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Canadian Food: Wild about fiddleheads

Is there such a thing as Canadian cuisine? The idea of ordering "Canadian" may have some scratching their heads. But Canada has given the world its share of gastronomic delights. From peameal bacon to poutine to pemmican, CBC Archives digs in to some distinctly homegrown fare.

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Spring in Eastern Canada means picking fiddleheads. The deep green plant is an edible wild fern that resembles the spiral end of a fiddle, hence the name. The native people introduced fiddleheads to the settlers and they have become a popular delicacy, particularly in the Maritimes. The fiddlehead fern, which tastes like a cross between asparagus, green bean and okra, is an annual industry worth $2 million in New Brunswick alone, reports CBC's Kas Roussy.

. The part of the fiddlehead that's eaten is the coiled end, which breaks through the ground in the spring. Fiddleheads are a good source of vitamins A and C.

. Canada is also famous for the Marquis wheat, introduced by Sir Charles Saunders to Western Canada in 1909. Saunders invented the Marquis by crossing different varieties of wheat. The resulting resilient strain would account for 90 per cent of Western Canadian wheat by 1920. When Saunders passed away in 1937, one newspaper wrote that "he had contributed more to the wealth of his country than any other man."

. In 1962 a Canadian research scientist invented instant mashed potatoes. Edward Asselbergs created the dehydrated flakes while working for the Department of Agriculture in Ottawa.
. In 1974, Baldur Stefansson of University of Manitoba developed what would become the crop known as "canola." It was developed from rapeseed. It's used in cooking and in processed foods. Canola is a combination of two words, Canadian and oil.

. Pablum, the vitamin enriched cereal for infants, was invented in 1930 by three doctors at The Hospital for Sick Children in Toronto. Doctors Alan Brown, Theodore Drake and Fred Tisdall created the cereal from a mixture of wheatmeal, oatmeal, cornmeal, wheat germ, brewer's yeast, bone meal and alfalfa. Pablum saved thousands of children from death and disease. Royalties from Pablum funded further research into neonatal care at the Hospital for Sick Children.

Medium: Television
Program: Prime Time News
Broadcast Date: June 5, 1995
Reporter: Kas Roussy
Duration: 2:32

Last updated: May 13, 2013

Page consulted on September 10, 2014

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