Eat like a Local

The combination of multiple cultures and a strong European flair has resulted in all sorts of dishes and flavors that are unique to Québec. Poutine, tourtière, steamies, and smoked meat are all part of the province's charm. Sample what’s true to this area and you’ll end up learning a lot about La Belle Province and its people.

Poutine

This classic Quebecois dish is basically a plate of french fries topped with gravy and fresh cheese curds. Although it started out as more of a post night-out staple, the new trend is for chic restaurants to reinvent the somewhat greasy dish with improbable toppings (like foie gras or lobster).

Tourtière

Tourtière is a traditional French Canadian meat pie. It doesn’t have a specific filling but can be made with whatever is available; it's frequently made with pork and/or veal, but chefs have been known to use wild game, or in coastal regions, it can even be made with fish. It's a filling dish, popular around Christmas and New Year as well as sugar shack season in the spring.

Tarte au Sucre (sugar pie)

In English Canada, this sweet dessert is also known as a butter tart. Some describe it as a pecan pie, without the pecans. It's a single crust, with the filling on the bottom.

Smoked Meat

Montréal-style smoked meat is similar to pastrami, but always made with brisket and cured with a blend of spices that generally contains more pepper and less sugar than New York–style pastrami. Served on rye bread, with a smear of mustard, it's a Montréal specialty.

Steamies

In Québec, hot dogs are called "steamies"—both the frankfurter and the bun are steamed until soft and warm. "All-dressed" here means mustard, cabbage (not sauerkraut), onions, and relish—that’s all. You can ask for ketchup but you might get a puzzled look.

Bagels

A Montréal bagel is almost a totally different bagel species from what you'll find elsewhere. Most bagels are boiled before they're baked but in Montréal, they're boiled in honey water, then cooked in a wood-fired oven. The result is a sweeter, denser bagel than its New York counterpart.

They're especially good fresh from the oven, which is easy to get since they are baked 24/7 at Montréal’s two most famous bagel shops, Fairmount and St-Viateur.

Québec Cheese

There are more than 300 varieties of cheese made in Québec, where cheese-obsessed locals fuel a creative market of delicious and complex varieties from goat, sheep, and cow’s milk. Look for Blue Ermite, made by Benedictine monks—said to be a good "introductory" blue cheese—as well as anything made by Fromagerie du Presbytère, an artisinal cheese company set in an old presbytery in Sainte-Élizabeth-de-Warwick.

Also keep your eyes open for Cendrillon, a soft, semi-strong goat cheese that was chosen as the world's best cheese in the 2009 World Cheese Awards, beating out French cheeses.

Maple Syrup

Did you know that Québec produces three quarters of the world's supply in maple syrup? It's an important part of the Quebecois identity; come springtime, when maple syrup is made, it's not uncommon to see restaurants create entire menus around it. In season, locals will flock to the countryside to have some tire— (French for "taffy") warm maple syrup poured directly on snow.

Meat and Game

The vast forests of Québec are filled with wild game; as a result, carnivores are well fed here with bison, duck, wild boar, lamb, and elk. Venison and caribou are favorites among chefs. Québec is also home to Canada’s biggest foie gras producers.

Ice Wine

Québec’s climate is ideal for making ice wine, a sweet and rich postmeal delicacy. The grapes are harvested by hand once the temperature drops to –8°C (17°F), after which the frozen grapes are pressed until they become a sweet liquor. Ice wine pairs wonderfully well with desserts and Québec-made cheeses.