I was invited to participate in The Real Canadian Food Project and our first topic is “My First Authentic Canadian Food Experience”.

The Canadian Food Experience Project began June 7 2013, but as an expert in procrastination I’ve unfortunately just got to this now. As we (participants) share our collective stories across the vastness of our Canadian landscape through our regional food experiences, we hope to bring global clarity to our Canadian culinary identity through the cadence of our concerted Canadian voice. Please join us.

My First Authentic Canadian Food Experience

My family immigrated to Canada when I was four and my sister two. We’d come over from New Zealand so my father could continue his medical studies and moved to Burlington, Ontario.  I have a memory of arriving in late at night and there being no restaurants open or food available so we had to eat some stale potato chips.  This certainly couldn’t be an authentic food experience of any sort, let alone my first real Canadian food experience.

The next year we travelled to Montreal and I have a distinct memory of huge crepes with sausages and maple syrup.  I remember the crepes almost covering the whole table and my mother being completely disgusted that something so sweet would be poured atop meat. In New Zealand we have pikelets, a small pancake that we would serve at afternoon tea, so I must have compared it to this and been completely in shock.  I asked my mother about this recently and she said that at the time my sister and I even turned our noses up at Tim Hortons donuts, so we took a while to become real Canadian kids.  Later on we would move to BC where Tim Hortons were less prevalent than in Ontario and beg to drive to the next city for a walnut crunch.

Are crepes Canadian?  Is maple syrup?  I say oui, yes!  So there it was my first real memory of anything that I associated with the new and strange country that I’d come to.  Later on my mother would frequently prepare these delicacies, getting fancier over the years, and we often went out for crepes for dinner as a special treat.

Basic Crepes

1 cup all-purpose flour
1 tsp. white sugar
¼ tsp. salt
3 eggs
2 cups milk
2 Tbsp. butter

Sift together the flour, sugar and salt.  In another large bowl beat eggs and milk together with an electric mixer or rapidly whisk.

Heat and butter a crepe pan or griddle over medium high and drop 2 Tbsp. of batter for each crepe, tipping and rotating the pan to spread thinly.  Brown on both sides and serve hot with a liberal pour of real Canadian Maple Syrup.