The last question of my Canada Day food quiz asked Times Colonist readers to list what they thought were Canada’s top-five, best-known foods and email their selections to me.
In fact, it was such a large sample size that today I was able to publish a Top 10 list of best-known Canadian foods based upon those responses. Several respondents noted that they had moved to Vancouver Island from somewhere else in Canada. So that added to the quality of the list, as it felt like folks from around the country had contributed.
When I was done tallying the responses, maple syrup took top spot. That seemed fitting because the maple leaf is on our flag, and the sap from maple trees has been turned into sweet things for eons.
According to the website thecanadianencyclopedia.ca, the sweet sap of the sugar maple was known and valued by the native peoples of eastern North America long before the arrival of European settlers. Iroquois legend tells of the piercing of the bark of a maple and the use of the “sweet water” to cook venison. The practice later spurred the tradition of maple-curing other meats, such as bacon.
The Canadian Encyclopedia website also notes that French settlers probably learned from the native population how to tap trees and how to boil and reduce it into syrup. Canada is now the largest producer of maple syrup in the world; the vast majority — about 90 per cent — is simmered in Quebec.
Poutine was a very close second to maple syrup as Canada’s best-known food, according to readers. In Julian Armstrong’s latest book, Made in Quebec (HarperCollins Publishers Ltd.), she writes that poutine began at rural fast-food stands in the region southwest of Montréal in the 1950s.
Armstrong says the popular dish was created when the proprietor served french fries and offered fresh cheese curds on his counter. Some patrons started combining the two, and then asked for some of the gravy normally spooned over hot chicken sandwiches and, voilà, poutine was born.
This hearty creation became popular all over Quebec and, eventually, the rest of Canada. These days you’ll find it being served coast to coast in all sorts of eateries, from diners to fine-dining establishments to fast-food chains. It’s no wonder so many of you deemed it a well-known Canadian food.
Wild B.C. salmon, like maple syrup, is an iconic Canadian food and it garnered third spot on the list. Some of you noted a specific species, such as sockeye, but most of you said wild B.C. salmon, a nod to that fact that all types of this fish are important to Canada, not to mention good to eat.
In fourth was a sweet treat, Nanaimo bars. According to the City of Nanaimo website, nanaimo.ca, this creamy, chocolatey treat’s origin is elusive, shrouded in mystery, and claimed by many as their own. But, of course, folks in Nanaimo know it originated there, or else they would be called New York bars, or New Brunswick bars, not Nanaimo bars.
Rounding out the top-five best-known foods was Canadian bacon, which is made from cured, boneless pork loin. It is also called back bacon, or peameal bacon when it’s coated in a fine meal, which is now cornmeal, but initially was ground dried peas, hence the name “peameal.”
According to a few sources, Canadians didn’t start calling it Canadian bacon until people in the United Kingdom termed it that. That occurred many decades ago during a pork shortage in the United Kingdom, when they imported this style of bacon from Canada and needed a name for it.
Claiming spots six to 10 on the list, respectively, were Atlantic lobster, butter tarts, Montréal smoked meat, tourtière and Alberta beef. But those foods only finished a few votes ahead of a number of other foods, including Digby scallops, beaver tails, Quebec-style pea soup, blueberries, PEI potatoes, McIntosh apples, wheat, wild rice and Tim Hortons doughnuts.
Beyond those doughnuts, some of the commercially prepared foods on a few readers’ lists included Smarties (original with the red ones), ketchup potato chips, Kraft dinner, Cherry Blossom Candy, Shreddies and Red River Cereal.
Some really keen readers also listed what they thought were some of Canada’s best-known drinks, including caesars, rye whisky, clearly Canadian soda pop, Canada Dry ginger ale, Red Rose tea, spruce beer and Canadian beer, preferably in stubby bottles, eh!
The readers who sent in responses to my query about Canada’s best-known foods were entered into a draw to win a copy of my new book, The Great Rotisserie Chicken Cookbook (Appetite by Random House). Because so many of you did respond, I’ve decided to give away two books. The winners were Keith Phillips and Alice Stubbs. I’ll be in touch with you soon!
CANADIAN, EH
Canada’s Top 10 best-known foods
After polling Times Colonist readers on this subject, these were the top 10 results.
1. Maple syrup
2. Poutine
3. Wild B.C. salmon
4. Nanaimo bars
5. Canadian bacon
6. Atlantic lobsters
7. Butter tarts
8. Montreal smoked meat
9. Tourtière
10. Alberta beef
Eric Akis is the author of The Great Rotisserie Chicken Cookbook. His columns appear in the Life section Wednesday and Sunday.
