Popular Dishes From Canada

Canadian cuisine is as diverse as the people who enjoy them. 

People from all over the world live in Canada and have heavily influenced the modern cuisine found in the nation today. Indigenous and First Nation peoples form the bedrock of the country’s culinary history, and today there’s everything from muktuk to bannock to poutine, sxusem, Indian pizza and much, much more. 

Here are just a few of the popular dishes you can find in Canada, as well as where they came from!

13 great Canadian dishes

B.C. Roll

Origins: Vancouver, Japan

The B.C. Roll is a sushi roll that features cucumber and barbecued salmon. Invented by a Japanese sushi chef in Vancouver, the roll was named for the region due to its abundance of wild Pacific salmon!

Bannock

Origins: British Isles

Bannock is a traditional type of unleavened flatbread made with flour, water and fat (and, in more modern times, baking soda). Fur traders and travelers heavily relied on bannock in early settler years, and later it was adopted by Indigenous peoples all over the continent. 

Halifax donair

Origins: Turkey, Greece, Nova Scotia

This variation of the doner kebab was brought to Halifax, Nova Scotia by a Greek businessman who started selling food in the 1970s. He opened the King of Donair in 1973 and served a custom beef doner kebab with a sweet garlic sauce, which became such a hit that it was named Halifax’s official food in 2015! 

Indian-style pizza

Origins: Vancouver, Punjab

This Punjabi-Canadian fusion dish is all credited to the large Punjabi community in British Columbia and Greater Vancouver. The pizza features mixed spices and includes ingredients like tandoori chicken, paneer, butter chicken, coriander and ginger. Yum!

Jellied moose nose

Origins: Northern Canada & Alaska

This gelatinous treat is made by boiling moose nose and the surrounding dark meat and combining it with spices, herbs, garlic and onions. The mixture cools and sets into a jelly, which is then served along with other dishes. 

Montreal-style bagels

Origins: Poland, Montreal

Compared to most bagels we’re familiar with, the Montreal bagel is a little smaller and a little thinner. It’s also made without salt and is boiled in honey-sweetened water before being baked in a wood-fired oven. 

Muktuk

Origins: Arctic and Inuit regions

Muktuk is an Inuit delicacy made from frozen whale skin and blubber, usually from whales like bowhead or beluga. It's traditionally diced into small pieces and eaten raw dipped in soy sauce!

Nanaimo Bars

Origins: Nanaimo, B.C.

Nanaimo bars are a popular Canadian dessert that, while varied in style, design and shape, is always made up of three distinct layers: a graham cracker base, a layer of custard or icing and a layer of melted dark chocolate on top. Yum!

Poutine

Origins: Quebec

Poutine is a savory dish originating in Quebec and is made with a combination of French fries, cheese curds and gravy. The cheese curds should be fresh and squeak when bitten into, and the gravy is usually a rich brown gravy made from beef or chicken broth. Poutine is often served as a fast food dish or a hearty snack all over Canada, and there are many regional and personal variations that feature additional toppings like pulled pork, vegetables or additional condiments. 

Pânsâwân

Origins: Labrador

Pânsâwân (pronounced "bahn-sa-wan") is a type of meat that’s been preserved by hanging it over a smoking fire. The meat can be made from any kind of animal, but traditionally it’s been made from bison, elk and moose!

Shmoo torte

Origins: Winnipeg

Shmoo torte rose to fame in the mid-20th century and was, allegedly, a favorite of singer Harry Delafonte, though its popularity has waned in recent decades. There's some debate about the origins of the recipe, but local Winnipeg history says that a Russian-Jewish immigrant invented it in 1948 for her son’s Bar Mitzvah. The name "Shmoo" comes from a comic strip character and doesn't have any particular connection to the ingredients.

The cake itself is a rich and decadent dessert made with chocolate, nuts, whipped cream and sometimes fruit. There are many variations  of the recipe, but it typically involves layers of cake or cookie crumbs, chocolate or butterscotch sauce, and whipped cream or nuts.

Sxusem 

Origins: First Nations peoples, Interior Salish

Also known as Indian ice cream, this traditional food of the Interior Salish peoples is made by whipping soapberries and other fruits into a foam-like texture. The high surfactant levels in the soapberries means that the foam created as a result of the whipping begins to stabilize and can gain a texture similar to that of whipped cream or stiffly-beaten egg whites!

Tourtiere

Origins: Quebec, New Brunswick

Named after the French word for the passenger pigeon (“tourte”) that was the main ingredient, tourtiere has its origins in French-Canadian communities in Quebec and New Brunswick. Though not made with pigeon anymore (unfortunately, it’s now extinct), the game pie is still a popular dish on New Year’s Eve and Christmas Eve. 

Next time you’re up north and get a chance to try out some food in Canada, keep an eye out for any of these dishes! 

Enjoy!

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Featured photo by @withlovefromchile on Unsplash