Growing up Canadian While Living Abroad by Geraldine Mac Donald-Moran

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What is Canadian food?

Okay, so I am a "Canadian on the lam" living away from home, standing tall in the Deep South (deeper than you think) with my face pointed North. If there is one question that I am asked with greater frequency than most, it is the following: What is Canadian food?

Oh hoooooo, I reply, now that's a toughie! And with great gusto I make the noble attempt to explain my viewpoint, to these recurrent, innocent inquiries.

Having recently spent two years, happily squatting, sitting or laying in the aisles of any greater Vancouver or Sunshine Coast public library while researching recipes and cookbooks of every sort of cuisine imaginable (imperative, to check out the professionals, when one is writing his or her own cookbook), I came upon the idea that Canadian cooking-- and therefore eating-- is a four season experience.

How many of your friends have shared special memories of traditional plates or foods, served on special occasions, in their Canadian homes? Sure, but do they ever mention the mundane, the normal things they eat every day? I'd be willing to bet my sombrero that they don't (unless you're talking to a foodie- a food aficionado) simply because for them, it is the norm and the norm is generally so common it borders on boring. Try asking them what they eat every day and depending on their own regions and cultural backgrounds you will receive such an astounding array that it might just whet your appetite.

Meat, green beans, and mashed potatoes don't do justice to the variety of regional and traditional plates served nationwide on Canadian tables today; still, its difficult to explain that in a cultural cornucopia, like Canada, how is it possible to retain any semblance of what is Canadian?

Here, in my adopted Latin American home, I am accused of being from a culture that is not a culture at all; for lack of age (not wisdom, for wisdom is perceived as being in abundant supply in all Canadians and this myth is one I allow them) and for lack of defined and traditional plates of food that embody the geography and history of its people.

Hah! I retaliate! Pah!

Here is what I have begun to understand about the foods we share as a nation and the foods we constantly introduce to our nation as a greater, social body.

Being Canadian and eating Canadian are one and the same.

It is a Multi-cultural affair of the heart and taste buds. It is prior history made in the present day, with the roots of aged traditions boiling beneath the surface of both old and new ingredients. It is the synthesis of folklore with innovation. It is the blend of comfort and novelty that fluctuates in harmony with its surroundings and its resources. It is the constant change of the four seasons at local markets, and in today's commercial world it means the continuous availability of International ingredients ready to be prepared and served at home. It is expansive and specific all at once.

Lets talk about: wild salmon and fresh dill, codfish in white sauce, Macintosh apples wrapped in flaky pastry, beef stew left to simmer for hours and served with buttery biscuits, baked butternut or acorn squash, poutine with dark chicken gravy and melted white cheese, pancakes with real maple syrup (best to partake of these in the forest itself, while sitting at a wooden picnic table beside the vat of bubbling and sugary sap- oh man this makes me hungry), deep dish meat pie, boiled dinner (or known as Jig's dinner in Eastern provinces), fresh garden salads with beefsteak tomatoes and garden cukes (if you are Canadian, you know what these are), lobster, clam chowder, bannock (you see, this list could go on forever).

Add ingredients like rice noodles and leafy bok choy or green chilies and curried sauces, throwing in some wide noodle lasagna Bolognese, roasted potatoes and lamb served with tangy feta salad, or cashew chicken, and you will have a better idea of what people are eating, all over the country, tonight. It's not just meat, beans, and potatoes and it is certainly not the fast food hamburger nation, although there is always something for every taste!

So when I invite my local friends, families, and neighbours over for some good old Canadian fare what will I serve?

I will, most likely, serve something that stems from my personal traditions and Maritime background: Something that has simmered all day and something that has been freshly baked in the oven to go with it, with a few laughs for dessert. Or perhaps we'll barbecue a fresh salmon and make potato and garden salads too.

I'll invite them into the house, removing their shoes at the front door, and head directly to the kitchen where we will congregate for a while. I'll put large bowls on the table and have everyone sit around and serve him or herself, passing in clockwise direction. And when they are done I'll ask them to bring their plates to the counter near the sink (would it be too much to ask them to wash or dry as well?).

Guaranteed, someone will ask me for hot sauce to go with his or her potato salad, and to that I will reply…not in Canada, eh! But stay for a while, please, and we'll have a cup of tea (black with milk and sugar) near the fire.

© Geraldine Mac Donald-Moran


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