Cream Soda

James William Black of Berwick, Nova Scotia was granted a U.S. patent on December 8, 1885, and a Canadian patent on July 5, 1886, for "ice-cream soda". Black's ice-cream soda, contained whipped egg whites, sugar, lime juice, lemons, citric acid, flavouring, and bicarbonate of soda, was a concentrated syrup that could be reconstituted into a bubbly or fizzy beverage by adding ordinary ice water.

Modern day Canadian cream soda is not really vanilla-flavored in the same way that American cream soda is; instead, it’s an intensely sweet, almost cotton-candy-type flavour. The most popular cream soda in Canada is produced by Crush and is mostly pink, except in Quebec and Newfoundland and Nova Scotia where it is sold clear. 


What are 150 of our favourite Canadian things? Read about it here

Read More

Montreal Canadiens

The Montreal Canadiens are a NHL hockey team based in Montreal, Quebec. The club's official name is le Club de hockey Canadien, often referred to as the Habs.

Photo By Maniacduhockey - Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=17318965

Founded in 1909, the Canadiens are the longest continuously operating professional ice hockey team worldwide, and the only existing NHL club to predate the founding of the NHL. The Canadiens have won the Stanley Cup more times than any other franchise. They have won 24 to be exact, and their fans are only second to beluga whales for being the biggest babies on earth.

What are 150 of our favourite Canadian things? Read about it here

Read More

Oka Cheese

Oka cheese is a surface-ripened, semi-soft cheese, it has the typical orange rind and expected pungency of the washed-rind style. It’s buttery and creamy with mellow, nutty notes. It's pretty good and it's Canadian.

Not many people realize that the original recipe was made by Trappist monks in a monastery. Here is a short breakdown of Oka's history.  On an afternoon in February 1893, Brother Alphonse Juin knocked on the door of the Abbey of Notre-Dame du Lac (known as Oka Abbey) in Deux-Montagnes, Quebec. The monastery was struggling, unable to make ends meet, and Brother Alphonse had been sent from the Abbaye de Bellefontaine in France (the Oka monks hometown far, far, away) with a recipe for Port-du-Salut cheese that might help them. Brother Alphonse tweaked and adjusted the Port-du-Salut recipe, creating a unique Quebec cheese that was named after the village. The rhythm of cheese-making combined well with the monastic life – it allowed time in between work for prayer and the divine lectures. It was humble work that was a form of meditation and a pathway to God. Skills were passed from generation to generation.

In 1996 the Les Peres Trappists sold the rights of Oka cheese to Agropur. To this day the cheese is still made in Oka but is also made in the town of Holland in Manitoba, Canada.

What are 150 of our favourite Canadian things? Read about it here

Read More

Canadian Winter Festivals

We Canadians have learned to embrace what others typically hide away from. The frigid cold of winter is one of those things we cannot escape (until we are 65+ and become snowbirds) so we make the best of it by having a big party! All across Canada, cities, towns and communities host winter festivals as a way to celebrate their heritage and of course, beat away the winter blues. While there are many festivals that exist, some notable ones are:

Carnaval de Quebec, Quebec City QC

Carnaval de Quebec is the largest winter festival in the world. The festivals features parade’s both day and night led by the King of the Winter Festival, Bonhomme. There are also ice sculptures, dog races, select streets are closed down and filled with family activities, restaurant and bar patios open are for service and much, much more. I had the pleasure of visiting last winter and had a blast! Although I never go to meet Bonhomme, I did manage to find a sculpture of him and that will do until next time.

Me and a sculpture of Bonhomme, The King of the Winter Festival.

Winterlude, Ottawa ON

At this festival you better show up with ice skates because the Rideau Canal is frozen and offers up 8km of ice to freely skate on. There is plenty of food to be eaten (prix-fixe plans across 55 restaurants) and an annual bed race in support of Kiwanis Club of Ottawa community initiatives. There is plenty of family fun at Snowflake Kingdom and an ice sculpture competition.

Winterlude Ice Sculpture.
Photo Credit: By Andrew Plumb from Ottawa, Ontario, Canada - Winterlude/Bal de neige, CC BY-SA 2.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=48520039

Toonik Tyme, Iqaluit NU

Celebrating the arrival of spring, this festival showcases the traditions and heritage of the Inuit people. The goal here is to celebrate and preserve the Inuit culture as well as showcase it to non-Inuit tourists. Here you can witness igloo building competitions, ski-doo races, learn about sled dog teams and their importance in the north, try your hand at Skijoring (I tried with my Siberian Husky here in Ontario and failed miserably), watch Inuit games and much more offered by the community.

World Ski and Snowboard Festival, Whistler BC

Thrill seekers and party goers this a festival for you. Skiing, snowboarding, music and art all in one jam packed festival in April. Here you can take in a wide variety of ski and snowboard competitions, enjoy the slopes of Whistler-Blackcomb yourself, enjoy a variety of free and paid concerts, take in a comedy show or check out many galleries and art shows.

What are 150 of our favourite Canadian things? Read about it here

Read More

Poutine

In a small town in rural Quebec in the 1950's a hero was made. With the simple act of adding cheese curds to their french fries and gravy, this mysterious person created an entire food group for future Canadians.

Glorious Poutine
By Yuri Long from Arlington, VA, USA - road_trip-9349.jpg, CC BY 2.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=19029778

While several have laid claim to being the creator, the one thing we can all agree on is it was an excellent idea. Just make sure they use gravy hot enough to melt your cheese curds or you will experience the real Canadian struggle.


What is 150 of our favourite Canadian things? Read about it here

Read More

Quebec Swear Words

I have often laughed at actors in movies portraying a frustrated French Canadian yelling out a loud "Tabernak!!" I laughed, but I never really understood the meaning behind the french curse words. This post is for those who have ever wondered why Quebec swear words have a religious tone to them.

photo from MTL Blog

Swear words are words that are meant to stick it to the man, whether it be the government or your boss, or in the case of early Quebec, the Catholic church. In Quebec's case, the church was in the driver's seat. The clergy governed nearly every aspect of society in 19th century Quebec, which naturally pissed off a lot of people. Quebecers converted these words that were deemed sacred by the church, turning the untouchable sayings into harsh profanities. Such as Tabarnak (the tabernacle) , calice (the chalice) or esti (the bread).  

What is 150 of our favourite Canadian things? Read about it here

Read More

The Montreal Bagel

The Montreal bagel, is a extraordinary variety of handmade and wood-fired baked bagel. In contrast to the New York-style bagel, the Montreal bagel is smaller, thinner, sweeter and denser, with a larger hole, and is always baked in a wood-fired oven. It contains malt, egg, and no salt and is boiled in honey-sweetened water before being baked. There are two predominant varieties: poppy seed, or sesame seed. In some Montreal establishments like St.Viateur Bagel Shop and Fairmount Bagel, bagels are still produced by hand and baked in full view of the patrons hungry onlooking eyes. 

By Photo by M. Rehemtulla - http://www.flickr.com/photos/quoimedia/5219448319/, CC BY 2.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=12732073

Like the similarly shaped New York bagel, it was brought to North America by Jewish immigrants from Poland and other Eastern European countries; the differences in texture and taste reflect the style of the particular area in Poland in which the immigrant bakers learned their trade.

What is 150 of our favourite Canadian things? Read about it here

Read More

Montreal International Jazz Festival

Summer in Montreal. There is nothing like it, especially when the Montreal International Jazz Festival is in town. The city comes to life as they close Rue St.Catherine and the rest of the Montreal's core for 10 days. Thankfully Montreal has a solid transit system to help when it is too far to walk.

The festival in Montreal is the worlds largest jazz festival. If you don't believe me just check out your copy of the 2004 Guinness Book of World Records. Every year more than 3,000 artists put on just over 650 concerts, with 450 of those concerts being free and open to the public. The one day I attended in 2015, I saw a variety of street performers, large bands, rock bands and even a theatre production all in one epic day. The entertainment doesn't stop there as Montreal has more to offer the 2.5 million visitors that attend the jazz festival every year. In 2017, Montreal is celebrating the city's 375th anniversary of it's founding, mix that in with a half of a dozen other festivals going on throughout the city and you will have no shortage of things to do.

This year the Montreal International Jazz Festival runs June 28,2017 to July 8,2017 it should be the best one yet.

I experienced the jazz fest first hand with my blogger buddy Kashyap Bhattacharya from the Budget Traveller. He documented our experience in the film below.

What is 150 of our favourite Canadian things? Read about it here

Read More