Iconic Canadian Foods You Need To Try Before You Die

Does fried dough topped with peanut butter, chocolate, and Reese's Pieces sound absolutely delicious to you? What about a perfectly made bagel with a surprising hint of sweetness? If you said yes, then you might just be a fan of Canadian cuisine. One of the most famous Canadian culinary exports is undoubtedly poutine. This Quebecois dish consists of french fries topped with cheese curds and gravy. The demand for poutine is so immense that major fast food chains like McDonald's and Burger King have included it on their Canadian menus. And there's even an annual Major League Poutine Eating contest. Poutine's origins are hotly debated, with many restaurants understandably wanting to claim to be the spot that started this sensation. But it just seems wrong to fight about this when there's so much deep-fried, gravy-covered, cheesy goodness to go around. Poutine has gone from a Quebec snack bar favorite to a standout dish in many restaurants. Almost every country in the world has some version of a meat pie. Britain has steak and kidney, and empanadas are the stuffed pastry of choice throughout Latin America. Americans, of course, are big fans of a good old-fashioned chicken pot pie. As for Canadians, they love a delicious tortere. Tortere is a baked meat pie that consists of a bottom layer of pie pastry and a meat-filling center. Then it's topped with another covering of pie pastry before being baked in an oven. The meats used for tortere are traditionally pheasant, rabbit, moose, or pigeon, though more contemporary versions can include pork, beef, or veal. It's traditionally served during the holidays, which makes sense as the spice mix includes cinnamon, clove, allspice, and nutmeg. Our favorite tortere-related tradition is that it's meant to be shared with family and friends. It doesn't get much more Canadian than that, eh? It's hard to think of Canadian food and not have maple syrup pop into your head. After all, the country's flag features the maple leaf as the bright and beaming center of attention, and deservedly so. As of 2020, Canada is reportedly the world's leading producer and exporter of maple products, accounting for 79 percent of the global market. Maple syrup and maple sugar products are created from the gathering and cooking of maple tree sap, which is collected by the tapping of the trees. These techniques were originally discovered by indigenous peoples and later adopted by French settlers. Maple syrup is so prevalent in Canada that it's sneaked its way into many otherwise traditionally unsweetened foods and beverage items, such as teabags and protein powder. Of course, its hand in the dessert industry is also significant, with treats like maple cookies and maple candies readily available for Canucks with a sweet tooth. What's the matter? Your mama didn't teach you how to chug? Come on, Thorne. Come on, Thorne! The beaver tail is a Canadian national treasure. From British Columbia to Nova Scotia, so many Canadians have a soft spot for this chewy treat made from hand-stretched wheat dough. While the traditional version is topped with a simple dusting of cinnamon and sugar, the beaver tail has evolved over the years into more than just a dessert, depending on where you are in Canada. For example, in Vancouver, you can get a salmon tail, which substitutes the standard sweet topping for a combination of cream cheese and capers. In Mont-Tremblant, you can pick up a ham and cheese tail or a steak top tail. A specialty of Halifax is the Triple Trip Beaver Tail, which is topped with peanut butter, chocolate, and Reese's Pieces. There's even a popular Canadian restaurant chain called Beaver Tails, which has been serving up this iconic indulgence since 1978. The butter tart is one sugary sweet dessert that certainly deserves its highly esteemed reputation. A traditional Canadian butter tart is a tiny pastry with a wonderfully runny or semi-solid center. The filling is made from butter, sugar, syrup, and egg, then poured into a pastry shell and baked until the filling is semi-solid or runny, depending on your preference. And then it's finished off with a crunchy top. As noted by Food Bloggers of Canada, the Women's Auxiliary of the Royal Victoria Hospital Cookbook contains the first documented recipe for butter tarts. Published in 1900 in Barrie, Ontario, this appears to be the source that started it all. The original versions were made with maple sugar, freshly churned butter, and dried fruit, such as raisins or currants. They gained popularity in the 1920s, and the rest is beautifully buttery history. Much like the butter tart, the Nanaimo Bar is yet another deliciously decadent Canadian dessert. Constructed of a graham cracker crumb and shredded coconut base, a custard-flavored butter icing in the center, and a chocolate ganache on top, the Nanaimo Bar is a three-layered, no-bake delight that's famous throughout the country. The Nanaimo Bar is so popular that its origins are hotly disputed, as everyone wants a piece of the coconut-y credit. According to legend, a group of friends from Nanaimo, British Columbia, found the recipe in the Vancouver Sun. At the time, it was known as Chocolate Fridge Cake, and the friends changed the name in honor of their hometown. The recipe made its way throughout the province's communities, circulated by housewives and home bakers. This story's validity is unconfirmed, but it has a nice ring to it, so we'll happily spread it. The bar's enjoyed a rise to fame during Expo 86 in Vancouver, and they've been a national jewel ever since. "...people there seem to take the Nanaimo Bar very seriously." Montreal's travel website describes the city's signature smoked meat as a beef brisket that's often piled high between rye bread and served with mustard and a fresh dill pickle. Unlike New York-style pastrami, Montreal smoked meat uses the entire brisket, whereas the NYC deli equivalent is taken from the much leaner navel cut. The spice mix is also different, with pastrami heavier on the sugar, and Montreal meat relying more on black peppercorn and other spices. Montreal smoked meat is so popular that it's now popping up in many other culinary preparations, such as a top poutine and as a pizza topping. Many deli counters and restaurants in Montreal all claim to have the best version. It's a hotly debated topic, but we think the only responsible choice is to hop on a plane to Montreal and decide for yourself. Now this would be a lot easier to eat if I wasn't getting the stink eye from the gentleman behind the camera. Yes, I'll save you half." Jumping into the sugar-coated fun of the other delicious desserts on this list, Saskatoon berry pie is a regional trademark of Western Canada. The tasty appeal of these berries, which grow from the plains to the coast of British Columbia, dates all the way back to their use by Canada's indigenous peoples. They were often ground into a paste and dried for winter storage. They've since made a name for themselves in the Canadian pastry world, and interestingly enough, they're protected by the Catalogue of Foods, known as the International Ark of Taste. Saskatoon berries are similar to blueberries in both appearance and flavor. Though they're harder and have smaller seeds, they are also drier and earthier in flavor. Served in many Saskatchewan and Alberta pastry shops and confectionaries, the famous Saskatoon berry pie is made from flour, pastry, butter, eggs, and of course, Saskatoon berries. Often paired with vanilla ice cream or whipped cream, this pie is a Canadian culinary treasure. Lots of Saskatoon berries, yeah." If you grew up in the United States, chances are you know Pmeal bacon as Canadian bacon. Unlike its fattier cousin that consists of strips of belly, the Pmeal variety is lean pork loin that's been brined and rolled in cornmeal. During the mid-1800s, Canada would export its pork to England, which was experiencing a shortage at the time. For preservation purposes, the pork was rolled in ground yellow peas, which is where the name Pmeal comes from. Sometime later, the ground peas were swapped for cornmeal, but the name stuck, at least in Canada. For Americans, though, it will always be known as Canadian bacon. From eggs benedict to baked beans, the possibilities for Pmeal bacon are endless. And you may already be a fan yourself, even if you're only just now learning about the correct name. The classically Canadian Caesar cocktail may be a drink instead of a food, but it's so often served with edible garnishes that we decided it was safe to count it, especially since it's basically a magic potion for curing a hangover. Sometimes known as the Bloody Caesar, this drink is made of vodka, clam juice, tomato juice, spices, and Worcestershire sauce. It's typically served in a highball glass that's been rimmed with celery salt and topped with any number of garnishes, from celery to olives to lime wedges to pickles to even shrimp or bacon. There are even versions complete with hot wings and onion rings, so make sure you have plenty of room in your belly. The Caesar really is a national cocktail in Canada by parliamentary decree." The Caesar was invented in 1969 by restaurant worker Walter Chell, who was an employee of the Calgary Inn. As the Inn prepared to open a new restaurant, Chell was asked to create a cocktail to commemorate the occasion. In 2006, the Caesar was ranked number 13 on the CBC TV show The Greatest Canadian Invention. Then, in 2009, it received a rather prestigious honor for its 40th anniversary. As Calgary Mayor David Brancagne declared that the Thursday before Victoria Day, every May, would be Caesar Day. Later that year, Canada Dry Moths launched an online petition to make the Caesar the official cocktail of Canada. And it would be a fitting distinction, as Canadians order more than 350 million Caesar cocktails every year. All we can say is cheers, but maybe hold the onion rings. If you're American, New York is probably the first place you think of when bagels come to mind. That would be fair, as the Big Apple undoubtedly has some of the best bagels in the world. Chewy but never doughy, beautifully crusted with a glistening sheen, delicately tangy but never overpowering, New York bagels have earned their glowing reputation. But upon further investigation and research, you'll discover that they have a worthy rival up north in Montreal. While the two types have their similarities, the main difference is in the cooking process. Montreal bagels are first boiled in water that's been sweetened, usually with honey, whereas New York-style bagels are boiled without the sweet addition. Montreal bagels are also traditionally baked in a wood-fired oven, resulting in a richer, more flavorful crust. They're often a bit smaller than their sometimes massive New York cousins, and they're also traditionally studded with sesame and or poppy seeds. Another notable difference is the topping choice. While New Yorkers and lovers of New York-style bagels everywhere tend to top their bagels high with everything from cream cheese to fried eggs to lox, Canadians often enjoy their Montreal bagels plain, without adornment at all. With that delicious, honey-induced sweetness already baked in, any topping would simply be superfluous. And so as a Montrealer, you come to develop this strong attachment to bagels. There are a lot of sweet treats on this list, and for that reason alone, we're having a difficult time stopping ourselves from booking a one-way ticket to the land of maple syrup. In the meantime, we'll be salivating over our next Canadian confection selection, the Tarte à Sucre, also known as sugar pie. Simple in all the best ways, this dessert happens to be a favorite of Canadian native and top chef judge Gail Simmons. It's filled with a mixture of cream, maple syrup, sugar, and lots of butter, then baked to golden perfection. As a holiday tradition in Quebec, many French-Canadian families consider the Tarte à Sucre to be an integral part of their holiday meals. Served at the end of a festive feast, a slice of sugar pie is often topped with a simple, luscious dollop of whipped cream, needing no further adornment. To paraphrase a certain classic Motown song, sugar pie, honey bunch, you know that we love you. We can't help ourselves. Check out one of our newest videos right here! Plus, even more Mashed videos about your favorite foods are coming soon. Subscribe to our YouTube channel and hit the bell so you don't miss a single one.