i agree with both steve and steven. we are all cooking the same language here. Canada is blessed with an abundance of world class products and produce, with passionate and focused chefs ready to cook it all. I like to think of Canada rather like my homeland Italy where I was born. Like Italy, Canada shares strong regional values in many aspects and most definately with its food. Using the products of a particular region is not enough to define it as a type of cuisine. Cuisine is simply defined by the people who are producing it. Italian Chefs, French Chefs, Chinese Chefs etc. it doesn't matter. In our multi cultural world, techniques are shared/copied, products are delivered everywhere and we work with different people. All these things together work to define a region. I also agree that there needs to be a historical consideration. Canada is simply to younge a Country to have truly developed a particular culinary identity. My personal belief is that it never will. Canadian Chefs are very much influenced by the American restaurant scene. That is why you will find ideas from SouthWestern USA, Latin-America, Cal-Fusion of the West Coast etc.. any where in Canada. If I see another menu with blackend Catfish I'll eat my touque! At the end of the day what is important is that Canada becomes recognized as a viable destination for having worthwhile food. We are slowly getting there. Last New Years Eve, I was making my rounds in the dining room and stopped to talk to a very charming couple from New York City. They had heard about our place as being worthy of a visit and after checking us out on ourweb site, decided to fly into Buffalo N.Y.(45 minutes away), just so they could dine with us. They were inspiring because it told me that people would make a special trip to taste our food. In the end Canadian Cuisine is about the people cooking in Canada and raising the profile of the industry within the Global context.
