Search
Brazil
Argentina
Bolivia
Chile
Colombia
Ecuador
Guyana
French Guiana
Falkland Islands (Malvinas)
Paraguay
Peru
Suriname
Uruguay
Venezuela
Germany
Austria
Belgium
Croatia
Denmark
Spain
Finland
France
Greece
the Netherlands
Hungary
Ireland
Iceland
Italy
Luxembourg
Norway
Poland
Portugal
the United Kingdom
the Czech Republic
Sweden
Switzerland
TurkeyCanada
the United States
Mexico
the Dominican RepublicTurkey
South Africa
Australia
Fiji
New Zealand
Papua New Guinea
Traditional food · Canada
Montreal bagel and smoked meat, Quebec poutine and ice cider, Toronto peameal bacon, Niagara icewine, Calgary Caesar and Vancouver Island Nanaimo bar.
In the photo: Farol de Peggy's Cove, Nova Escócia
Illustrative images. The pictures in this guide are illustrations based on the real place, not photographs, and may differ from it.
The cuisine
Canadian food brings together traditions from many origins: Indigenous peoples, French and British settlers, and waves of immigration from Eastern Europe, Asia and other parts of the world. In each region, climate, the sea, rivers, orchards and prairies influence what ends up on the table, and many recipes were born from adapting older dishes to local ingredients and tastes.
In French-speaking Quebec, poutine became a provincial symbol: French fries, fresh cheese curds and hot gravy. The winter cold is part of the recipe for cidre de glace du Québec, a dessert cider made from apple juice concentrated by natural cold. In Montreal, Jewish immigrants from Eastern Europe left two city signatures: the hand-rolled, wood‑oven-baked bagel and smoked meat, served in thick slices on rye bread.
In Ontario, the butter tart — a small pastry filled with butter, sugar and egg — has bakery trails and festivals. Toronto adopted the peameal bacon sandwich, a loin of pork cured and coated in cornmeal, as a city dish. In Niagara-on-the-Lake, between Lake Ontario and the Niagara River, wineries produce Icewine, wine made from grapes harvested frozen.
Farther west, Calgary, Alberta, gave the country the Caesar, a vodka cocktail with tomato and clam juices, and ginger beef, a dish from Chinese-Canadian restaurants. In British Columbia, the city of Nanaimo on Vancouver Island lends its name to the Nanaimo bar, a no-bake three-layer dessert.
10 flavors
Vodka cocktail with tomato and clam juices, Worcestershire sauce and hot sauce, served in a tall glass with a celery salt rim, a celery stalk and lemon. It was created in Calgary in 1969 and is considered Canada’s national cocktail.
Strips of breaded beef fried until crispy, tossed in a sweet-and-spicy sauce with ginger, garlic and chili, served with sautéed vegetables and rice. Created in Calgary in the 1970s at a Chinese-Canadian restaurant, it spread across the Prairies and the country.
Smaller, more compact and slightly sweet, hand-rolled, dipped in boiling water with honey and baked in a wood-fired oven. It arrived in Montreal with Jewish immigrants from Eastern Europe in the early 20th century and became one of the city’s signatures.
Beef brisket cured with salt and spices, smoked and cooked, served in thick slices on rye bread with mustard. Brought to Montreal by Jewish immigrants from Eastern Europe between the late 19th and early 20th centuries, it is one of the dishes most associated with the city.
Sweet in three layers that doesn’t go in the oven: cookie base with cocoa, coconut and almonds, a yellow vanilla cream in the middle, and chocolate on top. It’s named for the city of Nanaimo on Vancouver Island, which selected an official recipe in the 1980s.
Dessert wine made from grapes that freeze naturally on the vine and are harvested and pressed frozen, which concentrates sugar and acidity. In Niagara-on-the-Lake, on the Niagara Peninsula, wineries produce it and the town hosts a winter festival dedicated to it.
Individual tart made with pie crust filled with butter, sugar, syrup and egg; creamy inside and firmer on top. The earliest known printed recipe dates from 1900 in Barrie, and the tart features on bakery and festival trails in Ontario.
Sweet cider distilled only from Quebec apples, whose sugar is concentrated by the natural cold of winter. Protected as a geographical indication, it has aromas of fresh and baked apple, honey and dried fruit.
French fries topped with fresh cheese curds that squeak between your teeth, and a hot gravy. It originated in roadside eateries in rural Quebec in the late 1950s and became one of the province’s culinary symbols.
Sandwich of cured, unsmoked pork loin, coated in cornmeal, grilled and served hot on a soft roll, usually with mustard. Linked to Toronto’s pork history, it was declared the city’s signature dish in 2016.
Suggest a traditional dish, sweet or drink of Canada that is not here. We check the sources before adding it.
Flavors of the world
Pick a country to see its traditional dishes, sweets and drinks.
Your questions
There is no single dish: Canadian cuisine varies regionally. Some specialties are strongly tied to places, such as Quebec poutine, Montreal bagel and smoked meat, Ontario butter tart, Toronto peameal bacon, Calgary Caesar and ginger beef, and the Nanaimo bar from Vancouver Island.
In Quebec it’s everywhere, from roadside diners to restaurants, and it also appears on menus across Canada. The base is always French fries, cheese curds and hot gravy.
Icewine is a dessert wine made from grapes that freeze naturally on the vine and are harvested and pressed frozen, concentrating the sugar. In Ontario, production follows specific rules and is concentrated on the Niagara Peninsula. In Quebec, the same idea is applied to apples in cidre de glace.
The Caesar, created in Calgary in 1969: vodka, tomato and clam juices, Worcestershire sauce and hot pepper, served in a glass with a celery salt rim. It is considered the national cocktail.
