I’ve been invited to visit a friend’s family in Gaoxiong/Kaohsiung over the long weekend, on the condition that I prepare some dish that is representative of Canada (and my British friend has to make something British). It can’t be too hard to make, and obviously all the ingredients have to be fairly easily obtainable, but I also want it to be something that you wouldn’t normally find in Taiwan or in the UK. It could probably be a desert, rather than a main course.
So far, I’ve thought of poutine, nanaimo bars, beaver tails (not necessarily Canadian, but I’ve been craving them ever since I left Ottawa as a boy), butter tarts, tourtière, blueberry pancakes with maple syrup, or even Kraft Dinner; but I have no idea if the ingredients are available, and I’m pretty sure they don’t have an oven, which rules out tourtière and butter tarts. The other part of the problem is that I don’t know what necessarily counts as Canadian food, and not just North American or British.
Get some maple syrup and something that’ll make do as a popsicle stick (such as chopsticks).
When you get there, get a bucket load of shaved ice.
Heat the syrup, spread the ice, lay out the sticks, pour the syrup on the sugar to cool and harden (ideally in a goofy shapes: snowman, maple leaf, whatever).
Makes a nice, sweet, novel treat.
(Costco sells large portions of maple syrup with a big, cheery red maple leaf on the label.)
I really don’t want to foment a flame war here in peaceful old Food forum, but my lord! i did a not-so-slow google search for “Canadian food” “typical Canadian dishes,” that kind of thing.
You guys don’t seem to have much in the way of noteworthy vittles at all. Might sound ludicrous coming from a Brit, but that’s how it looks to me.
British heritage, what do you expect? At least we dropped the sheep guts.
Check out the list, it’s all French, native, corporate, or cold-weather survival fare for all the hours spent in the ice rink.
Nothing to inflict on a friend.
See? The best you can come up with is something that sounds like expectorate!
Only kidding! I like poutine. Its almost as good as chips wi’ curry sauce.
(This is completely tongue in cheek, by the way – I know Canucks can dine as well as anyone else – mmm, seal flipper pie! but it really does look like poor pickings)
Go easy on yourself and make some maple syrup cookies. With poutine. What’s the big deal with poo teen anyway? Fries with cheese and gravy. Where I come from in NW Canada we called it fries with cheese and gravy.
The shaved ice thing was a good idea. Pancakes are good but remember to bring some whipping cream or they will think it’s missing.
I never cook “canadian food” so I really wouldn’t know…
I don’t know about giving them maple syrup. I tried once, French toast with maple syrup, none of the Taiwanese liked it.
It was reminiscent of a trip to Kenting. All the foreigners settled in for a western barbeque, but the Taiwanese wouldn’t touch it. Instead, they went into town and came back with shredded fish snack.
[quote=“canucktyuktuk”]Go easy on yourself and make some maple syrup cookies. With poutine. What’s the big deal with poo teen anyway? Fries with cheese and gravy. Where I come from in NW Canada we called it fries with cheese and gravy.
The shaved ice thing was a good idea. Pancakes are good but remember to bring some whipping cream or they will think it’s missing.
I never cook “canadian food” so I really wouldn’t know…[/quote]
Not only do you betray your Westo-centric ignorance of the fine tradition of cabane sucre (does the Canadian Society still do this every year? They used to…), a child of 5 (east of Thunder Bay) knows that putting cheese on fries and gravy and calling it a poutine is like putting Campbell’s tomato soup on ramen and calling it Spaghetti Bolognaise…
Cheese curds, mec, cheese curds, a completely different animal…
Me, I’d give 'em a Boston Pizza Great White North, with real pizza sauce (with seeds), back bacon, and sharp cheddar instead of moozarella…that’s fuckin HOCKEY food!! Oh, and do them a favour and serve it with a round of real Caesars…or at least Two and a Juice…
Isn’t there a particular kind of Canadian corn? From what I understand, it doesn’t go well with other dishes and can be particularly chewy. Maybe you should try to get some of those Canadian Chewy Corns.
But if you really want to blow their minds, bring a hodgepodge of ethnic food from everywhere else in the world. Canada being about diversity and all that eh.
The only National dish (one you can get in every province) is the ham steak with a ring of pineapple and a maraschino cherry in the center. With maple sauce optional.
