Poutine is a dish of french fries and cheese curds topped with a brown gravy. It emerged in Quebec in the late 1950s in the Centre-du-Québec region, though its exact origins are uncertain, and there are several competing claims regarding its invention. For many years, it was used by some to mock Quebec society. Poutine later became celebrated as a symbol of Québécois culture and the province of Quebec. It has long been associated with Quebec cuisine, and its rise in prominence has led to its growing popularity throughout the rest of Canada.
Canadian cuisine consists of the cooking traditions and practices of Canada, with regional variances around the country. First Nations and Inuit have practiced their culinary traditions in what is now Canada for at least 15,000 years. The advent of European explorers and settlers, first on the east coast and then throughout the wider territories of New France, British North America and Canada, saw the melding of foreign recipes, cooking techniques, and ingredients with indigenous flora and fauna. Modern Canadian cuisine has maintained this dedication to local ingredients and terroir, as exemplified in the naming of specific ingredients based on their locale, such as Malpeque oysters or Alberta beef. Accordingly, Canadian cuisine privileges the quality of ingredients and regionality, and may be broadly defined as a national tradition of "creole" culinary practices, based on the complex multicultural and geographically diverse nature of both historical and contemporary Canadian society.
The French Laundry is a three-Michelin star French and Californian cuisine restaurant located in Yountville, California, in the Napa Valley. Sally Schmitt opened The French Laundry in 1978 and designed her menus around local, seasonal ingredients; she was a visionary chef and pioneer of California cuisine. Since 1994, the chef and owner of The French Laundry is Thomas Keller. The restaurant building dates from 1900 and was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1978.
The cuisine of Toronto reflects Toronto's size and multicultural diversity. Ethnic neighbourhoods throughout the city focus on specific cuisines, such as authentic Chinese and Vietnamese found in the city's Chinatowns, Korean in Koreatown, Greek on The Danforth, Italian cuisine in Little Italy and Corso Italia, Bangladeshi cuisine in southwest Scarborough and East York, and Indian/Pakistani in Little India. Other world cuisines available in the city include Portuguese, Hungarian, Japanese, and Caribbean. Toronto's large Jewish population has given rise to many Jewish restaurants and delis, with varying adherence to kosher rules.
Jamie Kennedy is a Canadian chef.
David Rocco is a Canadian author, cook, and host of several internationally syndicated television series. He is most known for producing and hosting the television series David Rocco's Dolce Vita, and publishing four cookbooks Avventura, David Rocco's Dolce Vita, Made in Italy, and David Rocco's Dolce Famiglia.
Hubert Keller is a noted French chef, who is known for his signature restaurants, Fleur de Lys in San Francisco and Las Vegas.
Ted Reader is a Canadian chef and author of several cookbooks.
Noma is a three-Michelin-star restaurant run by chef René Redzepi, and co-founded by Claus Meyer, in Copenhagen, Denmark. The name is a syllabic abbreviation of the two Danish words "nordisk" (Nordic) and "mad" (food). Opened in 2003, the restaurant is known for its focus on foraging, invention and interpretation of New Nordic Cuisine. In 2010, 2011, 2012, 2014, and 2021 it was ranked as the Best Restaurant in the World by Restaurant magazine.
The James Beard Foundation Awards are annual awards presented by the James Beard Foundation to recognize chefs, restaurateurs, authors and journalists in the United States. They are scheduled around James Beard's May 5 birthday. The media awards are presented at a dinner in New York City; the chef and restaurant awards were also presented in New York until 2015, when the foundation's annual gala moved to Chicago. Chicago will continue to host the Awards until 2027.
Mark McEwan is an American-born Canadian celebrity chef based in Toronto, Ontario.
Top Chef Canada is a Canadian reality competition television series. The show premiered on April 11, 2011, on Food Network Canada. The first season consisted of 13 episodes, with 16 contestants vying for a grand prize of $100,000 and a GE Monogram kitchen valued at $30,000. Like the original American series, each week the chef contestants compete against each other in culinary challenges. Contestants are judged by a panel of professional chefs and other notables from the food and wine industry, with one or more contestants being eliminated each week. The Canadian edition uses the same graphics and music as the American version of the program.
Luke Hayes-Alexander is a Canadian chef. He was the executive chef of Luke's Gastronomy in Kingston, Ontario, and held this position from 2006 until 2012 when the family sold the restaurant.
Charlie's Burgers is a series of private dining events originated in Toronto, Ontario, Canada in 2009 operated by Franco Stalteri and Donato Carozza. In 2010, it was ranked by Food and Wine Magazine as one of the top three "word of mouth" supper clubs on its list of "100 Best New Food and Drink Experiences in the World". Each dinner event is hosted by a different high-profile chef and is held in a different location, with the location being secret until the last minute. Charlie's Burgers has collaborated with chefs recognized by The World's 50 Best Restaurants, The Michelin Guide and Relais & Chateaux, in Canada, England and France. In January 2010 it held a dinner event featuring insects for which guests paid $155. In July 2010 it expanded beyond Toronto to offer events in London and Paris. In August 2011, Charlie's Burgers launched its own Champagne, a Grand Cru, Blanc de Blancs from a grower from Oger, Marne, France. Franco is a voter on the world’s 50 Best Restaurant List.
Vikram Vij is an Indian-born Canadian chef, cookbook author, and television personality. He is the owner, of the Indian cuisine restaurants Vij's and Rangoli Restaurant in Vancouver, British Columbia. He also owns My Shanti, a restaurant in South Surrey, BC which he closed in 2024. In 2014, Vij was announced as a new "dragon" investor on the Canadian reality show Dragons' Den for its ninth season and departed at the end of the season.
Alvin Leung King-Lon, is a Canadian chef and television personality. He holds two Michelin stars at his restaurant Bo Innovation and one Michelin star at Bo London. Nicknamed The Demon Chef, he invented his own cuisine named X-Treme Chinese, which includes meals such as an edible condom on a mushroom beach.
Hugh Acheson is a Canadian-born chef and restaurateur. He has owned four restaurants in Georgia, and serves as a judge on the reality cooking competition show Top Chef, and as an Iron Chef on Iron Chef Canada.
Hemant Bhagwani is an Indo-Canadian chef, sommelier, restaurateur, cookbook author, and entrepreneur based in Toronto, Ontario, Canada.
Osteria Giulia is an Italian restaurant in Toronto, Ontario, Canada.
