Untangling Canada’s Food Facts and Fictions

Simply factoring in the maple syrup, progressive rock, and halibut by the boatloads, Canada—a country of nearly 40 million stretching along America’s northern border—has a lot to brag about. The question is answered in the ten-episode series that kicks off in Montreal and snakes through Ottawa, Toronto. Out west to British Columbia—where an episode tackles Richmond’s incredible Chinese scene that many have called the best in the world outside its land of origin.

In a way, to the United States, that’s as, I suppose, we have few “national dishes,” which is similar. Our identity is really tied to our regional products, and that’s where the gold is.

How did you get this ridiculously rich assignment to cover the foods of an entire country, Canada, in a podcast series? I’m working on a Canadian book, and it’s going to take me at least four years to create it in my way, but that’s what I’m doing. Around the time I signed that book transaction, I serendipitously heard from Audible, as they were wanting to go beyond audiobooks and create original content, and they wondered if I would be interested in creating something in the food realm.

It took about a year and a half from start to finish (investigation to final audio production) for the first season. Fred’s always thoughtful and entertaining, and we talk about the art of dining in Montreal and what that means.

Dyan and Fred worked at Toqué! together in the ’90s, and that was really a whole other era in Montreal. There are good nuggets in there for restaurant fans, and if you haven’t been to either spot—well, I think this episode will make you want to book a train to Montreal as soon as possible. My hit list in Toronto is varied and too long to print here, so I’ll just say that on the podcast, we have two episodes dedicated to Toronto: one is about Italian food and culture in Toronto, and the other is about Egyptian food and culture.

I focus on Forno Cultura (the best biscotti ever, including what I have in Milano, where I live) and Famiglia Baldassarre for Italian, and Masrawy Kitchen (in Mississauga) and Maha’s for Egyptian. We ate it with French fries and coleslaw and a bottle of Alice et Olivier De Moor Chablis in a parking lot on the edge of the St.

My book will have a map of all the best casse-croûtes so readers can make a summer road trip of it. It’s basically a road trip from Liguria to Venice with all the best stops along the way.

What region of the world would you drop everything to visit (and write a book about)? One of the best trips I ever went on was a five-day trip to Hong Kong with a good friend in 2019. But I would be remiss not to say that, if you can’t get all the way to Hong Kong, you should try going to this little BBQ joint in an underground strip mall in Richmond, BC.

As of this publication, Canada plans to open its border to American citizens and permanent residents on August 9. Angular Cookbook features “over 90 recipes to develop your enterprise-scale web development skills with Angular 12 and above,” and we don’t really know what that means, but color us interested in throwing some of this on the barbecue.