Flickr/Creative Commons photo of poutine by Yuri Long.
Updated April 22, 2019
Looking for a poutine festival within an easy drive of Ottawa? Read on.
Every year, it seems there are more events are devoted to what more and more people are deeming Canada’s National Dish. (Hey, whatever happened to maple syrup, Nanaimo bars and butter tarts?)
The sticky dish of fries, cheese curds and gravy has become insanely popular over a relatively short period of time. Several Quebec establishments have claimed credit for inventing it in the 1950s or the 1960s, including restaurants in Warwick, Drummondville and Princeville.
Since then, it has spread far and wide; in the U.S. Northeast, it is still sometimes known as “disco fries”; in at least one Vietnamese restaurant, they top it with kimchi and pulled pork.
Not all of the American attempts at the iconic dish get top marks from Quebec connoisseurs; check out the immediate, horrified reaction from Reddit readers when news surfaced in 2017 that one New Jersey restaurant topped its version with—quel horreur!—Kraft cheese singles. (For the record, it does look pretty horrifying.)
If chips dowsed with gravy and cheese curds are your thing, here’s the scoop on some places within a day’s drive of Ottawa where you can get your fix. Note that these festivals have become so popular that some cities have rival events with similar names.
- Poutinefest on Sparks, Sparks Street Mall, Ottawa, April 25 to 28, 2019
- Le festival bière et poutine de Gatineau, April 26 to 28, 2019
- Beer and Poutine Fest, Ottawa City Hall, May 2 to 5, 2019
- Brockville Poutine Feast, May 3 to 5, 2019
- Peterborough Poutine Feast, May 9 to May 11, 2019
- Toronto Poutine Fest, May 24 to 26, 2019
- North Bay Poutine Feast, June 20 to 23, 2019
- NH PoutineFest, Manchester, New Hampshire, June 22, 2019
- Belleville Poutine Feast, August 1 to 4, 2019
- Cornwall Poutine Feast, August 8 to 11, 2019
- Kingston Poutine Feast, September 19 to 22, 2019
- La Poutine Week, Montreal, February (2020 dates to come)
Did I miss your favourite festival of fries, gravy and squeaky cheese? Let me know in the comments!
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