It’s the Canada Day long weekend, the perfect time for another edition of my Canadian food quiz. (The answers are here.)
1. First discovered on an Ontario farm in 1811, and commercially available since the 1880s, according to The Canadian Encyclopedia, this apple is often called the national apple of Canada:
a) Red delicious
b) McIntosh
c) Empire
d) Spartan
2. Last November, this book won the gold medal for best general cookbook at the Taste Canada Awards:
a) Well Seasoned: A Year’s Worth of Delicious Recipes by Mary Berg
b) Fast Easy Cheap Vegan by Sam Turnbull
c) The Zero-Waste Chef by Anne-Marie Bonneau
d) The Food Doula Cookbook by Lindsay Taylor
3. This part of Canada has branded itself Canada’s Food Island, and a beautiful book with that title showcases what’s on offer:
a) Newfoundland
b) Island of Montreal
c) Prince Edward Island
d) Vancouver Island
4. According to a 2022 survey by Narrative Research (narrativeresearch.ca), this percentage of Canadians have omnivorous diets, meaning they eat plants, dairy and meat:
a) 67 per cent
b) 91 per cent
c) 87 per cent
d) 76 per cent
5. If you love french fries topped with gravy and cheese curds, you might know which one of these cities had or will have a poutine festival in 2023.
a) Ottawa
b) Halifax
c) Drummondville
d) All of the above
6. Jean Paré, prolific author of the Company’s Coming cookbook series, died in Edmonton, Christmas Eve, 2022. She was 95. When she retired in 2011, how many copies of her books had been sold:
a) 126,000
b) More than 30 million
c) About 2.2 million
d) 580,000
7. It was founded in 1967, and organizers say it’s the largest street festival in Manitoba, attracting over 80,000 people over three days of fun:
a) The Morden Corn & Apple Festival
b) Red River Exhibition
c) Brandon Fall Fair
d) Gimli’s Icelandic Festival
8. Hemp hearts, produced by Canadian companies such as Manitoba Harvest Hemp Foods, are:
a) A marijuana edible gummy shaped like a heart
b) A heart-shaped grocery bag made from hemp
c) The nutritious, edible, soft inner part of shelled hemp seeds
d) A hemp seed drug that helps control heart disease
9. You can buy a type of bacon called Canadian bacon in places such as the United States, but in Canada it’s most often called:
a) Back bacon
b) Peameal bacon
c) Ayrshire bacon
d) Side bacon
10. On Vancouver Island, cauliflower, lobster and oyster are all types of:
a) Foods you can buy pickled
b) Top selling grocery stores items
c) Foods best when very fresh or frozen
d) Wild mushrooms you can forage for
11. According the Canadian Encyclopedia, aside from mustard, the only other significant commercial Canadian spice crops are:
a) Ginger
b) Caraway and coriander, both produced on the Canadian prairies, primarily in Saskatchewan
c) Cumin
d) White peppercorns
12. Wilensky’s Light Lunch, an iconic Montreal eatery that opened in 1932, is best known for serving this:
a) All day breakfast
b) Wilensky’s buckwheat waffles
c) Poutine on a hot dog
d) The Wilensky special, a pressed, grilled sandwich with beef salami, bologna, mustard, and, if desired, cheese
13. Montreal’s L’Auberge Saint-Gabriel is:
a) Canada’s oldest functioning restaurant, first operated as an inn in 1754
b) The first Canadian restaurant to receive a Michelin star
c) Best known for serving traditional Québec dishes, such as tourtière
d) Canada’s smallest restaurant
14. According to the Government of the Northwest Territories, this animal, found on Arctic coasts and islands with sightings in the Sahtu and Mackenzie Delta regions, is an important, nutrient-rich food source for communities that rely on traditional food:
a) Bison
b) Arctic deer
c) Muskox
d) Walrus
15. According to Agriculture Canada, in 2021, Canadian maple products were exported to 71 countries. The number 1 export destination was the United States. This country was number two on the list:
a) Germany
b) United Kingdom
c) Japan
d) France
16. According to the company’s website, Tim Hortons is proud to be Canada’s largest restaurant chain. How many cups of coffee do they say they serve every day?
a) About 850,000
b) Over five million
c) Nearly 1.25 million
d) More than 500,000
17. Established in 1890, according to company information, this business was Vancouver’s first major industry not based on logging or fishing:
a) Robin Hood Flour
b) Catelli Pasta
c) Hertel’s Meats
d) Rogers Sugar, first established as the British Columbia Sugar Refining Company
18. Bow Island, Alberta, has a large statue of its town mascot, Pinto Macbean, signifying the importance of the dry bean industry to the area. Beyond beans, the Bow Island area is also becoming known for being Canada’s largest producer of this aromatic plant:
a) Lemongrass
b) Spearmint
c) Ginger
d) Lavender
19. The Halifax version of this food became so popular that in 2015 it was declared that city’s official food:
a) Clam Chowder
b) Fish and chips
c) Donair
d) Lobster rolls
20. Garlic fingers are a popular Atlantic Canadian dish. What are they?
a) Dough, shaped and baked similar to a pizza, topped with such things as garlic butter, parsley and cheese, baked and cut in strips/fingers
b) Puff pastry twists flavoured with garlic butter and Parmesan cheese
c) Savoury, garlic- and cheese-flavoured, finger-shaped shortbread
d) Finger-length french fries tossed with fried, shaved pieces of garlic
Eric Akis is the author of eight cookbooks. His columns appear in the Life section Wednesday and Sunday.