Canadian Cusine

[Skywalker]

Not a universal thought.
I think it's his thing to pretend to be an authority on all things Canadian because he has some relatives there...

This made me laugh because I have also noticed it to be true. He has some relatives in some small town out west somewhere and everything they say or do, everything they experience, and every opinion they hold he extrapolates as being EVERY SINGLE CANADIAN. There is probably one bakery in his relatives' town that specializes in fruitcake. lol.

 

[Gigi22]

About fruitcake, again. I think fruitcake at weddings is generational at this point. The last wedding I was at there was a chocolate cake. I found it confusing.

Tradition was that the unmarried ladies were supposed to take their piece of wedding cake home, and put it under their pillow that night so that they could dream of the man they would marry. The fruitcake distributed at weddings was ver securely wrapped in plastic wrap, with a bit of napkin or doily tied with ribbon around the cake, and then put a small white cardboard box. The fruitcake was never served as dessert, there was always another dessert.

 

[ronandannette]

Tim Horton's!!! (Although it's available in some parts of the USA.)

Poutine, ketchup-flavoured potato chips, and "Canadian bacon" are probably the big three Canadian foods in the minds of Americans.

And you MUST serve something that's maple-flavoured.

Moosehead or Molson beer would be de rigueur, of course. Not so much for Labatts.

Holy Cow! How could I have not thought of Tim Hortons?!? I guess it's so completely ubiquitous it hovers just below our consciousness. Timbits it is! And as for the beer, almost nobody in the West drinks Moosehead. I'm not sure it's even widely available.

Do Americans really consider fruit cake a Canadian thing? I've never heard that (and, most certainly, do not consider it Canadian). I know that there are things that Canadians do not consider Canadian, but are thought of as Canadian by Americans (and others), but I've never heard of fruitcake on that list!

OP - sugar pie might be too close to butter tarts, but it yummy.

My cousin (who now lives in the US) asks us to send her PC white cheddar macaroni and cheese.

Not really Canadian, but you could make strawberry shortcake (or just vanilla cake with strawberries) made to look like the Canadian flag.

Kindereggs - not Canadian, but banned in the US.

Smarties (the chocolate type), Coffee Crisp and other chocolates that are not readily available in the US.

Nice try, but NO WAY am I getting suckered into discussing KinderSurprises on the DIS again - I inadvertently almost started an "international incident" last time!

Thanks for all the ideas everybody. Again, most of you really got the spirit of the question - not what foods actually are Canadian but what foods do Americans think are Canadian! I appreciate all the input.

 

[SirDuff]

Holy Cow! How could I have not thought of Tim Hortons?!? I guess it's so completely ubiquitous it hovers just below our consciousness. Timbits it is! And as for the beer, almost nobody in the West drinks Moosehead. I'm not sure it's even widely available.



Nice try, but NO WAY am I getting suckered into discussing KinderSurprises on the DIS again - I inadvertently almost started an "international incident" last time!

Thanks for all the ideas everybody. Again, most of you really got the spirit of the question - not what foods actually are Canadian but what foods do Americans think are Canadian! I appreciate all the input.

Worse than fruitcake?

I know that when I've asked for a "Rye and Ginger" when around non-Canadians, I get funny looks. So that might be another drink option (or I might just have weird non-Canadian friends).

 

[leebee]

About fruitcake, again. I think fruitcake at weddings is generational at this point. The last wedding I was at there was a chocolate cake. I found it confusing.

Tradition was that the unmarried ladies were supposed to take their piece of wedding cake home, and put it under their pillow that night so that they could dream of the man they would marry. The fruitcake distributed at weddings was ver securely wrapped in plastic wrap, with a bit of napkin or doily tied with ribbon around the cake, and then put a small white cardboard box. The fruitcake was never served as dessert, there was always another dessert.

You beat me to it. When my mom was married in the 1950s, it was traditional to have a groom's cake made of fruitcake. Wedding cakes weren't eaten for dessert at the reception' they would be sliced, wrapped, and sent home with the guests. You were supposed to put it under your pillow and you'd dream of the one you'd marry. My younger sister got this mixed up with the tooth fairy, and was pretty disappointed not to find cake under her pillow the morning after she lost her first tooth!

 

[ronandannette]

This made me laugh because I have also noticed it to be true. He has some relatives in some small town out west somewhere and everything they say or do, everything they experience, and every opinion they hold he extrapolates as being EVERY SINGLE CANADIAN. There is probably one bakery in his relatives' town that specializes in fruitcake. lol.

I personally was raised in "some small town out west somewhere" and maybe tvguy's perception is accurate on a regional level. It's only been in the last generation (and moreso really only since the widespread exposure to American wedding shows on television) that fruitcake at weddings has fallen out of fashion here. Prior, practically everybody DID have the little squares of wrapped "weddin' cake" done up by grandma or a great aunt. You actually do still see them sometimes. DH and I got married 19 years ago and for economy as much as anything else, we had a 2-tiered cheesecake decorated up to do double-duty and we served it for dessert. The entire hall was atwitter at such a spectacle...

 

[lizabu]

Not a single Canadian bakery website I've ever been on has had such a thing.
I've just checked a few bakeries that I frequent (you'll note that not a single one promotes a "Traditional Canadian Wedding Fruit Cake"). Not sure any of them even have fruit cake.

http://www.bobbetteandbelle.com/index.html
http://www.cobsbread.com/local-bakery/leaside?bakery=Leaside
http://hotovenbakery.com/index.html
http://www.dufflet.com/home.asp
http://www.mabelsbakery.ca

How many websites have you looked at that you could possibly make a claim that "almost every Canadian bakery" does anything?

OTHER AMERICAN DISers - is this a universal thought? Or is it just a TVguy thing to think that all Canadian weddings have fruitcake and that fruitcake is typically Canadian?

About fruitcake, again. I think fruitcake at weddings is generational at this point. The last wedding I was at there was a chocolate cake. I found it confusing.

Tradition was that the unmarried ladies were supposed to take their piece of wedding cake home, and put it under their pillow that night so that they could dream of the man they would marry. The fruitcake distributed at weddings was ver securely wrapped in plastic wrap, with a bit of napkin or doily tied with ribbon around the cake, and then put a small white cardboard box. The fruitcake was never served as dessert, there was always another dessert.

I've lived in Canada my entire life and even been to the most Canadian place on earth which is Ottawa and I've never heard of Canadian fruitcake. My Grandma was from Quebec and she used to make white fruitcake at Christmas and I heard about the sleeping with it under your pillow wedding tradition mentioned above as a child but have not seen fruitcake at at wedding in 30 years.

If I were going to have a stereotypical canadian party I would serve poutine for sure. You could fold paper cones and serve it in there. I did tourtière for a party once. You can buy phillo pastry at the grocery store. Make your tourtière filling and wrap it up in the pastry into pretty triangles. Then Timbits and butter tarts for desserts. Molson Canadian and Caesars for cocktails. You might want to fill in your menu with a veggie platter or cheese platter. oka cheese is pretty Canadian. Maple fudge is delicious and easy to make. I know there's a recipe out there that uses condensed milk which is very easy and very good.

 

[TheIncredibles!]

Beaver tails
Baked beans
Meat pies
Poutine
Can do salmon and pei mussels too

 

[tvguy]

Not a single Canadian bakery website I've ever been on has had such a thing.
I've just checked a few bakeries that I frequent (you'll note that not a single one promotes a "Traditional Canadian Wedding Fruit Cake"). Not sure any of them even have fruit cake.

http://www.bobbetteandbelle.com/index.html
http://www.cobsbread.com/local-bakery/leaside?bakery=Leaside
http://hotovenbakery.com/index.html
http://www.dufflet.com/home.asp
http://www.mabelsbakery.ca

How many websites have you looked at that you could possibly make a claim that "almost every Canadian bakery" does anything?

OTHER AMERICAN DISers - is this a universal thought? Or is it just a TVguy thing to think that all Canadian weddings have fruitcake and that fruitcake is typically Canadian?

Just Google Traditional Canadian Wedding Cake. Why does fruit cake come up so many times? Someone other than myself must be of the same impression.

 

[tvguy]

I'm definitely not flaming you just making a comment... I have only been to one wedding and this was when a was very young, that had fruit cake. I live in Canada and have been to many weddings. It may have once been popular to have fruit cake but it is not anymore.

Thanks. Something that had been traditional certainly can fall out of favor.

Canada is an incredibly diverse nation. From language to food, and weddings.

 

[tvguy]

It scares me to lend some credence to tvguy (), but I do know that fruitcake was the traditional wedding cake for my parents' generation in Ontario. I get the impression that his relatives in Canada are elderly (based on different observations tvguy has shared about their beliefs, attitudes, etc) , so they may actually think that this tradition is still being followed.

I haven't seen it at any Canadian wedding I've been at in the last thirty years though!

Sadly, all the older generation of many family in Canada have all passed away in the past 18 months. My cousins are all 50 to 65.......not sure if that is elderly.....but I get a slice of fruitcake in the mail everytime one of their children gets married. Maybe my family is just more inclined to continue traditions.

 

[Albort]

Ham? aka Canadian Bacon?

 

[minnie mum]

Ham? aka Canadian Bacon?

Ham is not the same thing as Canadian bacon. And most Canadians don't call it Canadian bacon anyway. Most around here call it back bacon.

Trivia of the day: ham comes from a pigs hind legs. Regular bacon comes from the belly. And back bacon comes from, surprise! the back.

 

[Albort]

Ham is not the same thing as Canadian bacon. And most Canadians don't call it Canadian bacon anyway. Most around here call it back bacon.

Trivia of the day: ham comes from a pigs hind legs. Regular bacon comes from the belly. And back bacon comes from, surprise! the back.

ahh, good to know...
i have no idea then...

 

[ronandannette]

Ham is not the same thing as Canadian bacon. And most Canadians don't call it Canadian bacon anyway. Most around here call it back bacon.

Trivia of the day: ham comes from a pigs hind legs. Regular bacon comes from the belly. And back bacon comes from, surprise! the back.

That's right hoser!

 

[declansdad]

Just Google Traditional Canadian Wedding Cake. Why does fruit cake come up so many times? Someone other than myself must be of the same impression.

I did, using google.ca and it didn't come up that often.

 

[CdnCarrie]

About fruitcake, again. I think fruitcake at weddings is generational at this point. The last wedding I was at there was a chocolate cake. I found it confusing.

Tradition was that the unmarried ladies were supposed to take their piece of wedding cake home, and put it under their pillow that night so that they could dream of the man they would marry. The fruitcake distributed at weddings was ver securely wrapped in plastic wrap, with a bit of napkin or doily tied with ribbon around the cake, and then put a small white cardboard box. The fruitcake was never served as dessert, there was always another dessert.

This. When I got married in the late 80s it was still fairly common but it's absolutely dying out tradition. I think it was the tradition back in the 50s and 60s. And it might be regional to the Prairies. I think TVguy's relatives live on the prairies as do I.

 

[disney4us2002]

Never heard of Poutine and didn't realize Tim Horton's was a Canadian thing. The things that come to mind for me when I think of Canada is Crown Royal, Molson Golden, Canadian Mist and that delicious beer cheese soup at Le Cellier. I think that list says more about me than Canada? lol...

 

[tvguy]

I did, using google.ca and it didn't come up that often.

But you get my point, I am apparently not alone.......even if it is a tradition that has faded in Canada.

 

[tvguy]

Ham? aka Canadian Bacon?

My daughter laughed when she ordered a grilled cheese sandwich at Denny's in Saskatoon and it said on the menu it was made with "processed Canadian Cheese"
instead of