Canadian food-isms

nifnerf

I live in Manitoba, Canada and we don't have milk in bags but my relatives in Ontario do and I giggle like a school girl every time I see it! There's a lot of things we can't get here like Fibre One Brownies, Chex Mix, Cherry Coke and Crystal Light Pure. Delicious!

peripah

I've never seen milk in a bag and I'm Canadian, born and raised. I've also only ever heard it called Canadian bacon. Weird!

My favourite Canadian food: Nanaimo bars. Yum....

My mom makes a delicious Tourtiere, but it's absolutely not healthy.

Elephant Ears, which can't be bought in my city anymore, except during Stampede (which is probably good because they are also terrible for you)

Flapper pie: so, so good (also, not surprisingly, unhealthy)

Coffee Crisps, Aeros and Glosette Raisins. Hawkins Cheezies - so crunchy!

I wish we had Cherry Coke Zero though. Lucky Americans.

calibri

Herr's ketchup chips are divine. Fortunately, I see them only once a year around here, or my hands would probably be stained red.

kristydi

Someone explain this whole "milk in a bag" thing to me. How does that work? How big are the bags? Surely they must be re-close-able. Do they come in some kind of box or something or do you just have a floppy milk bag in the fridge? I just can't wrap my head around this.


To add to the pie discussion, one of the things we Southerners deep fry is fruit pies. My favorite is a fried peach pie with a scoop of vanilla ice cream.

White gravy is not cream sauce. It's a milk gravy made with breakfast sausage. It's delicious served over a freshly baked buttermilk biscuit (NOT a UK biscuit, which we call a cookie) that's been split open.

I'm an Aussie too and I think chips (fries) should come with salt, or with salt and vingegar (or if you are in Adelaide, with chicken salt).
Chips and gravy says "British" to me!

And I have never got my head around the pancakes with bacon and maple sysrup combo either. Seems odd to my taste.

I had never heard of "sweet tea" until a few posts on this forum - I would just assume that meant a hot cup of tea with a couple of spoons of sugar, but I think I'm wrong

I love all these different food-isms!

Sweet tea is tea that's been sweetened then iced. To make it you have to add the sugar while the tea is still hot, if you wait then it never mixes in properly. Not sure if this will help Aussies or UK folks, but around here the ratio is around a cup of sugar to a gallon of tea. It's pretty sweet.

abyssfully

Lovin' this thread : )

Pebble321

Hmmm, pies with cream or custard? Do you mean on the side, or an actual custard or cream pie (like coconut cream pie)?
On the side, we eat our pies (i.e. the fruit ones) with vanilla ice cream, which we call "a la mode". Strange considering the literal translation is "in the style", but whatever, I've never questioned it before now... Sometimes they are served with whipped cream (which to clarify for me, is not 'cream' - 'cream' is what I put in my coffee - not that I drink coffee, but you know what I mean)...

I support the gravy is brown movement... I've only seen this "white" gravy once - many years ago at a Chili's restaurant in the US on a chicken fried chicken... Guess I need to travel more!

Back to the Smarties - they are a great toilet training tool! 1 smartie for a #1in the potty, and 2 for a #2.

I would mean a piece of apple pie with a dollop of whipped cream next to it on the plate, or better still, King Island Cream which is so think and rich and dollapable - and must have an incredible number of calories. Or custard poured around your (fruit) pie.
I learnt what "a la mode" means watching Little Miss Sunshine

I can't relate to cream in coffee (unless it is Irish coffee with whipped cream floating on top), or stranger still, "coffee creamer". If that's what I think it is (a processed concoction that makes your coffee light coloured) - isn't it terribly bad for you? Why wouldn't you just use milk?

And white gravy, that's a new one to me too, I don't think you get it here (Australia) or if you do, we call it something else. It's not a white sauce is it (ie. a sauce made with butter and flour and milk, something I would use in a tuna casserole?)

bookyeti

Someone explain this whole "milk in a bag" thing to me. How does that work? How big are the bags? Surely they must be re-close-able. Do they come in some kind of box or something or do you just have a floppy milk bag in the fridge? I just can't wrap my head around this.

MinnieInMaine

Thought of another funny story to share... Went on an RV trip with Mom and Bro to New Brunswick a while back and we went into a grocery store to stock up on some chow. Bro wanted American Cheese for sandwiches and I tried to explain to him that there was no such thing in Canada but he didn't believe me. He even went to the deli counter to ask if they had some since we couldn't find any slices in the cooler. Oh man, I'll never let him live that one down...

lynn1982

Thought of another funny story to share... Went on an RV trip with Mom and Bro to New Brunswick a while back and we went into a grocery store to stock up on some chow. Bro wanted American Cheese for sandwiches and I tried to explain to him that there was no such thing in Canada but he didn't believe me. He even went to the deli counter to ask if they had some since we couldn't find any slices in the cooler. Oh man, I'll never let him live that one down...

I always thought American cheese was the same thing as processed cheese, like Kraft single slices. Perhaps I've been wrong all these years!

Also, regarding bagged milk - in Israel, they sell miniature bags of chocolate milk. It's not quite the same as bagged milk in Canada, but it's the only other time I've seen some sort of milk product in a bag!

dmgaloha

Funny to dissect this "milk-in-a-bag" thing, since it's so normal for me... To clarify, we do sell milk in cartons and plastic bottles as well, but many families own a 'milk pitcher' as posted above (thanks for the pic). There's not much you can do with the floppy bag if you do not have the pitcher. 3 bags of milk (which total 4 liters - about a gallon) come in a pack in a larger bag. You cut a small hole in the tip of the bag, and there you have it: milk in a bag! It costs about $6-$7 / 4L in Canadian dollars. This would be about the same in US or Australian dollars since the exchange rate is close to par, and about 4 British pounds. I like them because I feel they create less waste than cartons or plastic.

CraftyGirl4

Haha, brown gravy. I was describing poutine to an American friend, and she seemed more surprised that we'd put gravy on the fries than the cheese...and then asked if it was "white gravy" or brown! Um...gravy is brown. That white stuff you have is a cream sauce Good, but not gravy. Just sayin' . lol!!

lol, if you're from the South, gravy can be white. Ask any Southerner.

sarahmaryfearnley

OMG Shreddies! These were my absolute favorite as a kid and they do not have them in the US. I've been living down south for 10years and I find lots of British products that I thought were totally common are not available. Yorkshire Pudding mix, Bristol Gravy Mix are some I can think og off the top of my head.

Major difference in food btwn the countries is portion size. I took my husband back to the homeland last year and of course we hit Tim's for coffee bf heading to the mountains. Hubby was very put out over his large coffee. I think it was 16oz compared to a ginormous 40oz that you can get here. Another time having lunch, he was concerned about getting enough to eat because the plates were half size compared to what he's used to. Do not worry, he was well fed the entire trip.