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 GuineaFlavors · Quebec
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.
Traditional dish from Quebec
Illustrative images. The pictures in this guide are illustrations based on the real place, not photographs, and may differ from it.
Click a photo to enlarge it.
Poutine — Quebec, Canada
Poutine has three elements: french fries, fromage en grains (the fresh cheese in curds), and a dark hot gravy poured over the top. The cheese must be fresh: it’s what squeaks between your teeth, and the heat of the gravy softens the curds without melting them completely. The most particular seek cheese from the dish’s region of origin, Centre-du-Québec.
Poutine was born in roadside eateries in rural Quebec in the late 1950s, and several towns and families in the region claim to have invented it. In Warwick, a café owner said he mixed the cheese into the fries at a customer’s request in 1957, and added the gravy some years later to keep the dish hot. In Drummondville, a restaurant owner says he created the combination in 1964. Victoriaville also appears in the stories. There is no way to confirm which came first.
The name is often linked to the English word pudding, pouding in French, and in Quebec speech poutine can also mean a mess. From rural eateries the dish reached Quebec City in the late 1960s and Montreal in the early 1980s, and later appeared on the menus of restaurant chains across the country.
For a long time poutine was the butt of jokes; today it is treated as a symbol of Quebec, and many Quebecers reject calling it a Canadian dish. There are versions with smoked meat, mushrooms and other additions, but the base remains the same: fries, cheese curds and gravy.
French fries, fresh cheese curds (fromage en grains) and dark hot gravy (sauce brune).
Hot, right after being assembled, so the cheese still squeaks. Eaten with a fork, as a main course or snack. There are versions with other additions, such as smoked meat.
All year round, at any time, from roadside diners to restaurants.
Your questions
It’s french fries topped with fresh cheese curds and dark hot gravy. The fresh cheese squeaks between your teeth, and the gravy softens the curds without melting them completely.
In roadside eateries in rural Quebec in the late 1950s. Several towns in the Centre-du-Québec region, such as Warwick and Drummondville, claim its creation, and there is no way to confirm which came first.
Because they are fresh curd cheese, in curds. The fresher they are, the more they squeak; over time they lose that texture.
Flavors of Canada
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.
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.
