O Canada!

O Canada! A country with a truly unique culinary history that gets very little attention. 🙂 So, I’m excited to take this month and offer a look at our northern neighbors amazing bounty and delicious food.

Canada, like America, is a nation of emigrants. It has a history of discovery and colonization not unlike America but the cultures that settled and influenced the land were strikingly different. Despite this, the Native cultures have left a strong impact on Canadian history and cuisine. In fact, the name “Canada” comes from the Iroquoian Indian world, “kanata” which means “village” or “settlement”.

The French and British left a very heavy influence on the Canadian culture and diet. The French and British were some of the first explorers of the interior of Canada in search of beaver fur for the fur trade and land. Though Canada is officially a bilingual country with a lot of residents speaking English and French, Canada was a colony of Britian and the British crown until the mid-1800s when it achieved its independence. Later on, as more and more Central and Eastern European immigrants flooded into the country, they found a place to offer their cuisines as well.

Because Canada is so large, each province is very different and unique in what is has to offer Canadian cuisine. Farming is practiced in the large provinces of Alberta, Manitoba and Saskatchewan while the provinces like British Columbia and Ontario that border the sea have many seafood options to offer. Canadians enjoy an incredibly diverse range of offerings from the land and sea.

Seafood is definitly favored in Canadian cuisine with a wide range of fish like salmon, goldeye and cod being enjoyed as well as seal, lobsters and crabs. Hunting is quite popular in Canada and wild game meats like caribou, deer, elk and moose are processed and sometimes smoked. Canada also offers some amazing cheeses and is one of the largest producers of cheese in the world.

Canada also offers many native fruits and vegetables that are harvested and enjoyed. Native berries like the salmonberries, Saskatoon berries, cloudberries and soap berries are quite popular. Many Canadians love to forage for wild mushrooms, herbs and rice as well.