A question came up in class yesterday about Edmonton food and whether or not we have an Edmontonian cuisine. After jokes about coffee and perogies, I realized that Edmonton actually doesn't have a defined cuisine. Rather, it has what I am daring to call 'culinary landmarks'.
So....what is a culinary landmark (kuhl-uh-ner-ee land-mahrk)?
The way I see it, a culinary landmark is defined as an widely recognized restaurant or food store within a city. Basically, it's the place everyone knows about, talks about and eats at. I mean places like Remedy, Padmanadi, The High Level Diner, Culina, The Sugarbowl, Transcend, The Old Strathcona Farmers Market and the City Market on 104th. These businesses have become staples in the Edmonton foodie scene over time. Joining them soon, I'm sure, will be Queen of Tarts, Duchess Bakeshop, MRKT, The Marc and Corso 32. Why? Because the most successful Edmonton restaurants are often those who don't try to extend their grasp beyond the city. They often source their ingredients from local producers as well. I was speaking with a gentleman at Queen of Tarts today who said that the bakery gets many of its ingredients from local sources (eggs from Greens, Eggs and Ham, flour from a farmer just outside Stony Plain). If you go on Culina's website, they list all the local food producers they buy from (Lola Canola for honey, Cally's for tea, Spring Creek Ranch for beef).
Edmonton is a mish-mash (food pun!) Have you ever read SEE Magazine's Annual Best of Edmonton Issue? There is always a "best of" Thai/Indian/Japanese/Chinese/Italian/Mexican/Greek/Middle Eastern/[insert name of culture here] category. The foods from each culture are not Edmonton cuisine - we've just appropriated them - but the restaurants themselves contribute to this Edmonton Food Consciousness. There's always one restaurant in these categories that, even if it is not voted for, seems to be on everyone's radar...
Thai: The King and I
Indian: New Asian Village
Japanese: Kyoto
Italian: Chianti's
Greek: Koutouki Taverna
So...what am I trying to say? Edmonton does not have a cuisine, but it has a 'food scene'. People do take note of the best restaurants/staple food items in the city, and there are enough that Avenue was able to put together an article on the "25 Best Things to Eat in Edmonton." That's it: it's a big potluck.
{If you reply to this post, I want you to include your favorite Edmonton restaurant/food item in the response.}
I agree, Edmonton doesn't have it's own cuisine, and I also think that it's because Edmonton has such a broad range of different kinds of people. We've got Italian restaurants, especally in Little Italy, Chinese restaurants, especially in Chinatown, McDonalds galore....
ReplyDeleteIt's kind of nice to have such diversity in both culture and food.
Anyways, my favourite restaurant is the Melting Pot. It's SO GOOD.
I think what you brought up about local food is the main thing; Edmonton has a cuisine! And that cuisine is local. Think about it- we have the Old Strathcona Farmer's Market, the St. Albert Farmer's Market (one of the biggest in western Canada) and people here love the local. Any food made in Edmonton must be its cuisine, right? I'm thinking specifically here of my mom's crabapple jelly that she steals from her neighbours' trees in St. Albert. We also have great local breweries (you can find their beer at the Sugarbowl) and the land all around Edmonton is pretty much farm land. So, do you guys think that food made locally counts?
ReplyDeleteIt absolutely counts! The locavore movement is huge right now, because it helps to strengthen communities, but also because the practice of buying local allows more money to go back into businesses on a municipal level. Economically, it's more beneficial.
ReplyDeleteI think it's rather unfair to expect Edmonton to have its own cuisine at all. Very rarely does a city have a cuisine; it's usually a region, if that. I don't think there's a "recognizable Calgary cuisine" or even a "Vancouver Cuisine" if we're aiming for a larger city.
ReplyDeleteWe MIGHT be able to say that there's an "Albertan cuisine", and that's only because we love beef and it's nigh impossible to find a good cut of lamb.
Not to mention we're all in Canada, which barely has a cuisine of its own overall, much less enough variety to have it differ overmuch from place to place.
I agree with the above comment. I think cuisine needs a long time to develop. For instance, there is a specific section of South Asian cuisine (both Indian and Pakistani) that emerged in the UK amongst the South Asian diaspora. But there is a very long history of the South Asian diaspora in the UK. I'm not even sure if a distinct cuisine can even emerge in this day and age when foods and recipes travel so fast.
ReplyDeleteBut on another point, Indian: New Asian Village... really? That's just sad. As good as New Asian Village is, I'm 95% sure that if one was to try the same dish from all Indian/Pakistani restaurants in Edmonton it would be difficult to discern the difference. Same with Remedy's. I think it has a lot to do with the discomfort of all these places to be distinct. In order to broaden their market they slap a huge label of Indian or South Asian cuisine.. which doesn't really exist since there are distinct cuisines even within India and Pakistan. If you're ever in Calgary, there's a small place called 'Mirchi' tucked away in downtown that can barely fit 15 people. But their kababs are AMAZING! Now that's what I call proper cuisine!
To Maani and Cass: I am not expecting Edmonton to have a "cuisine" of it's own. It's as much a melting pot as Canada, and I am fully aware of that. This is more hypothesizing than anything else, trying to think outside the box.
ReplyDeleteOh, and I stole the favorites from SEE magazine. I haven't found a truly great or authentic Thai/Indian/Italian restaurant yet.