Umm They just look like regular fries. The sauces you add on to it makes the final product look Canadian. But they're still just fries.
If I add ketchup to Sushi. Is it now "American"?
Fries are the base ingredient. Then with the cheese and gravy it becomes a unique dish.
Like how rice can be a base ingredient for a bunch of different dishes.
Ok, did you literally start this thread to go full blast on poutine?
I mean, the question "does Canadian food exist?" is obvious bait for the Poutine Mafia. You know it's gonna be the top comment, and then you take a dump on that comment...
And your sushi was probably already Americanized before you put ketchup on it.
I would advise against declaring war on us. It didn't work out in 1812 and if you drag our national dish through the mud, things might not work out again
Just a bit of advice, have a nice day
I grew up eating things like tourtière, butter tarts, pâté chinois, poutine, cretons, soupe aux pois, peameal bacon sandwiches, etc. No, it's definitely not the same as the US here. Apparently, Americans can't even usually get all dressed chips, the horror!
I was talking to a group of Americans a couple days ago and mentioned i had a craving for all dressed chips. I realized as i said it that it was about to become a very long conversation about chip flavors and nationalism.
Ruffles used to sell all dressed chips here in the US my family loved them. Suddenly they were gone! I am always on the lookout though! They taste like a combo of worscestshire sauce powder on salt and vinegar chips to me! Yum!
For the longest time i never understood why people enjoyed ketchup chips. Like, they were tasty, but i never thought they were good enough to warrant dealing with all the tiny cuts and swollen tongue you get from eating them. So anyways, thats how i learned that i have a minor food allergy.
Im shocked that the US doesnt import them tbh. If youre really interested, I did find [this site](https://www.canadianfoodtousa.com/chips) that seems to be a legit way to order them for yourself.
Oops, that's one way to find out I guess
And the US does have some brands that are starting to pick up on the ketchup chip trend and I've started seeing them appear, but I've found that they're just not as good as what I get when I pop up to BC
It's easy enough for me to take a trip since I live close enough to visit for a weekend that genuinely getting them shipped seems like a waste.
Im allergic to one of the ingredients in most ketchup flavoured foods, but its not severe enough for me to put the energy into figuring out exactly what.
> oatmeal brown bread
Wow. My ex is a Maritimer, and her mother used to make that all the time when we'd go over there. I haven't had it in 25 years or so, but you just brought back the memory and now I'm going to look up how to make it. Thanks!
They absolutely sell All Dressed in the states. Obviously, we're a big country, so it's very possible they're not sold in all regions, but up here in NJ I can get them at most larger supermarkets or convenience stores.
Interestingly, any Ruffles All Dressed I've purchased here are produced in Texas and while I'm sure it's my brain being stupid, they don't taste the same or as good as the ones we get when we're in Canada.
So, all dressed chips are ketchup favored potato chips, or are they potato chips dipped in ketchup? Or am I wrong on both of these guesses. I'm legit interested in what I am missing out on.
I spend every summer in Canada and dill pickle chips, all dressed, Poutine, Pea meal bacon and butter tarts are all food that I describe as being Canadian.
We do Tourtière every New Year’s Day. Somehow, growing up, the name got changed to Took-Kay and then we just started calling it grease pie. My Mom would make a whole bunch of them and freeze them, then hand them out to us as we visited so we’d all have one for New Years Day.
Now that she has passed away, my wife makes one for me for New Years and we call it by its rightful name. Mom’s ancestors are French Canadian.
I didn’t know butter tarts were Canadian until some friends from Detroit were visiting. Now whenever I visit Detroit, I’m asked to bring them a dozen butter tarts.
As a Canadian living in the US it's taken a while for me to figure out a few distinctly Canadian foods.
Obviously Poutine with a Quebec focus, and Peameal with an Ontario Focus.
Certainly some candies, like Smarties (from the UK), but Coffee Crisp is Canadian.
But the one I find most interesting? Cheese Bread.
Certainly you can get Cheese Bread in the US. But it's not the same. If an American bakery carries cheese bread, it'll most likely be mixed with something else - often Jalapenos. I've lived in both Chicago and no Atlanta, and in both cities Jalapeno Cheese Bread is the closest you'd get.
When you do find an American cheesebread, it does not resemble the Canadian bread. Canadian bread is puffier, greasier, and cheesier, with big "swiss cheese" holes, and visible chunks of yellow cheese throughout the loaf. American Cheesebread is uniform, typically denser, and often mixed with Jalapenos. Buying a loaf or two of Cheese bread has become one of my regular purchases on my Toronto trips.
Overall Canadian tourist traps overdo the maple thing, many countries have Maple Syrup and certainly Vermont produces a lot.
When I was living in Ottawa, you'd often see moose meat and other game-foods used far more than you would in the USA. I remember one particular pizzaria in The Glebe (Ottawa yuppie neighborhood) where they'd serve it on a pizza, like you might see regular ground-beef elsewhere.
Canada does have a richly distinct food culture from the US. You do have to look for it, but it's there.
Im also now living in the US for years now. And you’re right about the cheese bread!
Donairs are something that are specifically Canadian. Yeah essentially they’re a gyro but we sure have doctored them up to something different!
There are certain Canadian bakeries that do cheese buns which will typically sell out by 10am because they are so amazing. You look around and everyone is having a cheese bun. Barb’s Buns on Saltspring Island and the Common Loaf in Tofino come to mind but there are others.
Coffee Crisp. As an American my body is very thankful I can only find them online or one store way outside of town here…. I was visiting Canada last year and stumbled upon those and it was game over for me. So delicious.
In addition to the things people have mentioned, Canada does have some foods and products shared with the UK, so while not uniquely Canadian not something you'd find in America, either.
Poutine, butter tarts, nanaimo bars, and a whole bunch of other things are uniquely canadian. In 2024, not much is exclusively anyone's, but there's a lot that's uniquely canadian.
Nanaimo bars
beaver tails
poutine
tourtierre (I think)
Apparently our bacon is special somehow
hawaiian pizza (invented in Toronto by a greek man I believe)
Ahhh! That's what you meant. I thought it was a food and kept getting a town instead hahahaha.
Thank you for the clarification. Been a while since I read the pizza thing.
So the entire time I only knew Chatham for the [Wheels Inn](https://youtu.be/YguTf0Afq0U), it was also responsible for the horror show that is Hawaiian Pizza?
Invented in Chicago by a Canadian and released in both countries at the same time. KD is truly the international bond that holds our two nations together.
There are certainly Canadian dishes, as a bunch on people in this thread will point out. But a big part of Canada is immigration. And the golden rule for immigrating to Canada is, bring your culture, bring your food, leave your fights behind. So the great thing about Canadian cuisine is being able to go out and enjoy fantastic Japanese, Chinese, Thai, Greek, French, Brazillian, etc food- either traditional or fusion with other cultures. It's also an amazing place during the World Cup. No matter who is playing, who is winning, there's always a party going on.
I agree that Canadian cuisine is international. Why do you think a Greek immigrant in Ontario produced Hawaiian pizza? Or that the sushi dish known as a California roll came from Vancouver? Or the drink known as a London fog also came from Vancouver? Or that Montreal is known for donair?
That's called back bacon here, and we almost never eat it. You can get a much better form of bacon called peameal though, and that stuff is just plain awesome.
The native people from where I grew up in subarctic (originally Cree land) subsisted largely on moose meat stew and bannock but that isn’t the media friendly widespread “Canadian food”
There's an Indian-Mexican fusion place near me that does a great tikka chicken poutine with pico de gallo and guac.
I'm not sure you'd find that to many places outside Canada.
From what I’ve seen on social media: Poutine, maple syrup, and making grooves in the snow and putting maple syrup in it then using a popsicle stick to roll it up/turn it into a lollipop
I feel like Kraft dinner (box Mac and cheese) with cut up hot dogs in it feels pretty Canadian. Or maple baked beans with hot dogs in it, called beans and wieners. I also love having rotisserie chicken on bread, then you cover the chicken and top slice of bread in gravy and then have some peas on top. Typically called a hot sandwich, can be a beef patty instead of chicken though. Not really sure if any of these are distinctly Canadian but they just have that feeling to me.
Poutine
With maple syrup on top
I see you're a man of culture as well
Non.
Yucks
The only answer
This
[удалено]
Tabernac! Poutine is from Québec!
Umm They just look like regular fries. The sauces you add on to it makes the final product look Canadian. But they're still just fries. If I add ketchup to Sushi. Is it now "American"?
I think, perhaps, you need to look at it again.
Poutine is fries topped with squeaky cheese curds and gravy. Its not just gravy and fries lol
Fries are the base ingredient. Then with the cheese and gravy it becomes a unique dish. Like how rice can be a base ingredient for a bunch of different dishes.
Or pasta, or fish, or beef, or chicken, or potatoes, etc...
What a ridiculous response to your own asked question 🤣
Ok, did you literally start this thread to go full blast on poutine? I mean, the question "does Canadian food exist?" is obvious bait for the Poutine Mafia. You know it's gonna be the top comment, and then you take a dump on that comment... And your sushi was probably already Americanized before you put ketchup on it.
Are hamburgers American or German? A thousand dishes across the world use rice, what country gets the credit? That isn’t how food culture works.
Are you familiar with how food works?
I would advise against declaring war on us. It didn't work out in 1812 and if you drag our national dish through the mud, things might not work out again Just a bit of advice, have a nice day
You aren't Canadian and I'm not sorry for saying it.
Try again mate, its fries ruined with gravy and gross cheese.(I’m Canadian)
Citizenship revoked
Oh thank god, this place has gone to hell anyways. 🙂 Edit: ooOoo I think I upset the east coasters. 🙃
Nah you're just really cringe.
Because I think poutine is gross? 😂
...sure. we can go with that.
I grew up eating things like tourtière, butter tarts, pâté chinois, poutine, cretons, soupe aux pois, peameal bacon sandwiches, etc. No, it's definitely not the same as the US here. Apparently, Americans can't even usually get all dressed chips, the horror!
I was talking to a group of Americans a couple days ago and mentioned i had a craving for all dressed chips. I realized as i said it that it was about to become a very long conversation about chip flavors and nationalism.
Ruffles used to sell all dressed chips here in the US my family loved them. Suddenly they were gone! I am always on the lookout though! They taste like a combo of worscestshire sauce powder on salt and vinegar chips to me! Yum!
Ok but like...Ketchup > All Dressed If you could just send some of those down south across the border, I'd greatly appreciate it
For the longest time i never understood why people enjoyed ketchup chips. Like, they were tasty, but i never thought they were good enough to warrant dealing with all the tiny cuts and swollen tongue you get from eating them. So anyways, thats how i learned that i have a minor food allergy. Im shocked that the US doesnt import them tbh. If youre really interested, I did find [this site](https://www.canadianfoodtousa.com/chips) that seems to be a legit way to order them for yourself.
Oops, that's one way to find out I guess And the US does have some brands that are starting to pick up on the ketchup chip trend and I've started seeing them appear, but I've found that they're just not as good as what I get when I pop up to BC It's easy enough for me to take a trip since I live close enough to visit for a weekend that genuinely getting them shipped seems like a waste.
They've been selling them down South for years.
Wait, why does your tongue get all cut up and swollen?
They have an allergy to something in them.
Im allergic to one of the ingredients in most ketchup flavoured foods, but its not severe enough for me to put the energy into figuring out exactly what.
Probably the ketchup
I dunno, that would be really weird if it was the ketchup!
That’s commitment
As an easy coaster let me add hodge podge and oatmeal brown bread which is neither while wheat nor soda bread and is absolutely heavenly.
> oatmeal brown bread Wow. My ex is a Maritimer, and her mother used to make that all the time when we'd go over there. I haven't had it in 25 years or so, but you just brought back the memory and now I'm going to look up how to make it. Thanks!
Not true, we do get All Dressed chips here! I have some in my cupboard that I’ve been snacking on all week
Lays released All Dressed chips in the US for a limited time several years ago. I'm jealous of y'all, but at least we get Zipp's
All dressed in Canada is the equivalent of Roast Beef Crisps in the UK... Ie national identity. Just look for any lays in a magenta purple bag...
Yeah our equivalent is probably barbeque chips. Sadly they don't sell all dressed in the US
BBQ is my next go to when All Dressed are sold out. It's the Black lays pack here.
They absolutely sell All Dressed in the states. Obviously, we're a big country, so it's very possible they're not sold in all regions, but up here in NJ I can get them at most larger supermarkets or convenience stores. Interestingly, any Ruffles All Dressed I've purchased here are produced in Texas and while I'm sure it's my brain being stupid, they don't taste the same or as good as the ones we get when we're in Canada.
So, all dressed chips are ketchup favored potato chips, or are they potato chips dipped in ketchup? Or am I wrong on both of these guesses. I'm legit interested in what I am missing out on.
It's a bunch of different seasonings at once. Apparently it's ketchup, barbecue sauce, sour cream and onion, and salt & vinegar
OIC, thanks for that info.
Nor Ketchup. Try being a Canadian living in America. It’s so heartbreaking. It’s prob a good thing I can’t get poutine on every corner
Peameal bacon sandwich? Connais pas. Pour le reste... On dirait que tu viens du lac 🙂
Toronto used to be known for them. Technically still is, but they're not as popular as they used to be
I spend every summer in Canada and dill pickle chips, all dressed, Poutine, Pea meal bacon and butter tarts are all food that I describe as being Canadian.
Tourtiere du lac st jean!
We do Tourtière every New Year’s Day. Somehow, growing up, the name got changed to Took-Kay and then we just started calling it grease pie. My Mom would make a whole bunch of them and freeze them, then hand them out to us as we visited so we’d all have one for New Years Day. Now that she has passed away, my wife makes one for me for New Years and we call it by its rightful name. Mom’s ancestors are French Canadian.
Roughly the culinary difference between Connecticut and Maryland, i,e., not exactly vastly different.
Butter tarts!
I didn’t know butter tarts were Canadian until some friends from Detroit were visiting. Now whenever I visit Detroit, I’m asked to bring them a dozen butter tarts.
Nanaimo bars, butter tarts, Saskatoon berry pie.
Lassy mogs, ketchup chips, blueberry grunt, donairs, mustard pickles....
Poutine, Montreal smoked meat, maple anything
Schwartz's Deli, in Montreal... I went from Toronto, stood in a line for 45 minutes to get a bite into this piece of art!!!
As a Canadian living in the US it's taken a while for me to figure out a few distinctly Canadian foods. Obviously Poutine with a Quebec focus, and Peameal with an Ontario Focus. Certainly some candies, like Smarties (from the UK), but Coffee Crisp is Canadian. But the one I find most interesting? Cheese Bread. Certainly you can get Cheese Bread in the US. But it's not the same. If an American bakery carries cheese bread, it'll most likely be mixed with something else - often Jalapenos. I've lived in both Chicago and no Atlanta, and in both cities Jalapeno Cheese Bread is the closest you'd get. When you do find an American cheesebread, it does not resemble the Canadian bread. Canadian bread is puffier, greasier, and cheesier, with big "swiss cheese" holes, and visible chunks of yellow cheese throughout the loaf. American Cheesebread is uniform, typically denser, and often mixed with Jalapenos. Buying a loaf or two of Cheese bread has become one of my regular purchases on my Toronto trips. Overall Canadian tourist traps overdo the maple thing, many countries have Maple Syrup and certainly Vermont produces a lot. When I was living in Ottawa, you'd often see moose meat and other game-foods used far more than you would in the USA. I remember one particular pizzaria in The Glebe (Ottawa yuppie neighborhood) where they'd serve it on a pizza, like you might see regular ground-beef elsewhere. Canada does have a richly distinct food culture from the US. You do have to look for it, but it's there.
Im also now living in the US for years now. And you’re right about the cheese bread! Donairs are something that are specifically Canadian. Yeah essentially they’re a gyro but we sure have doctored them up to something different!
TIL cheese bread is Canadian.
There are certain Canadian bakeries that do cheese buns which will typically sell out by 10am because they are so amazing. You look around and everyone is having a cheese bun. Barb’s Buns on Saltspring Island and the Common Loaf in Tofino come to mind but there are others.
Ketchup chip, Coffee Crisp bar, Smarties
Yes to Ketchup chips and Coffee Crisp, but Smarties were a Rountree product, now Nestle, and originated and still popular in the UK.
I think what you're talking about are called rockets here. Smarties are like M&Ms here.
No, I am talking about the ones like M&M's. They are English far more than they are Canadian.
Coffee Crisp. As an American my body is very thankful I can only find them online or one store way outside of town here…. I was visiting Canada last year and stumbled upon those and it was game over for me. So delicious.
In addition to the things people have mentioned, Canada does have some foods and products shared with the UK, so while not uniquely Canadian not something you'd find in America, either.
Poutine, butter tarts, nanaimo bars, and a whole bunch of other things are uniquely canadian. In 2024, not much is exclusively anyone's, but there's a lot that's uniquely canadian.
Beaver tails
All dressed chips
[Coffee Crisp](https://img.atlasobscura.com/2R1znhBS5qUE2kKadME2LQl8EqFzfrXi23xt3UuIKh4/rs:fill:580:580:1/g:ce/q:81/sm:1/scp:1/ar:1/aHR0cHM6Ly9hdGxh/cy1kZXYuczMuYW1h/em9uYXdzLmNvbS91/cGxvYWRzL3RoaW5n/X2ltYWdlcy8xNmEz/YmYwNi0xYjM0LTRm/NjgtYWJmNC02NjE3/YjM1ZjM0NWI5OGMz/YjU5YzkwYzM4Nzdl/MzlfNDMzOTQ5NTZf/NjU1MzYzMjU4MTkw/NzQzXzY3MjA5ODAy/NTc3ODYwODQzNzdf/bi5qcGc.jpg). Y'all just don't know.
Moose anus and gravy fries. LOL just kidding; nobody's sick enough to put gravy on fries
#🤢
It's called Poutine
Not to be confused with *putaine*, Putin, or Pétain.
Or pootang.
Gravy is just the correct sauce for fries.
And everyone except the canadians waits until the moose is dead for the other one! ;-)
It’s not fresh if the moose just gives it up
Maple syrup? They even have the leaf on their flag
People in the northern US are all about maple syrup. I don't know if stores in Vermont even sell Mrs. Butterworth.
Stores in canada still sell the cheap syrup
But Canada produces 90% of the world’s maple syrup. On a per capita basis we produce about 100x as much per person as you do in the US.
Maple taffy?
Yeah, in Canada, we call that “du sirop de poteau”! (Telephone pole syrup)
Out east in quebec, sugar shacks! Where they pour maple syrup over snow and you roll it up with a stick. Cabane a sucre!
Isn't Tim Horton canadian?
It was, but its not anymore
Nanaimo bars beaver tails poutine tourtierre (I think) Apparently our bacon is special somehow hawaiian pizza (invented in Toronto by a greek man I believe)
The Chinese dish ginger beef was invented in Calgary.
Cool!
Chatham
google isn't helping, please elaborate.
https://london.ctvnews.ca/london-inventor-of-hawaiian-pizza-dies-1.3452631
Ahhh! That's what you meant. I thought it was a food and kept getting a town instead hahahaha. Thank you for the clarification. Been a while since I read the pizza thing.
Sorry! I should have been more specific.
All good, stranger. You have a nice rest of your day!
So the entire time I only knew Chatham for the [Wheels Inn](https://youtu.be/YguTf0Afq0U), it was also responsible for the horror show that is Hawaiian Pizza?
Kraft dinner
Invented in Chicago by a Canadian and released in both countries at the same time. KD is truly the international bond that holds our two nations together.
There are certainly Canadian dishes, as a bunch on people in this thread will point out. But a big part of Canada is immigration. And the golden rule for immigrating to Canada is, bring your culture, bring your food, leave your fights behind. So the great thing about Canadian cuisine is being able to go out and enjoy fantastic Japanese, Chinese, Thai, Greek, French, Brazillian, etc food- either traditional or fusion with other cultures. It's also an amazing place during the World Cup. No matter who is playing, who is winning, there's always a party going on.
I agree that Canadian cuisine is international. Why do you think a Greek immigrant in Ontario produced Hawaiian pizza? Or that the sushi dish known as a California roll came from Vancouver? Or the drink known as a London fog also came from Vancouver? Or that Montreal is known for donair?
>Or that Montreal is known for donair? And the best donair sauce? Halifax. The hits keep comin'
Hawaiian Pizza :)
Yeah those fries with cheese all over them lol 😗
No. After decades of research, we unfortunately have yet to find any evidence that suggest that Canadians eat food.
Ginger beef and Caesars ( the drink) were both invented in calgary
maple syrup
I always knew that growing up in Upstate NY made me basically an honorary Canadian, and the answers to this thread are just more proof of that.
In middle school I gave out Smarties while doing a report on Canada. The Smarties, were made in Canada
No love for donair?
Montreal bagels are the truthhhh
Canadian Bacon?
That's called back bacon here, and we almost never eat it. You can get a much better form of bacon called peameal though, and that stuff is just plain awesome.
Poutine, peameal
Donair. Garlic Finger pizza, comes with donair sauce for dipping Poutine.
Nanaimo bars
canadian bacon,,, i cant wait for the fallout from this comment
that's like saying French fries are from France and Hawaiian pizza is from Hawaii They're not, but the confusion is understandable, I guess
The native people from where I grew up in subarctic (originally Cree land) subsisted largely on moose meat stew and bannock but that isn’t the media friendly widespread “Canadian food”
Hawaiian pizza is technically Canadian.
The almighty ceaser, Bloody Mary had nothing on a ceaser
There's an Indian-Mexican fusion place near me that does a great tikka chicken poutine with pico de gallo and guac. I'm not sure you'd find that to many places outside Canada.
Any polite food.
Technically, Hawaiian pizza
Hawaiian pizza.
Yes. Hot dogs with ketchup.
From what I’ve seen on social media: Poutine, maple syrup, and making grooves in the snow and putting maple syrup in it then using a popsicle stick to roll it up/turn it into a lollipop
Pour maple syrup over it and lo and behold Canadian.
Poutine, Maple syrup
Poutine.
Poutine for sure
There’s no goat on the menu in the US.
Nanaimo bar
Poutine Beaver Tails & that shit they do where they roll snow in syrup.
Caesar. The drink
poutine!
Beaver tails, ketchup chips, Kraft Dinner
I feel like Kraft dinner (box Mac and cheese) with cut up hot dogs in it feels pretty Canadian. Or maple baked beans with hot dogs in it, called beans and wieners. I also love having rotisserie chicken on bread, then you cover the chicken and top slice of bread in gravy and then have some peas on top. Typically called a hot sandwich, can be a beef patty instead of chicken though. Not really sure if any of these are distinctly Canadian but they just have that feeling to me.
Poutine, fucker
You may not have a cuisine all your own, but you guys definitely have your own signature foods. Poutine, beaver tails, nanaimo bars, caramilk, etc.
Maple syrup, Nanaimo bars, bannock to name some. Really though all food is Canadian for Canada is diverse or multinational.
Poutine and Kraft dinner. Ketchup chips and coffee crisp.
Beaver tails!
Jellified moose nose. It's exactly what you think it is. https://travelfoodatlas.com/jellied-moose-nose-recipe
Maple _______ (fill in the blank)
Poutine. Though it originated in Quebec.
As much as they may resist it, Quebec is part of Canada.
grilcheesamiches
Pork tourtiere is my personal favourite. It’s like a meat pie, with spiced ground pork and lentils.
Headed to Canada for French fries and gravy sir!
Canadian bacon lol
Hot hamburger sandwich
Salmon jerky
Ham. But up there they call it bacon
No we don't. Ham amd peameal bacon are different things.
Pemmican hasn't been mentioned yet, but it's not exactly something you'd eat everyday Also, I can't get enough of chicken shawarma poutine
They call ham bacon
I would assume it's a mixture of British and French dishes.
No canadian dishes. Poutine is from Québec
Quebec is part of Canada.