The first people to cook in Canada were the Indigenous Peoples. They used more than 500 types of plants for food. They grew and found many plants to eat. They also hunted animals that lived in the air, water, and on land. They used different tools to cook their food by boiling, smoking, preserving, and roasting. Later, the French and English came to Canada. They brought new foods and ways of cooking. Now, many traditional Canadian dishes show the influence of Indigenous, French, and English cooking.

But what do we think of when we talk about Canadian food?

It is difficult to describe. When we talk about Indian food, we think of spices and smells that are special to India. When we talk about Chinese food, we think of tasty dishes. But with Canadian food, it is not easy to think of one taste, feel, or feature. A Canadian leader once said Canadian food is like a mix of many different foods. This is true because Canada has people from many cultures.

But if we look at famous dishes to understand Canadian food, we might say it is special because of its history and the local things used to make it. Jennifer Cochrall-King, who writes about Canadian food, said:

“There is no single definition of Canadian cuisine. It starts with ingredients that come from the land and with old dishes that are part of the area’s history and culture. Chefs in Canada are creating new ways to use these things. They show their own ideas of the land, food, and people” (As quoted from Herch, J. 2009).

Canadian dishes from coast-to-coast:

We have made a list of famous foods from Canada. We tell you where each food comes from. But now, you can find these foods all over Canada. Look at the list. See if you have eaten any of these foods:

Poutine (from Quebec) – Poutine is a dish of French fries with a sauce on top. It also has cheese curds. It started in Quebec in the 1950s. People tell different stories about how it began. The most common story is about a man at Café Ideal. He asked to put cheese curds on his fries. The café owner said it would make a big mess. Later, they added gravy to the fries. They did this because the fries got cold too fast. You can read about it in the History of Poutine. Now, there are different kinds of poutine. They have extra things on top. For example, some have lobster or beef.

Tourtiere (from Quebec) – This is a pie with two crusts. It has meat inside. The meat can be pork, veal, and beef. Or it can be just pork in Montreal. The Great Canadian Cookbook says French settlers made this pie. They made it for a Christmas meal in the 1600s. The pie can have different fillings. It can have meat or fish. But it must have four spices. These spices are cinnamon, clove, allspice, and nutmeg.

Butter tarts (from Ontario) – This is a sweet food. It has butter, sugar, syrup, vanilla, and eggs. It is in a pastry shell that breaks apart easily. People have liked it since the 1600s. Now, there are butter tarts with raisins. Some have nuts like pecan.

Nanaimo bars (from Quebec/BC) – These are sweet bars. They have a base made of wafer crumbs. They have a middle part that tastes like custard. They have chocolate on top. People have liked them since the 1950s. They are famous not just in Quebec and BC. They are famous all over Canada. The story of these bars started in the late 1900s. This was during the coal mining time in Nanaimo. Families from England sent these bars to the miners. The miners would take them in their lunch boxes. Devon Scoble wrote about this in The History of Nanaimo bars: A beloved treat.

Bannock (from Scotland) – Indigenous Peoples adopted it. Bannock is a round bread. You can cut it into pieces called scones. Indigenous hunters liked it. They found it easy to carry flour. They cooked it on a fire. Now, people eat bannock with meat or jam.

Beavertails (from Ontario) – They are like flat donuts. An article says they are like bannock. Settlers cooked bread like Indigenous people. They cooked it on a fire. They shaped the dough like a beaver’s tail. Now, people deep-fry beavertails. They put sweet things on top. You can find them in Manitoba. They sell them at a stand behind the Children’s Museum at The Forks. They are also sold at festivals.

(from top) Montreal smoked meat, Maple syrup, Canadian back bacon, Butter tart, Nanaimo Bar, and Poutine. Photo by Chensiyuan, Miguel Andrade, SJSchen, snowpea&bockhoi, Stephanie Spencer, Joy, and Jeanpetr from Wikimedia Commons. CC-BY-SA

Saskatoon berry pie (from Saskatoon) – The berries look like blueberries. They taste sweet and nutty. They fill a pie with these berries. Indigenous Peoples and settlers ate them. You can eat the berries fresh. Or you can make them into bricks. Then you can cook them in winter.

Canadian bacon (from Ontario) – It is also called peameal bacon. It is leaner than regular bacon. It comes from Toronto. They cut the fat off the pork. They roll it in cornmeal. It used to be rolled in yellow peas. This keeps the pork good for a long time. People like to eat peameal sandwiches. They are popular at St. Lawrence Market in Toronto.

Split pea soup (French Canadian) – It has yellow peas. They make it with ham bone or ham hock. People in Quebec and Newfoundland add meat and vegetables. Voyagers made this soup. They carried dried peas on their trips.

Fish and brewis (from Newfoundland)- It has salted cod and hard bread. You soak them overnight. Then you mix them. They top it with scrunchions. Scrunchions are small pieces of fried pork fat. Sailors made this dish. They used ingredients that lasted a long time.

Figgy Duff (from Newfoundland) – Figgy duff does not have figs. It has raisins. In old English, raisins were called “figgy.” Figgy Duff is a pudding. It has breadcrumbs, raisins, sugar, molasses, butter, flour, and spices. British settlers in Newfoundland and Labrador made it first. They came in the 1600s.

Montreal bagels (from Montreal) – Bagels are bread with a hole. They bake them in a wood oven. Jewish immigrants from Eastern Europe brought them in the 1900s. At first, only Jewish people made and sold them. In the 1950s, other stores started to sell them. People like them with cream cheese and smoked salmon. They also like other fillings.

 
Sources: Structural elements in Canadian cuisine, Hersch Jacobs, 2009; 12 foods Canada has given the world (besides poutine), MacLean’s, 2012; The Great Canadian Cookbook; The Canadian Encyclopedia; 18 delicious, classically Canadian dishes from coast to coast, Carmen Chai, Global News; Food in every country. Accessed August 24, 2017.