Poutine

[Magictofu]

There is an interesting start of discussion on Peter the Eater's foodblog about poutine. And this morning the New York Times also had a nice piece on poutine..

Bill Caselman also has a nice article on poutine which includes both the modern Quebec gooey fast food and the Acadian potato ball.

Here's a link to what wikipedia has to say.

Another instructive website is found at Montreal Poutine

In fact, if you google poutine, you will find over 2 million pages... not bad for something which I thought was quite local in nature. It is true that many Canadians have been promoting poutine with a surprising energy... and in a very weird patriotic way. Being French Canadian myself, I can't recal how many foreigners I have forcefully introduced to poutine, generally after getting them drunk. Poutine is, after all, considered by many as a cure to alcoolic excesses.

One thing that strikes me now is that the poutine is moving out of the cheap fast food world and into the gourmet world, in part thanks to Martin Picard and his foie gras poutine at Le Pied de Cochon.

Another thing that strikes me is the amount of interest in the dish from a variety of people. Not that the poutine is not worth it, it is, in fact, delicious, especially when drunk and hungry at 3AM. No, I find it surprising because I always thought it as a very local dish. You usually can't find the right kind of cheese outside Québec (a very fresh brinny cheddar - in fact it is more the precursor of cheddar- no more than a few hours old).

Perhaps people just got fed up with diets and are now looking for dishes like poutine and pork belly... Who knows?

In any cases, the topic is officially open to discussion, feel free to share your passion and/or disgust.

Edited May 23, 2007 by Magictofu (log)