Happy Sunday guys, Hailee here and today I’d like to share some of my heritage with you guys!

On Friday, we celebrated Canada day (July 1^st) all across the country! With each city having planned activities for all ages throughout the day. Where I’m from, we are lucky to be called the nation's capitol. We have a bunch of things to do downtown, and we even conclude the evening with a concert near parliament hill and fireworks! Keeping up with the theme, I’m going to share some of the foods that I’ve grown with over the years, these are a true Canadian classic! The day is where we all come together to celebrate Canada, what do you guys do to celebrate your country? And, is there any dishes where you are from that are considered a classic? Thank you to Eli for the fantastic layout.

Poutine
This has to be one of my favorite dishes; I mean fries, cheese, and gravy? This dish could not get any better! There are many places that you can get a good poutine, but they say if you want the best you have to go back to where they originated! The main build of a poutine consists of; golden brown French fries, cheese curds, and brown gravy.  Although there are many different variations to poutine, I get the original and love to slather ketchup on the top!

Although we don’t know how poutine started, some say that this dish began in Quebec around the 1950’s. A restaurant owner one day got the request to put cheese curds on the fries. The owner got mad and claimed that it would just make a big mess, the gravy was later added on to keep the fries warm for longer. Kudos to whoever added that gravy to melt that cheese into ooey-gooey goodness.

Some of the different kinds will include smoked meats in homage to Montreal, another kind I like to get is a vegetarian poutine. It has green onions, tomatoes, cheese sauce and sour cream instead of the traditional gravy. In another country, this traditional Canadian dish is referred to “chips, cheese, and gravy.”

Tourtière
In my family, this dish is a holiday tradition. For those who don’t know what tourtière is, in a very basic explanation, it is a meat pie. This dish can be served by itself, or can be served as a side to any meal. Some prefer to use a pre-made pie shell, but in my family, we go the extra mile to make our crusts. You can fill it with whatever type of meat that you have on hand; we use half pork half beef and season our meat!

This is another one where we do not know much about the origins; there have been early sightings of a tourtière. The meat pie goes back to the early 1600’s and has been passed down by French-Canadian families ever since. I know in my family, we have a recipe that has been passed down for many generations, and all of my mother’s family makes it around the holidays. We even make a few that we will eat around the year; it is a good meal, and you can’t ever go wrong with pie!

A traditional way to top off your meat pie is with ketchup! I know I like to slather mine up whenever I eat them, some others like to pair them with gherkin pickles. No matter how you decide to serve this meal, just remember that it’s a big part of the Canadian heritage!

Beavertails
No, they aren’t what you think they are, a beavertail or ‘Queues de Castor’ in French is a pastry that is shaped in the form of a beavertail and topped with your choice of topping. Beavertails are pure goodness, I like to get mine topped with cinnamon sugar, the best is when they’ve been made fresh! Whenever I take a trip downtown, I can’t help but stop off and grab myself a little treat. Although my favorite is the cinnamon sugar, which is traditional, they have around 12 different combinations that you can pick from. This is a real treat for a sweet tooth like me!

Bless Grant and Pam Hooker, who decided to make their small business into something so much more. The couple started selling their fried pastries at a small town fair in 1978, two years later their business boomed and then opened up their first location in Ottawa! Ever since they have branched off and opened many places around the globe! There are a few locations in the United States, Japan, Korea, and even one in Dubai!

Some of the other flavors they offer include; chocolate hazelnut, apple cinnamon, cookies and crème, and a peanut butter one that is topped with Reese's pieces! There truly is something for everyone no matter what you are in the mood for! At some locations, they even do frozen drinks and food items. The site I go to, they have this orange vanilla frozen drink that tastes exactly like a creamsicle. If you ever encounter a Beavertail stand or store, I highly suggest that you drop whatever you’re doing and grab ‘treat yo-self.'