maple syrup in the world comes from North America, with 70% of the world’s output coming from the province of Quebec. A maple syrup farm is known as a sugarbush. An average maple tree in a sugarbush can produce up to 50 litres of sap each season, which is heated to turn it into the sweet nectar that we love to pour over pancakes. In winter, you can pour maple syrup onto fresh snow and it freezes into maple syrup candy.
Move over salted caramel; maple syrup and bacon is THE best sweet & salty combination…it would have been rude not to.
Canadian cuisine
A traditional indigenous diet was based around wild game and foraged foods…and maple syrup. In coastal regions salmon was an important source of protein and could be eaten fresh or smoked and dried into salmon jerky, which I really want to try! Meat from bison, moose and other game was, and still is, eaten. Again, this can be preserved into a jerky-like product.
Canada has a variety of native wild berries, many of which grow in the Artic regions. Cloudberries, huckleberries, saskatoon and sea buckthorn are a few examples of the types of berries that Canadians enjoy dried or in pies and jams.
Modern day Canadian cuisine is typical for a western country and has evolved from British cuisine in what is known as English Canada, and French cuisine in Quebec. Sadly, a typical western diet involves a lot of fried and processed food.
Ketchup & Kraft Dinners
Canadians eat more ketchup per capita than any of nation of people in the world. For perspective, the UK is the fourth largest consumer of ketchup. It’s the number one condiment of choice on a Kraft Dinner. This delicacy is mac & cheese at its absolute finest (sense the sarcastic tone), consisting of a box of dried macaroni pasta with a packet of processed cheese powder.
Ketchup ‘chips’ (crisps) are a firm favourite in Canada. I found more than one (Canadian) source online stating that ketchup flavour crisps are sold exclusively in Canada. Erm…Walkers ketchup crisps are sold in Tesco…Anyway, ketchup is the top-selling crisp flavour in Canada.
Poutine
What do Canada and Cardiff’s Chippy Lane have in common?
Chips, cheese & gravy.
The national dish of Canada is poutine, a Quebec invention of the 1950s. Poutine is French fries topped with cheese curds and a chicken and beef gravy. The hot gravy should be poured over the French fries and cheese curds immediately before serving to warm the curds without melting them.
Nova Scotia seafood chowder
Novia Scotia (or New Scotland) is an Atlantic-facing province in Canada, with only a short land border with neighbouring New Brunswick province, making it almost an island. With plenty of lakes and rivers there’s plenty of freshwater fish, such as brown and rainbow trout. With plenty of Atlantic coastline, there’s also a wealth of seafood, including salmon and lobster. Lobster, due to its abundance, is pretty cheap in this part of the world. As such, in another Atlantic province, Prince Edward Island, lobster is so everyday that is added to mashed potato!
Penny drop moment for me! Does anyone remember the McCain advert in the late 90s featuring Lloyd Grossman? In the advert he is describing the pros of McCain products to a typical 2.4 children British family and says: “The delicious variety of potato, goes with all the family favourites, including lobster [2.4 children look confused]…well it’s my family favourite!” I have been baffled my entire life by this advert, wondering what joke I wasn’t getting, until now!
As well as having a large-scale lobster export industry, Nova Scotia is the world’s largest exporter of Christmas trees.
Chowder is a loose term that can refer to many types of soup or stew that are often enriched with milk or cream. It’s eaten in North America, the UK, Australia and New Zealand. The most famous chowders are seafood chowders, such as New England clam chowder. In Canada, we have Nova Scotia seafood chowder.
Typically, this will be made from a base of vegetables (carrots, celery, onion, potato) cooked in a fish stock and whatever seafood is available, probably lobster. I sweated diced carrot, onion and potato and left it to simmer in fish stock until the veg was cooked through. I then added some squid rings and mussels that I happened to have that needed eating, and some ready cooked crab meat in lieu of lobster. I also added a little paprika and cayenne pepper for some warmth.
Any kind of white fish, salmon or lobster would go nicely, as would a splash of cream.
This was quick and easy to throw together at lunchtime and was delicious with a crusty roll.
From Canada to...IVORY COAST.
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