Montreal City Weblog

Kate 10:36 on 2021-05-07 Permalink Reply  

• steph 13:42 on 2021-05-07 Permalink

  I’ve gotten into too many late night arguments over this. The pure-laine defenders of poutine can never explain why the poutine wars shouldn’t be kept to Princeville, Warwik and Drummondville. While we’re going full-absurd, why not ask Montrealers to stop from appropriating poutine? Where’s the “shut down La Banquise” petition – their mutations are clearly sacriligious. It’s all absurd.

• Blork 16:09 on 2021-05-07 Permalink

  While steph’s divergence is toward the absurd, this article makes total sense to me. It’s not about any knee-jerk reactions around “appropriation” it’s just a simple fact that Canada isn’t a monolith. Poutine was created and popularized in Quebec (and AFAIK Quebecers eat the most of it per-capita), so leave it at that, even if it’s available elsewhere.

  Jiggs Dinner and fish & scrunchions are Newfoundland dishes, and we’re happy to call them as such. Nanaimo bars are a BC thing and are lucky that “Nanaimo” is right in the name, but if they’d been called “Orca bars” they’d still be a BC thing, and that’s just fine. Donairs (not quite the same as a “doner”) are most definitely a Halifax thing, not a “Canadian” thing.

  In the US a cheesesteak is a Philly thing, not an “American” thing. Avocado toast is a California thing, even though you can get it anywhere. A goetta is a Cincinnati thing (not an American thing or even an Ohio thing).

  Regional specialties that are just variations on wider-known items (like Cincinnati chili or Oklahoma onion burgers) usually have the name of their origin built in. But items that are unique often don’t. And it’s OK for those items to be claimed by the places where they developed and grew to prominence. This is what helps define the country as beautifully diverse.

• thomas 23:20 on 2021-05-07 Permalink

  If one uses the “correct” ingredients then it doesn’t where it is made — it is poutine. I confirmed this with Drummondville peeps so — that is the definitive judgement.

• david675 00:14 on 2021-05-08 Permalink

  Nah, Blork is right. I’ve had “poutine” in Tokyo, LA, Miami, New England, and Canada. While the Canadians cone closest in some cases (the ever important curds, most specifically), the dish is just Quebec down to the ground. And I’d add Granby to the list.

• thomas 07:13 on 2021-05-08 Permalink

  @david675 sorry but your judgement is suspect, I can think of no greater folly than to eat poutine while experiencing Tokyo.

• dwgs 08:19 on 2021-05-08 Permalink

  My rule is that I only order poutine from chip trucks or little cantines away from big cities and only in Qc or one or two places in eastern Ontario. It has never failed me.

• Blork 18:08 on 2021-05-08 Permalink

  My point wasn’t that you can’t get good poutine elsewhere, just that it’s “identity” is and should remain Quebec. The same way you can get good sushi outside of Japan, but sushi will always be a Japanese thing.

• steph 16:58 on 2021-05-09 Permalink

  I like my authentic quebec poutine with grated pizza cheese and tomato sauce.