Poutine : A Deep-Fried Road Trip of Discovery

While searching for the origins of Canadas most famous fried dish, journalist Justin Giovannetti Lamothe finds a reflection not only of the countrys intricate history, but also of his own neglected cultural roots.The recipe is deceptively simplefried potatoes, cheese curds, gravybut the story behind it is as rich and complex as Canada itself. Poutine is the closest thing we have to a national dish. As its popularity has spread across the country and beyond, it has become what the baguette is to France: a kind of national symbol, as immediately Canadian as the toque, beaver or hockey puck.Yet the odd, winding history of poutine has never been writtenuntil now. Following lore about the dishs rise from the road-side chip wagons of rural Quebec, award-winning journalist Justin Giovannetti Lamothe tells a story that mirrors the growth of modern Canada and the shifting cultural gap between La Belle Province and its English-speaking neighbours.As the son of an anglophone mother and a francophone father, Giovannetti Lamothe is perfectly suited to the task: much of his childhood was spent on the outskirts of Trois-Rivires, a stones throw from the region whereaccording to local lorepoutine was invented sometime in the 1950s or 60s. As he tracks poutines origins and wanderings, he also reveals the evolving nature of his relationship to his father and, with this, to the Qubcois heritage he once drifted away from.After reading the delectable Poutine, youll never seeor tastethis humbly famous food in quite the same way again.