A question (or two) regarding food

[beboots]

Hello, everyone on my friends list! I had a few quick questions for you all. 

I've been thinking, lately, of "Canadian culture" (if such a thing exists, and I think that it does), and what you really think of as defining a person's culture. One of those things is the food they eat. And I got to thinking: maybe some of my favourite foods, things that are so omnipresent in grocery stores all around Canada, aren't as common as I think that they are!

So, tell me: have you heard of all of these food products? Have you ever tried them? What did you think of them, and how were they served? (AKA what kind of toppings/side dishes?) What are your favourite local foods?

(Just to clarify, I live in Western Canada, but I have lived in Ontario, very near to Quebec, so I'm also familiar with French Canadian culture... but these foods are all found in Western Canada too.)

-Perogies (Holy crap the interwebs don't even recognize this spelling! It's on all of the bags!) AKA lovely potato dumplings sometimes stuffed with cheese and other things, boiled, often eaten fried with butter and onions, and topped with bacon bits and sour cream. Maybe I only know it because we have the largest population of Ukrainians outside of Ukraine here in Western Canada...?

-Pumpkin pie. In fact, pumpkins in general. Not squashes. Pumpkins - the kind you make into Jack-o-Lanterns. (Also edible!) Has anybody outside of North America ever had baked pumpkin seeds? (One of the best non-candy Hallowe'en snacks there is, and they're just the leftovers from making art!)

-Maple syrup. Maple candies. Maple anything. I know that pancakes and waffles exist outside of Canada... but what do you put on it if maple syrup isn't available? Just cream or something? How easy is it to get maple syrup outside of Canada? Pancakes + maple syrup is such a ubiquitous combination here that anything else is just plain WEIRD. 

Comments

[dhrachth.livejournal.com]

We've got all three in Alabama. Pumpkins and maple syrup are pretty common. Pumpkins are all over the place in the fall for Halloween and Thanksgiving, not so much the rest of the year but you can always get the canned stuff for baking with. Maple syrup is pretty standard, but there's lots of other syrup flavors to choose from mostly made with corn syrup, like my personal favorite butter pecan. Maple candies you don't see very much. Pierogies are probably the hardest to find, but they are available in most of the larger supermarket's freezer cases. I think fried pierogies are probably responsible for about 20% of the weight I put on during grad school.

[beboots.livejournal.com]

"my personal favorite butter pecan" Ooh... that sounds delicious! :D

Maple candies are delicious as well; you can get them in the consistency of smooth lolipops (in shapes like maple leaves, moose, etc.), but you can also get them like hard-packed brown sugar, also in shapes like maple leaves. They melt on your tongue; delicious and patriotic! ;)