Though the dictionary definition is straightforward — 'a dish of French fries covered with brown gravy and cheese curds' — poutine's history is more complicated
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Canada’s unofficial official dish was recognized by the oldest dictionary in the U.S. nine years ago today.
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Poutine was added to the Merriam-Webster on May 19, 2014, alongside a number of other food-focused entries, including pho and turducken.
Though the dictionary definition is straightforward — “a dish of French fries covered with brown gravy and cheese curds” — poutine’s history is more complicated, with at least three rural Quebec towns claiming ownership of the dish.
The etymology of the word is also debated. Poutine is Québécois slang for a “mess,” and the namesake is also commonly attributed to the English word “pudding,” or “pouding” in French. The anniversary of the dictionary definition is being celebrated in Canada with today’s Google Doodle.
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The cheerful illustration, complete with a dancing and smiling fork, belies the dish’s complicated and contested history.
Per The Canadian Encyclopedia, poutine emerged in rural Quebec snack bars in the 1950s, particularly in the region of Warwick, a small town a couple of hours outside of Montreal in the Centre-du-Québec region.
One of the most famous origin stories centres on Fernand Lachance, who owned Café Ideal. Lachance reportedly began adding locally made curds to orders of fries at the request of a regular customer and the dish eventually made its way onto the menu, though it was tweaked along the way.
Lachance reportedly responded “ça va te faire une maudite poutine!” (“that will make a damned mess!”) at the initial request, but would nonetheless send customers home with fries and curds stuffed in a paper bag. Eventually, Lachance began plating the dish and serving it in the restaurant. After customers noted the fries would grow cold too quickly, Lachance began adding gravy.
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Another origin story credits Jean-Paul Roy who operated the drive-in restaurant Le Roy Jucep in Drummondville. Like Lachance, Roy was reportedly influenced by his customers, who would add bags of cheese curds to orders of fries and gravy. Roy followed their lead and introduced the dish to his menu, calling it fromage-patate-sauce.
Poutine, of course, is now found coast to coast to coast, though it can take on some regional specifications, such as in Newfoundland, where the dish veers in the direction of Thanksgiving and features fries topped with dressing, stuffing and gravy.
Poutine has also been added to everything from doughnuts to burritos to pizza. Jones Soda even launched a limited edition poutine-flavoured beverage in Canada in 2013. It is perhaps not surprising then, that some see the importance of protecting poutine’s Québécois heritage.
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“Poutine has been used at times to tarnish Quebec culture and undermine its legitimacy of self-determination as a nation,” Nicolas Fabien-Ouellet wrote in his 2016 paper “Poutine Dynamics,” published in Cuizine: The Journal of Canadian Food Cultures.
In a previous interview with the Post, Fabien-Ouellet said his research exposed “how the Canadian culinary identity is constructed and construed by means of cultural appropriation processes.”
The presentation of poutine as a Canadian dish, rather than a Québécois creation, contributes to the “ongoing process of poutine culinary appropriation and the threat of Québécois cultural absorption by Canadians,” argued Fabien-Ouellet, noting that poutine was included on the Canadian State Dinner menu organized by the White House in March 2016.
“The dish should be, ideally, labelled explicitly as a Québécois dish and not a Canadian one to further underscore the cultural context to which it actually belongs,” he wrote.
The White House variation was gussied up to include smoked duck, red wine gravy and cheese curds on a wafer.
“We want our Canadian friends to feel at home,” remarked then-President Barack Obama. “So this is not a dinner, it’s supper.”
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