Canadian cuisine

Canadian cuisine is the cooking traditions and practices of Canada, with regional variances across the country. First Nations and Inuit peoples have cooked in what is now Canada for at least 15,000 years. When European explorers and settlers arrived, first on the east coast and then across the wider lands of New France, British North America and Canada, new recipes, cooking techniques, and ingredients were mixed with local flora and fauna.

Canadian cuisine still focuses on local ingredients and terroir. You can see this in the names of some foods that come from a certain place, such as Malpeque oysters or Alberta beef. Canadians value good ingredients and the region they come from. Canadian cooking can be described as a national tradition of "creole" cooking. It has been shaped by the multicultural and widely spread-out nature of Canadian society, both in the past and today.

Clockwise from top left: Montreal-style smoked meat; maple syrup; poutine; Nanaimo bar; butter tart; and peameal bacon

Differences in Canadian cooking follow regional lines and are closely linked to where immigrants settled in each region or province. The earliest cuisines of Canada have Indigenous, English, Scottish and French roots. The traditional cuisines of both French Canada and English Canada grew from foods brought to North America from France and the British Isles. They were changed by Indigenous customs, hard work, moving from place to place, and harsh environments.

French Canadian cuisine can be divided into Québécois cuisine and Acadian cuisine. Regional cuisines kept developing as new groups of immigrants arrived during the 19th, 20th, and 21st centuries. They came from Central Europe, Southern Europe, Eastern Europe, South Asia, East Asia, and the Caribbean.

Many dishes are particular to Canada, such as fish and brewis, peameal bacon, pot roast and meatloaf. Others are linked to the countries that immigrants came from, who brought their cooking with them. Examples include fish and chips, roast beef, and bannock.

Definitions

Some dishes are called "Canadian" because of their ingredients or where they started, but one overall style of Canadian food is hard to describe. Former prime minister Joe Clark believes Canadian food mixes many cultures. He is said to have said that "Canada has a cuisine of cuisines. Not a stew pot, but a smorgasbord." Food writer Jennifer Cochrall-King says that "there is no single definition of Canadian cuisine." Hersch Jacobs agrees that not having one definition does not mean Canadian cuisine does not exist. Lenore Newman argues that Canadian cuisine is distinct and has five key features: it relies on seasonality, it mixes many cultures, it uses wild foods, it has regional dishes, and it values ingredients over recipes. A common theme is foreign recipes, brought by immigrants, that have been changed to use local products. Tourtière is a meat pie of French origin. It can be made with beef, pork, or fish. Local ingredients vary by region. For example, there is dulse and lobster in the Maritimes, deer meats in the Northern Territories, salmon and crab in British Columbia, and maple syrup in Central Canada.

Indigenous food may be considered uniquely Canadian. Métis culture also played a very important part in the start of a distinct Canadian cuisine. Foods such as bannock, moose, deer, bison, pemmican, maple taffy, and Métis stews, such as barley stew, are either traditional Indigenous foods or come from Canadian roots in Indigenous cooking. People eat them across the country. Many foods from other places are also part of Canadian cuisine. One example is pierogi, which are dumplings from Central and Eastern Europe. They are common because of early Ukrainian and Polish immigrants. Roast beef and Yorkshire pudding show a strong English influence. Dishes brought by European settlers, and later Asian settlers, have been changed to create Canadian versions of foods. These include Cheddar cheese, whisky, bread, wine, bacon, and pancakes. Traditional Canadian food often includes rich foods, breads and starches, game meat, and stews and soups. The frying of dough grew out of the country's travel and frontier life. It led to foods such as beavertails, apple fritters, and toutons. Foods such as doughnuts, cronuts, bannock, bagels, and pancakes did not start in Canada. However, they have become part of a wider tradition of foods that Canadians are known for.

History

Canadian cuisine has been shaped over time by Indigenous peoples, settlers, and immigrants. Indigenous foods are still important in Canada today. Three major groups of immigrants from the 1600s and 1700s also shaped it: English, Scottish, and French. Later immigrants added even more variety.

Main articles: Indigenous cuisine of the Americas, Inuit cuisine, and Tlingit cuisine

Traditional Indigenous food in Canada is based on wild game, wild plants, and farmed foods. Indigenous peoples gathered more than five hundred kinds of plants for food. They used many tools to boil, smoke, preserve, and roast their food. Maple syrup was first collected and used by Indigenous peoples of Eastern Canada and the north-eastern United States. Canada is still the world's largest producer. Pacific salmon is an important food for First Nations peoples on the West Coast. In the Arctic, Inuit people traditionally lived on land animals, sea animals, fish, and plants.

Settlers from the British Isles helped form early English Canada in the Maritime provinces and Southern Ontario. French settlers of New France became the Canadiens and Acadians. Their cooking shaped much of southern Quebec and New Brunswick. Seafood was important to early settlers in Atlantic Canada, and fishing grew into the region's main industry. Later, during the Victorian era, more people came from Britain. The Canadian Pacific Railway also brought settlers from many countries, including Ukraine, Poland, Germany, and China. Chinese immigration to Canada began mostly in the 1850s and led to a special style of food called "Canadian Chinese cuisine." Japanese-Canadians have also had a strong influence on the food of British Columbia and Ontario.

Main article: Canadian Chinese cuisine

See also: South Asian cuisine and List of Asian cuisines § South Asian cuisine

Regional ingredients

Main articles: Cuisine of the Pacific Northwest, Rocky Mountain cuisine, Cuisine of Toronto, Cuisine of Quebec, and Cuisine of the Maritimes

Many ingredients are found across Canada. Each region also uses local wild and farmed foods to make its own dishes. The table below shows some regional favourites and their main local ingredients.

Many Canadians still hunt and eat wild game, though not often in cities. Venison from white-tailed deer, moose, elk (wapiti) or caribou is eaten across the country. It is important to many First Nations cultures. Seal meat is eaten, especially in the Canadian North, the Maritimes, and Newfoundland and Labrador. Wild birds such as ducks and geese, grouse (often called partridge) and ptarmigan are also hunted. Animals like bear and beaver are eaten by dedicated hunters or Indigenous people, but not by most people.

Seafood is common across Canada, especially in British Columbia and the Atlantic provinces. West Coast salmon includes sockeye, coho, chinook (also known as king), chum (also known as dog salmon), and pink. East Coast salmon is Atlantic salmon. Freshwater fish like the walleye (also known as pickerel) and lake whitefish are caught in the Great Lakes and are popular in southern Ontario. Wild and farmed rainbow trout are eaten throughout Canada.

Most of Canada's fish is caught wild, but about 28% came from aquaculture in 2018. Canada is the world's fourth-largest producer of farmed salmon. Other farmed foods such as Arctic char, mussels, oysters, and clams are also well-established industries.

Wild foods gathered for cooking include Canada rice, herbs, and many mushrooms, such as chanterelle, pine, morel, lobster, puffball, and other mushrooms.

Berries are gathered wild or grown. They include gooseberries, salmonberries, cranberries, strawberries, Saskatoon berries, cloudberries, soapberries, blackberries, blueberries, bilberries, currants, and huckleberries.

Alberta is known for its beef. In 2016, its cattle herd made up 41.6% of the national total. Its beef is thought to have a rich, marbled flavour because of the province's grasslands and barley. Local dishes include beef tartare, bistecca, roast beef, Sunday roast, short ribs, ginger-fried beef, and grilled steak. Canada is among the world's top 10 beef-eating countries per person.

Saskatchewan is often called the "breadbasket of Canada" because it grows nearly 50% of the country's total crops. In 2016, canola and spring wheat were the two largest crops, and sweet corn was the largest field vegetable. The province also grows most of Canada's spices, especially mustard, as well as caraway and coriander.

Ingredients and defining dishes by region
Ingredient	Defining dish	Pacific	Mountain	Prairies	Ontario	Quebec	Atlantic	Northern
Atlantic cod	Fish and brewis, Cod tongues						X
Beef	Alberta grilled beef steak, Ginger beef		X	X
Caribou	Caribou stew							X
Bakeapple	Bakeapple pie, Bakeapple jam						X
Digby scallops	Seared scallops						X
Dulse	Dulse crisps						X
Fiddlehead ferns	Boiled fiddleheads				X	X	X
Geoduck	Sashimi geoduck	X
Harp seal	Flipper pie						X	X
Lamb	Salt Spring Island grilled lamb chops	X
Lobster	Boiled lobster, Lobster roll					X	X
Maple syrup	Pancakes				X	X	X
Pacific Dungeness crab	Boiled crab legs, Crab cakes	X
Pacific salmon	Smoked salmon, Candied salmon	X
Pork	Farmer sausage, Kubasa / Kubie burger,Peameal bacon			X
Potatoes	Poutine				X	X	X
Saskatoon berry	Saskatoon berry jam, Saskatoon berry pie	X	X	X
Soapberry	Sxusem	X
Summer savoury	Dressing						X
Winnipeg goldeye	Smoked goldeye			X

Canadian foods

Canadian food is similar in many ways to the cooking of the British Isles, France, and the rest of North America. But many dishes are unique to Canada, or are changed versions of dishes from other countries. Canada is known for its pastries and desserts. There are over 2100 bakery factories and more than 1200 shops that sell baked goods in the country. Tim Hortons, a Canadian restaurant chain known for baked goods, has more locations in the country than any other chain. Popular Canadian treats include butter tarts, which are said to have been invented in Eastern Ontario around 1915, Nanaimo bars, and Timbits.

Dairy products became important to farmers in Central Canada in the 1860s. Ontario's first cheese factory opened in 1863. By the end of that decade, there were over two hundred. Canada is now the 9th largest cheese producer by weight and is known as one of the major cheese-making countries. Canadian cheese is mostly "firm." In 2020, cheddar and mozzarella were the most made kinds. Among Canadians, specialty cheeses such as cream cheese, cottage cheese, and parmesan are the most popular, with cheddar in second place.

Dishes by region ("O" = originating and "X" = found)
Dish	Description	Pacific	Mountain	Prairies	Ontario	Quebec	Atlantic	Northern	Inherited (from outside Canada)
Canadian-style johnnycake	Sweet and salty cornmeal cake topped with maple syrup and butter. Consists of pastry flour, shortening, and brown sugar.	X	X	X	X	X	O
Montreal-style bagels	Sweet, firm, wood-fired bagel.	X			X	O
Pancakes (Canadian)	Made from a starchy batter of whole-wheat flour, baking soda, sugar, eggs, milk, and butter; adapted from the German Pfannkuchen. It is a particularly fluffy pancake due to the folding and beating method required in preparing the mixture. Maple syrup and fruit are common toppings.	X	X	X	X	X	X	X	O
Ploye	Flatbread made of a buckwheat flour, wheat flour, baking powder and water mix. Often served with maple syrup, cretons, or beans.						O
Touton	Fried bread dish from Newfoundland.						O

Dishes by region ("O" = originating and "X" = found)
Dish	Description	Pacific	Mountain	Prairies	Ontario	Quebec	Atlantic	Northern	Inherited
Back or peameal bacon (i.e. Canadian bacon)	Wet-cured, unsmoked back bacon made from trimmed lean boneless pork loin rolled in cornmeal.	X	X	X	O	X	X	X
Baked beans	Beans cooked with maple syrup or molasses.	X	X	X	X	X	X		O
Bouilli	Québécois beef and vegetable pot roast.					O
Calgary-style ginger beef	Candied and deep fried beef, with sweet ginger sauce.	X	O	X
Fried macaroni	Stir-fried pasta with soy sauce, meat, and vegetables.					O
Halifax donair	Ground beef donair kebab served with a sweet milk sauce; a variation is common in Quebec patateries, known simply as a souvlaki pita.		X	X	X	X	O
Hot chicken sandwich	Chicken (or turkey) sandwich doused in gravy and peas.	X	X	X	X	X	X		O
Hot hamburger sandwich	Hamburger patty between sliced bread doused in gravy, popularized by the former Zellers Family Restaurant; a variation is the Italian Hamburger with tomato sauce.	X	X	X	O	X	X	X
Japadog	Vancouver street food; hot dog-style sausage and bun served with various Japanese-inspired toppings, such as okonomiyaki, yakisoba, teriyaki and tonkatsu.	O
Jellied moose nose	Similar to European head cheese; made with a combination of boiled and sliced moose nose meat (dark meat around the bones and white meat from the bulb of the nose), garlic, onions, salt, pepper, vinegar, and spices such as cloves, mustard seeds, cinnamon, or allspice. It is then cooled and refrigerated until solidified. Served as a loaf cut into slices.							O
Jiggs dinner	Sunday meal similar to the New England boiled dinner.						O
Kubie burger	Hamburger consisting of a Ukrainian garlic sausage, referred to as "kubie", that is pressed and then served in a bun or bread roll. Name comes from the Albertan abbreviation of the word "kubasa", which is the corrupted name for kovbasa, meaning "sausage" in Ukrainian.		X	O
London broil	Ground meat, pork sausage, or minced veal wrapped in a butterflied and tenderized flank or round steak.			X	O	X
Maple slaw	Canadian version of coleslaw, consisting of cabbage, onions, maple syrup, and seasonings. Variations include apple cider vinegar, celery seeds, mayonnaise, cheese, cereals, and chocolate. Served as salad, dessert or snack, or condiment for burgers and sandwiches.	X	X	X	X	X	X	X
Mashed potatoes (instant)	Cooked, mashed, and dehydrated potatoes that are reconstituted by adding hot water or milk	X	X	X	O	X	X	X
Montreal-style smoked meat	Deli-style cured beef, developed by Jewish-Canadian delicatessen purveyors in Montreal.	X	X	X	X	O	X
Newfoundland chow mein	Made with cabbage instead of egg noodles, as typical.						O
Oreilles de crisse	Deep-fried pork skin and fat.					O
Pasty	Cornish pastry dish commonly made in English Canada and served in an informal setting. Usually contains beef, potatoes, game, corn, peas, or carrots.	X	X	X	X	X	X		O
Pâté Chinois	Variation of shepherd's pie developed by Chinese railway workers; comfort food consisting of layers of ground beef, corn, and mashed potatoes.					O	X
Pemmican	Ground dried meat, fat, and berries.			O				X
Pierogi	Dumplings introduced, and made ubiquitous, to the Prairies by Ukrainian and Polish immigrants. Canadian variations often include cheddar cheese.	X	X	X	X				O
Poutine	French fries topped with cheese curds and gravy.	X	X	X	X	O	X	X
Poutine râpée	Stuffed grated potato dumpling.						O
Rappie pie	Grated potato and meat casserole.						O
Roast beef and Yorkshire pudding	Traditional Sunday dinner, reflective of Canada's British heritage.	X	X	X	X	X	X		O
Roast turkey	North American roasted turkey, often cooked with stuffing and eaten with gravy.	X	X	X	O	X	X
Sausage roll	Commonwealth food commonly found throughout Canada. Typically viewed in Canada as a utilitarian snack, and can include marjoram, summer savoury, and dijon mustard.	X	X	X	X	X	X	X	O
Thunder Bay bon bons	Deep-fried ribs.				O
Tourtière	A meat pie made of pork and lard.	X	X	X	X	O	X

Dishes by region ("O" = originating and "X" = found)
Dish	Description	Pacific	Mountain	Prairies	Ontario	Quebec	Atlantic	Northern
Canadian pizza	Typically includes tomato sauce, mozzarella cheese, bacon and mushrooms; variations exist.	X	X	X	X	X	X	X
Garlic fingers	Baked pizza dough with cheese, garlic, and sometimes meat on top.	X	X	X	X	X	O
Hawaiian pizza	Signature ingredient is pineapple, and typically includes either bacon or ham; originates from Ontario, despite the name.	X	X	X	O	X	X	X
Indian-style pizza	Punjabi-Canadian fusion pizza originating in Greater Vancouver, including sauce with mixed spices and toppings such as coriander, ginger, spinach, cauliflower, tandoori chicken, butter chicken, or paneer.	O	X	X	X
Pictou County pizza	Regional variant from Nova Scotia, noted particularly for its unique sauce.						O
Pizza-ghetti	Combination dish consisting of pizza with a side of spaghetti.				X	O
Sushi pizza	Fusion dish with fried rice patty as base and topped with a layer of sliced avocado, a layer of sliced salmon, tuna or crab meat, and a drizzle of blended mayonnaise and wasabi powder. Served in wedges.	X	X	X	O	X	X
Windsor pizza	Has a medium-thin crust, most often topped with oregano-spiked tomato sauce, mozzarella cheese produced by Galati, canned mushrooms, and sticks of shredded pepperoni. Toppings are traditionally placed overtop of the cheese. Cooked on cornmeal on stone deck ovens.				O

Dishes by region ("O" = originating and "X" = found)
Dish	Description	Pacific	Mountain	Prairies	Ontario	Quebec	Atlantic	Northern
B.C. roll	Variety of sushi containing salmon and cucumber.	O	X	X
Cod au gratin	A Newfoundland dish of cod baked in a creamy sauce and topped with cheese.						X
California roll (Uramaki)	Variety of sushi containing avocado and crab. Invented in British Columbia, despite the name.	O	X	X	X	X	X
Cod tongues and scrunchions	Baked cod tongue and deep fried pork fat						O
Dungeness crab tacos	Wonton shells filled with dungeness crab, dijon mustard, and miso paste, among other ingredients. Usually topped with shaved radishes.	O
Dynamite roll	Variety of sushi typically containing prawn tempura.	O	X	X	X	X	X
Fish and brewis	Salt cod and hardtack, with pork cracklings.						O
Fish cakes/ Croquettes de poisson	Rounds of fried cod flakes and mashed potatoes, with summer savoury						O
Flipper pie	Pie made with harp seal flipper.						O
Fried walleye	Battered, tempura-like walleye fish fried in cooking oil, often containing garlic. Canada is the only commercial source of walleye and is mostly fished from Lake Erie, Lake Winnipeg, and Lake of the Woods, among other large Canadian lakes.			X	O
Hot-smoked salmon sandwich	Wild smoked salmon, maple mustard coleslaw and spicy sriracha mayonnaise layered in between a ciabatta bun.	O
Lobster roll	Lobster meat mixed with mayonnaise and served in a toasted hot dog bun.				X	X	O
Muktuk	Diced whale skin and blubber, commonly made from bowhead whale.					X	X	O
Pâté au saumon	Crusted meat pie containing mashed potatoes, cooked salmon, and various spices and herbs.					O
Pacific smoked salmon	Smoked chinook, sockeye, coho, or pink salmon, commonly prepared on a cedar, alder, or hickory board. Often glazed with honey, maple, or sugar (candied salmon), and may also be dehydrated to create jerky.	O	X
Smoked goldeye	Winnipeg goldeye (freshwater fish) marinated in brine, lightly dried and smoked over oak, hickory, apple, or cherry wood fire.			O	X
Teriyaki salmon	Salmon pieces pan-fried in a mixture of butter, honey, soy sauce, garlic and ginger.	O
White sturgeon caviar	Medium-sized, firm, and dark caviar with a buttery and nutty flavour. Often served with a protein, bread, or dairy product, such as fish, blinis, or crème fraîche.	O

Dishes by region ("O" = originating and "X" = found)
Dish	Description	Pacific	Mountain	Prairies	Ontario	Quebec	Atlantic	Northern
Atlantic/Maritime seafood chowder	Also referred to as "Nova Scotia" or "Fundy" seafood chowder. Contains a variety of Atlantic seafood ingredients, such as haddock, lobster, scallops, shrimp and/or clams. May also contain bacon, potatoes, carrots, onions, pepper, salt, dill and chives. Dairy may be 35% heavy cream, whipping cream, half-and-half, or canned milk.						O
Bologna stew	A stew made of cubed chunks of Bologna sausage.						O
Caribou stew	Traditional Nunavummiut stew made with a combination of boneless caribou cubes, onions, celery, red wine, tomato paste, bay leaves, thyme, potatoes, carrots, turnips, beef stock, oil, salt, and pepper. Lengthy simmering is required to tenderize all ingredients.							O
Doukhobour-Canadian borscht	A vegetarian borscht distinguished by its orange colour. Contains cream, mashed potatoes, dill, and often beets.	X	O	X
Fricot	Consists of potatoes, onions, and a protein (such as chicken, clams, rabbit, beef, or pork), stewed and topped with dumplings.						O
Hodge Podge	Nova Scotian version of the Scottish stew, consisting of potatoes, beans, peas, and/or carrots, cooked in milk broth.						O
Soupe aux gourganes	Soup in which the primary ingredient is fava beans. Consists of beef broth, bacon, pearl barley, carrots, fat cabbage, tomato, vermicelli, savoury and chives.					O
West Coast fish chowder	Creamy soup from Vancouver Island containing candied salmon and rockfish.	O
Yellow pea soup	French-Canadian comfort food prepared with yellow peas, salted pork, and fresh herbs. Often served with johnnycake in Anglophone areas.			X	X	O	X
Ragoût de boulettes	Traditional Québécois dish eaten during the holiday season in Québec made of pork meatballs, breadcrumbs, eggs, onions and spices.					O
Ragoût de Pattes de Cochon	Québécois dish, commonly served with turkey, eaten during the holiday season in Québec made of pig's feet, onions, toasted flour, and spices.					O

Alcohol

Canada is one of the top whisky-producing countries and is best known for rye whisky. The rules say that Canadian whisky must age for at least three years in oak barrels. Canada has about thirty whisky distilleries, which make 54.2 million liters a year. Canadian whisky is known for being light and smooth. Most of it is blended, but single-malt and 100% rye are among the most wanted. The Glenora Inn & Distillery is the only single-malt distillery in North America.

Canada's wine industry is over two hundred years old. Its wine regions include British Columbia, Ontario, Quebec, and Nova Scotia. Canada's first commercial vineyard, the Pelee Island Winery, opened in 1866. Today there are over eight hundred licensed wineries. The best-known wine areas are southern Ontario, especially the Niagara peninsula, and the Okanagan valley in British Columbia.

Street food

Street food in Canada is different in each city and region. Local immigrant communities, city rules, and seasonal events all shape it. In big cities, you can find food trucks, carts, market stalls, and festival sellers. They sell things like hot dogs, pizza slices, shawarma, falafel, tacos, burgers, and ice cream trucks. They also sell East Asian, South Asian, Filipino, Vietnamese, Middle Eastern, and fusion foods. Each city has its own rules. In Toronto, sellers with a vehicle need a business licence. Those who sell on public land need a separate street-vending permit. In Calgary, mobile food sellers, including food trucks, need a city business licence. In Halifax, the city licenses food vehicles, food stands, and bicycle wagons.

Local tastes also change from place to place. In Montreal, food trucks sell shish taouk, the Montreal hot dog, and falafel. In Vancouver, street foods are influenced by East Asian cooking. You can find sushi, samosas, Vietnamese banh mi or pho, and Filipino and Japanese foods. In Victoria, you can find vegan and vegetarian burgers, seafood to go, and Mexican-inspired food. In Western Canada, a Ukrainian garlic-pork sausage called "kubasa" is widely sold. The name comes from the Ukrainian "kobasa," but it has changed over time. "Smokies" or "smokeys" may refer to kubasa instead of frankfurters. Fusion street foods mix different cooking styles. One example is the Japadog, a hot dog topped with Japanese ingredients such as wasabi, teriyaki, shredded daikon radish, or bonito flakes. Shawarma is popular in Ottawa and Windsor. Halifax has its own döner kebab, called the donair. It is made with a sauce of condensed milk, sugar, garlic, and vinegar. Winnipeg has had food truck sellers on Main Street. Lebanese Canadian fast-food restaurants, such as Boustan, serve shawarma poutine. This is a version of poutine topped with shawarma meat.

National food of Canada

Canadians do not always agree on one national food or dish. Still, several foods are widely seen as representing Canada's cooking. Poutine and butter tarts are often considered national dishes of Canada. Canadian back or peameal bacon and Atlantic or Pacific salmon are also commonly thought of as representing the country.

Several polls have asked people about Canada's national food. In a June 2015 poll from the Statista Research Department, Canadian bacon was the top choice, and poutine came second. A 2021 poll by CanCulture Magazine, run through social media, put poutine first, with maple syrup second. An informal survey by The Globe and Mail on Facebook also had poutine at the top. In a 2012 survey by the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, maple syrup was named one of the most "iconic" foods. In 2021, Reader's Digest made a list called "10 Must-Try Canadian Dishes," and poutine was on it.

Meal formats

Canadian meals are usually grouped by time of day. Breakfast is eaten in the morning and often includes toast, biscuits, muffins, scones, pancakes, bacon, bagels, cereals, fruit, and eggs. Spreads such as jam, cream cheese, peanut butter, marmalade, or Nutella are very common. Popular drinks include water, juice, coffee, and tea. A French-Canadian breakfast may have more starch-based foods, while an English-Canadian one may have more protein. The lumberjack's breakfast, also called "the lumby," was a big meal of several eggs, ham, bacon, sausages, and large pancakes. J. Houston created it around 1870 at his hotel in Gastown, Vancouver, to give workers a good start to long days. A coffee break is a short snack taken during work. It may or may not include coffee. The Canada Labour Code requires employers to give 30-minute breaks for every five hours of continuous work. Lunch is generally eaten around noon and often includes sandwiches, soups, fruit, nuts, cheese, and snacks. Lunches are usually simple and casual, especially since they are often eaten at work, school, or away from home. Dinner usually takes place between 17:00 and 19:00 and is a heartier meal based on protein and vegetables. Local foods are most common at dinner. Fish is more likely in the Maritimes, and beef is more likely in the Prairies.

Sunday dinner is often a more formal meal with family or guests, and it is more carefully prepared. Roast beef is a common centerpiece. Regional favorites include Prairie pot roast and Newfoundland Jiggs dinner. Some meals are tied to special occasions. The Chinese buffet or smorgasbord was developed in the 19th century by Chinese immigrants in Gastown, Vancouver to serve Scandinavian Canadian loggers. It is now found across the country and often includes ginger beef, chow mein, and dumplings. Christmas dinner draws on British and French traditions. It usually serves a larger group than normal, with turkey, roast beef, and/or ham as the main dish. Sides often include stuffing, mashed or roast potatoes, gravy, cranberry sauce, and vegetables such as carrots or yams. Desserts include pies, cakes, tarts, shortbread, gingerbread, toffee, roll kuchen (especially in the Prairies), crème brûlée, and biscotti. Easter weekend, Victoria Day weekend, and Canadian Thanksgiving share some customs with Christmas. They use different foods based on seasonality. A pancake breakfast is a public meal, especially in Western Canada. It is held at festivals and community events such as the Calgary Stampede, Grey Cup festival, and K-Days. It has roots in the Prairies' ranching culture and the Christian tradition of Shrove Tuesday. A potlatch is a gift-giving feast practiced by Indigenous peoples of the Pacific Northwest. It has political, social, and economic sides, but feasting is still central to it. A Réveillon is a long dinner held on the evenings before Christmas Day and New Year's Eve. It is a traditional practice for French-Canadians across the country. Its meals are often lavish and may include lobster, oysters, escargot, foie gras, and tourtière. A Yule log is a traditional dessert.

Food festivals

Many food festivals take place every year across Canada. They often follow the seasons and celebrate a local food tradition or industry. The list below shows some festivals by region, with where they happen and when. It is not a complete list.

British Columbia

BC Seafood Festival (Comox Valley; June)
Dine Out Vancouver Festival (Vancouver; January to February)
Eat! Vancouver (Vancouver; May)
Half Corked Marathon (Osoyoos; October)
Sun Peaks Winter Okanagan Wine Festival (Sun Peaks; January)
Surrey Fusion Festival (Surrey; July)

Prairies

Corn and Apple Festival (Morden; August)
Folklorama (Winnipeg; July to August)
Foodtruck Wars (Saskatoon; July)
Festival du Voyageur (Winnipeg; February)
Taste of Edmonton (Edmonton; July)
Edmonton Heritage Festival (Edmonton; first weekend of August)
The Big Taste (Calgary; March)
The Great Saskatchewan Mustard Festival (Regina; August)

Ontario

A Taste of Niagara-on-the-Lake (Niagara-on-the-Lake; January, March and April)
Canada's Largest Ribfest (Burlington; August to September)
Elmira Maple Syrup Festival (Elmira; April)
Icewine Festival (Niagara-on-the-Lake; January)
Oktoberfest (Kitchener–Waterloo; October)
Ontario's Best Butter Tart Festival (Midland; June)
Ottawa Poutine Fest (Ottawa; October to November)
Summerlicious (Toronto; July)
Taste of the Danforth (Toronto; August)
WinterBrewed (Ottawa; February)
Winterlicious (Toronto; January to February)

Quebec

Montréal en Lumière (Montreal; February)
Festibière de Québec (Quebec City; August)
Taste of the Caribbean (Montreal; July)

Maritimes

Dine Around Freddy (Fredericton; March)
Prince Edward Island Fall Flavours Festival (Charlottetown; September)
Shediac Lobster Festival (Shediac; June to July)
The Gathering (Burlington, Newfoundland and Labrador; August)
WinterDine (Charlottetown; January to February)

North

Yukon Culinary Festival (Whitehorse; August)

Restaurants

Main article: List of restaurants in Canada

Livestock breeds and cultivars

Canada raises and grows many animals and crops that come from other countries. It also has its own livestock breeds and cultivars that were developed within the country.

Many of Canada's special apple types were developed in the interior of British Columbia. In the late 1800s, grain from the Prairies began flowing into the province when the Canadian rail network was being used. Because of this, the province did not need to grow as much of its own grain. This allowed other farming, such as fruit growing in the Okanagan, to develop.