What are the traditional foods of Manitoba?

Answer 1

The traditional foods of Manitoba would be reflective of the foods of the people living in this plains area of Canada and of the available food sources. Central to this would be traditional foods of the First Nations (Native Peoples) who continue to have much influence and prevalence in the culture in that area of Canada. Examples of these foods would be:

• Bison
• Game meats
• Fish
• Grains
• Wild Fruits

The meats and fish would often be prepared smoked and grilled. Lake Winnipeg provides some excellent fish like Pickerel and Goldeneye (a special treat of the area), again traditionally smoked. The Bison is also roasted and made into delicious stew.

Grains include wild rice and rye grains for rye breads. Other bread specialties from Manitoba include Bannock, a flat bread traditionally cooked over open fire. It was brought to the area by fur traders.

Other imported traditional foods came with immigrants to the area and have woven into the local traditional foods, some of those cultures include:

• Eastern Europeans
• French-Canadians
  
• Icelanders
• Asians
  

Some of the Eastern European foods (a high Ukraine influence) are borscht, holopchi (cabbage rolls), garlic sausage, and pierogies.

The French-Canadians (called Franco-Manitobains) have incorporated wonderful recipes like pea soup, sugar pie, tourtiere, and French creme brulee.

Many Icelandic recipes also are traditional, one of the more loved is vinarterta. This dessert consists of thin cake layers sandwiched together with a cardamom-scented prune filling.

Asians make up 11% of the Canadian population, some have been there since beginning in the 19th Century when many came to work on the Canadian Pacific Railway, and others arriving more recently to make up the largest minority group in Canada. The Asian cultures represented include Japanese, Chinese, Indian, Vietnamese, Indo-Chinese, Korean, and Filipino. The foods are as varied as the Asian cultures represented. With the wonderful fresh fish, fish dishes and sushi are favorites but traditional dishes from each of these Asian groups are appreciated throughout Manitoba and have become a part of traditional Manitoba foods.