Maybe it’s a joke for foreign tourists? It doesn’t seem to have any meaning in the virtual translators. But atisô & thảo dược mean “artichoke” (it’s a loanword) and “herbs.”
A French truck driver in Quebec is the consumer zero for poutine.
Good British chips are way better than most good Canadian chips and fries. I think a good chip can hold its own with gravy, curry sauce or poutine. Most poutine become a sloppy mess before the fries are cold.
I’ve also had a personal injury to wit poutine, when I picked up a cardboard box of poutine , filled with fries fresh out of the fryer, at a ski hill cafeteria line in Quebec. The box flipped gravy side towards me, and the poutine slid down my ski pants, leaving a gravy trail. The cafeteria lady said “sorry, they’re very hot” in French, and gave me a new box of poutine. I was skiing with some people I had just met, trying to make a good impression With brown gravy stain all over my ski pants for the rest of the day.
My second poutine incident wasn’t as scary. I took Californian cousins on a road trip to Montreal and Quebec City from Toronto via Ottawa. On our way back towards Montreal , near Trois Rivières, we stopped for lunch at a truck stop. We all upgraded our fries to poutine. As soon as I got back in my car, I was too sleepy to drive. My cousin drove the car through very slow suburban Montreal rush hour and construction.
That was in July 2009, the week after Michael Jackson died.
That was the last time I ordered poutine for lunch.
Most of the poutine I’ve consumed in the past 14 years has been at a bar. Not a good idea to eat poutine during the day before a long drive because it makes one sleepy.
4 Likes
BarneyGrubble
(Fan of Beethoven and Latina singers)
62
In over 50 years of living in Canada I’ve never had poutine. Can’t stand the thought of squeaky cheese or soggy fries in a nondescript brown gravy, not even when combined with foie gras (which I love), as assembled by Chef Martin Picard of Montreal’s “Pied de Cochon”.
My French-Canadian wife once had to correct her English-Canadian boss when he announced to her that he had a “putin” for lunch!
I understand not being interested in trying things.
People used to make a lot of dirty jokes about the pronunciation of poutine when 30 years ago, before it was on so many menus outside Quebec.
I didn’t try Poutine until 1989, at Toby’s Burgers in Toronto. It was already the rage with teenagers in the Toronto area and in Barrie, but it hadn’t reached southwestern Ontario yet. Fries with gravy was the popular thing to order in London in the late 80s.
Poutine was available in London, and popular with university students at Western by 1992.
I do like fries with gravy, a little more than poutine, but I can’t remember the last time I ordered them.
I am craving War Fries , maybe I will order some next weekend.