What is poutine?

Poutine is trash, a rare Canadian failure.

This is threadshitting. And since you’ve already gotten a mod note about it, it’s also an official warning. And a note to stay out of this thread henceforth.

I still think poutine is an inside joke to most Canadians. It’s like bacon in the US. But, I will try poutine topped with bacon. I’ll let you know if it kills me. If it does I’ll die happy!

Which is odd, since “fries with stuff on it” is a global phenomenon. Aside from the above-mentioned disco fries and carne asada fries, you can find chili cheese fries almost anywhere in the US, pastrami fries are a staple in the west, upstate New York has the garbage plate (fries, baked beans, and macaroni salad topped with meaty chili sauce, one or more grilled meats, cheese, onions, and mustard) and you’ve got all variety of international variants like Dutch kapsalon or the Australian halal snack pack, which both combine fries with kebab meat, hot sauce, garlic sauce, and various other toppings, or Ireland’s spice bag (fries with chicken and grilled onions and peppers).

I learned what poutine was while reviewing a book called The Summer That Saved Baseball, written by two Stanford graduates who spent the 1998 season trying to attend a game at every MLB park in just 38 days. I want to say it came up during the chapter about the since-departed Montreal Expos, but I guess it could have come up in the chapter about the Toronto Blue Jays. I was mildly put off by the idea, mostly because I honestly had no idea what a curd was. I mean, curds were clearly good enough for Little Miss Muffet, but I wasn’t so sure.

Wild guess: You don’t live anywhere near Wisconsin? :wink:

I’ve heard that in the coastal areas of New England you can order fries with seafood chowder on top. I haven’t had this but it sounds like a good idea.

When we were in Utah we stumbled across a Swiss dairy - Gossner Foods - that had fresh cheese curds. There were some ecstatic Wisconsinites that day.

I can imagine! :laughing:

The last summer I spent in the US, I had a job that obliged me to follow carnivals through Wisconsin and southeastern Minnesota, living out of a van. Cheese curds were in abundance at the concession stands no matter where they stopped. The best part of the job was when the crews gave me their leftovers for free at the end of the day. I ate so many cheese curds and slightly overcooked Polish sausages that summer my cholesterol must have gone through the roof!