mmm... canada
 
2008-06-03: mmm... canada

How Sweet is Canada?

Our lives revolve around it, our dreams are punctuated by it and our families are pulled together by way of it. Food is the essence of everyday life, the thing that we can't live without and the reason we get up in the morning and why we sit down at the table every night (even if it is sometimes in front of the television!).

Even though it unites us all, it also marks, almost like no other part of life, our varieties and distinctions. I have wondered on more than one occasion what food in Canada tastes like to someone who isn't me. What does Canada taste like to someone who perhaps didn't grow up here from childhood, or someone who left here and then returned having experienced other places and other cultures? Or what would it taste like to someone who grew up in the Prairies or the East or West coast of Canada rather than in Ontario as I did...? There are so many diverse food cultures in this country that it seems almost impossible to experience even a fraction of them in a lifetime.

That is where food bloggers are essential. I can visit a web site any time of any day and see what someone in Vancouver meticulously made for dinner, what vineyard someone in Niagara frequents or what bakery someone in Ottawa prefers over all others. I can learn about Middle Eastern-Canadians, Irish-Canadians, Asian-Canadians and Aboriginal Canadians (and the list certainly doesn't stop there!) and what they prefer to eat and what they love specifically about Canada's food culture. I am no longer limited to what is available in my own neighborhood, city or province - I can experience the entire country, with a click of my mouse, via all the amazing Canadian food blogs out there.

That is what Taste Canada was all about. In 2005 we asked Canadian food (and non-food) bloggers, ex-pat Canadian bloggers and even a few "wish-they-were-Canadian" bloggers to share what Canada tastes like to them. To make and write about their favourite Canadian meal, the meal that most said "Canada" to them. We had dozens of eager participants who shared their favourite Canadian foods, meals, markets and restaurants. It was amazing to see the diversity and yet also the similarity between so many different people across such a huge country.

This year let's make our proverbial pot a little bigger; a little sweeter, if you will. Let's get together as many bloggers as we can to share their favourite Canadian confection, indulgence, dessert, sweet...anything really! As long as says Canada to you and you can get some sort of Sugar High from it, we want to know about it.

What do Canada's Confections taste like to you? From the butter tart recipe your mother handed down to you through generations to the recipe for Beaver Tails you came up with after visiting Ottawa last winter and skating the canal, we want to know! If you have found the ultimate way to showcase Maple Syrup or the greatest Donut recipe or the best accompaniment to a great Ice Wine or even the most delicious way to make strawberry shortcake with the juiciest, most enormous Ontario strawberries, we want to round them up in one big post. Or perhaps you have a favourite dessert that just screams Oh Canada! to you and you alone. Well then make it and write about it so we can all indulge in it along with you.

Write and post your Mmm... Canada entry between June 23rd and 28th. Then send me an email at jennifer[at]domesticgoddess[dot]ca with the following information:

- Your name
- Your blog name and URL
- Your post's title and URL
- One photo (if applicable), sized to 150 pixels wide, with your blog name as the filename
- If you are a Canadian blogger, which province or territory you are living in
- If you are an ex-pat Canadian blogger, which province you are from and what country you are living in now
- If you want to be an honorary Canadian for this event, what country you are living in
- If you aren't a blogger and would like to participate, please post your contribution (along with the above info) in my comments on the day I post the round-up (July 1st of course!)

For those of you who want to use the Mmm...Canada, The Sweet Edition image, feel free to steal away!

And if sweets aren't your thing (or you want to make something sweet and something salty or spicy, head on over to Jasmine's site to participate in the savory version of Mmm... Canada. She is asking bloggers to contribute a regional savory dish, a meal their family brought to the country or something they think of when they think of Canadian cuisine. It can be any course (starters, soups, breakfast etc), a reminiscence or a photo essay or a recipe.

Let's take this Canada Day to new gustatory heights! I want everyone to say it with me: Mmm...Canada!