Food...

We didn't know what to expect with food. We didn't know whether the French influence would come through or the American influence would rule. I think there is a component of both!

When talking about food, you can't start without maple syrup. Canada is so lucky to have such a marketable national food. I can't imagine vegemite taking off the way maple syrup has here. There is maple syrup flavoured everything! This is a sample of the supermarket range of the syrups.

After the syrup however, you have many other varieties of the sweet stuff.  There is maple sugar and maple granules, which you may like to add to your coffee or sprinkle on top of your crepes.




Then we come to maple flavoured foods. So far (this list grows daily), we have found maple flavoured yogurt, (next to the coffee flavoured yogurt .. another intriguing flavour), maple biscuits, maple flavoured ice-cream (which actually is really, really good) and ... the one that made me laugh the most .... maple flavoured granola.

For the astute readers, you might notice that the maple flavoured granola is right next to the chocolate and salted caramel flavoured granola. Andy and Helen ... are you impressed with this start to the day??
We have tried some of these products, but not the yogurt or the granola .... yet!

I've said before that Montreal feels very European, alongside its Canadian culture. One thing that Canadians are quick to point out is that they not American - they are very different. I must admit that chocolate and salted caramel flavoured granola is sounding a little American!

I'm sure this is only the tip of the iceberg when it comes to maple flavoured food. I will let you know what else I discover!

One of the most famous Quebecoiuse food is poutine. This is really just hot chips, covered with gravy and the cheese cubes, which melts & becomes gooey. There are lots of different styles, such as with chicken pieces, or variations of the chips: thick vs thin etc. Hot chips can be a weakness of mine, so I actually try to avoid! So far, poutine hasn't been that popular in our family.

The one thing we are loving is the variety of cheese. There are so many different tasting cheeses to what we've had in Australia. There are many that are known to us, such as the brie, camembert, gouda, edam, etc, but many new ones that have very distinct tastes. We are particularly liking goats cheese, especially a brie made from goats cheese. Most supermarkets have a large range, often with big wheels of cheese and there are several speciality cheese shops. We have been trying to buy different ones each week to sample - it makes a lovely snack with a glass of red, once the children have gone to bed!

 

Tony and I often have lunch out and about, as we explore the city. Meals are not huge, as we expected, however most meal comes with soup at lunch time. Usually the soup is just one choice, but it is common and most people are tucking in The photo below shows a very typical lunch - a baguette, although often a panini, with soup and the crackers. Very warming when the temps are many below zero!