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A group representing the dairy industry in Montreal-Quebec says it is aiming for a special designation by the government to promote the term poutine internationally.
Luc Boivin, a cheese producer and member of the Conseil des Industrielslaitiers du Québec, says that traditional French fries, cheese curd and gravy are the source of national pride.
“Most people talk about poutine, whether it’s after a hockey game or if they’re leaving the bar at 3am and getting poutine at La Banquise in Montreal or Chez Ashton in Quebec City,” he said. Said. In an interview on Tuesday.
The owner of Fromagerie Boivin, based in the Sagnerak Sanjan region of Quebec, believes that poutine will be the next big food trend for burgers, tacos and sushi.
To take advantage of the growing popularity of this dish, Boivin says a working group has been formed aimed at creating a national branding strategy to help producers sell their products in bulk. The group is also considering getting a “Reservation Designated” status. This is the official recognition of the authenticity of regional foods by the Quebec government.
He said the project is in its infancy and it is not yet clear whether the group wants a brief understanding of cooking or a more protective mechanism that limits the use of the term by outsiders. It was.
Details are still under consideration, but the ultimate goal of the campaign is to protect and promote Poutine’s identity as a product in Quebec and Canada. “Pizza is Italian and sushi is Japanese, we must protect its identity,” Boybin said.
He said Poutine’s success is one of the rare bright spots in recent years for Quebec cheese growers who are still working on intensifying competition due to the US-Mexico-Canada trade agreement.
He believes that there is a great opportunity to export cheese curd, which is a representative ingredient of poutine and is mainly manufactured in Quebec. The cards are shipped frozen, so they are relatively easy to export, he said.
Dairy is a highly controlled industry, so the regulatory process is likely to be complicated, he said. But he dreams of a day when sports stars such as NHL player Sidney Crosby and football player Laurent Duvernayer Diff are asked to promote their homemade products.
Sylvain Charlevoix, a professor of food distribution and food policy at Dalhousie University and author of the book Putin Nation, said Putin was born in Warwick, Que. In the late 1950s, when a customer came to a restaurant and asked owner Fernand Rachance to add cheese curd to french fries. According to Charles Bois, the dish was further refined in 1964 when Drummondville’s professional sauce maker Jean-Paul Roy added the gravy.
Since then, it has been featured in local restaurants and is gaining popularity around the world. “What Poutine did in 50 years, it took 110 years for pizza,” Charlebois said in a telephone interview.
He agrees that something should be done to “formulate” the poutine he describes as the first dish to be “true Canadian.” However, he prefers an approach that seeks to recognize the origin of poutine rather than trademarking it.
He states that a protective approach will create more bureaucracy and regulation, overlooking the fact that one of the main attractions of cooking is its flexibility and the ability to be customized to all tastes. He proposes that Canada follow France’s initiative instead. France has submitted a proposal to UNESCO to recognize the baguette as a symbol of intangible cultural heritage.
He said a similar designation for Poutine would help celebrate its heritage, ingredients such as cheese curd, and its unique story.
“It’s a country story, and you rarely see food made in a small village that becomes world-famous,” he said.
Morgan Raleigh
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