Foundations of Canadian Cuisine

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Foundations of Canadian Cuisine

• What is Canadian Cuisine?
• Most people have difficulty with the idea that
  Canada has a distinctive cuisine of its own.
• When we say French food, or Spanish food, Mexican
  food or even American food, some distinctive food
  items come to mind. What do you think of when we
  say Canadian Cuisine?

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More than 10,000 years ago
10,000 BCE 1000AD 1500AD 1600AD 1700AD 1800AD
1850AD 1900AD 2000AD

• The first Canadians were native peoples who
  probably migrated here across a land bridge from
  Asia.
• They were primarily hunter-gatherers and ate what
  they could find here
• fish
• game
• berries
• waterfowl
• wild rice
• seeds and nuts
• There was some small-scale farming in Eastern
  Canada, called horticulture. Native Canadians
  raised corn and tobacco.

3
Around 1000AD
10,000 BCE 1000AD 1500AD 1600AD 1700AD 1800AD
1850AD 1900AD 2000AD

• The Norsemen, often known as Vikings, appeared in
  Eastern Canada about 1000 years ago.
• They probably came in search of cod
• and settled in Newfoundland.
• Like Native Canadians, they existed on local
  foodstuffs.
• Due possibly to a cooling trend in the climate or
  conflict with Native Canadians, their colony did
  not last long.
• Traces of their settlement can still be seen at
• LAnse aux Meadows in Newfoundland.

4
Around 1500AD
10,000 BCE 1000AD 1500AD 1600AD 1700AD 1800AD
1850AD 1900AD 2000AD

• There is some evidence that Europeans were
  fishing off Newfoundland prior to Columbus
  expedition to the New World in 1492. By the
  early 1500s Spanish, Portuguese, Basque, French
  and English ships travelled annually to
  Newfoundland to harvest cod. This cod fishery
  lasted until the late 20th century.
• Sometime after the year 1500, French and British
  explorers arrive in the Maritimes and the Gulf of
  St. Lawrence. Though they came originally in
  search of a route to China, they discovered that
  Canada was a rich source of furs and this
  eventually drew them further inland via the St.
  Lawrence River.
• The colonists in the Maritimes and on the banks
  of the St. Lawrence began small scale farming,
  introducing European food items
• Pork
• Poultry
• Beef
• Dairy production
• Grain farming
• European fruits and vegetables
• European immigration to Canada continues to this
  day, although it
• has tapered off since the 1960s.

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10,000 BCE 1000AD 1500AD 1600AD 1700AD 1800AD
1850AD 1900AD 2000AD
The 1800s

• Later in the 1800s immigrants from Eastern
  Europe, principally Ukraine, Poland, Russia and
  Hungary began settling in Western Canada and took
  up farming in what is now Manitoba and
  Saskatchewan.
• They introduced cabbage rolls, perogies and
  Kielbassa sausage, which is why you find these
  items commonly served in households and
  restaurants across western Canada today.
• Chinese immigrants also arrived in the later
  1800s, principally as a labour force for the
  building of the Canadian Pacific Railway.
• Many of them settled in Western Canada after the
  building of the railway and opened restaurants,
  the beginning of the tens of thousands of Chinese
  restaurants found in North America today.
• Around 1900 Japanese arrived, settling primarily
  in British Columbia.
• Their influence on our cuisine was not strong
  until the 1960s and 1970s.

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10,000BCE 1000AD 1500AD 1600AD 1700AD 1800AD
1850AD 1900AD 2000AD
The early 1900s

• Early in the 20th Century Italian immigrants,
  mainly from southern Italy, arrived in North
  America.
• They settled primarily in the larger cities of
  eastern and central Canada and the eastern United
  States.
• They re-created the cooking of their homeland in
  their homes and
• In restaurants, leading to North Americas
  current love of
• Spaghetti
• Lasagna
• Pizza
• Macaroni and Cheese
• (Which became Kraft Dinner in Canada)
• Espresso
• Cappuccino
• Tirimasu

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10,000 BCE 1000AD 1500AD 1600AD 1700AD 1800AD
1850AD 1900AD 2000AD
The 1970s and 1980s

• In the early and mid 1970s the first Southeast
  Asian immigrants
• arrived in Canada as refugees from conflict in
  that part of the world.
• Settling throughout Canada, they introduced
  Vietnamese cuisine to this country. They were
  followed by immigrants from Thailand and
  Cambodia, sparking further interest in Southeast
  Asian cuisine.
• Later in the 1970s, immigrants from Chile arrived
  in Canada, reinforcing a Mexican and Spanish
  influence on our cuisine which had begun with
  Tex-Mex cuisine, from the southern United States.
• Latin American restaurants are increasingly
  moving upscale, from their beginnings in Canada
  as Taco Bell type take-out places.

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10,000BCE 1000AD 1500AD 1600AD 1700AD 1800AD
1850AD 1900AD 2000AD
The 1990s to the present

• Throughout the 1990s immigrants continued to pour
  into Canada from
• The Caribbean
• Northern Africa
• South Africa
• Latin America
• Southeast Asia
• China and Hong Kong
• India and Pakistan
• Kosovo and southern Europe
• The Middle East
• Eastern Europe
• Each group brings their own distinctive food
  styles which are adopted by Canadian residents.

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Now, what do you think of when we sayCanadian
Cuisine?

• 10,000BCE 1000AD 1500AD 1600AD 1700AD 1800AD
  1850AD 1900AD 2000AD