{"id":3432,"date":"2013-04-20T11:46:24","date_gmt":"2013-04-20T15:46:24","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.northcountrypublicradio.org\/allin\/?p=3432"},"modified":"2013-04-19T12:24:49","modified_gmt":"2013-04-19T16:24:49","slug":"me-encanta-poutine-pero-que-es-tourtiere","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.northcountrypublicradio.org\/allin\/2013\/04\/20\/me-encanta-poutine-pero-que-es-tourtiere\/","title":{"rendered":"\u00a1Me encanta poutine! Pero \u00bfqu\u00e9 es tourti\u00e8re?"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/a>

Image from Ag Canada info bulletin<\/a>\u00a0on the”Canada Brand” program<\/p><\/div>\n

Food is hot. And effective marketing can make or break whole industries. But not every effort in that direction pans out.<\/p>\n

At least, that’s the view on one such promotional pitch, as reported by the National Post: “Ottawa sets up taxpayer-funded food truck in Mexico to promote Canadian cuisine (whatever that means)<\/a>”<\/p>\n

Canada has wonderful produce – and enjoys good food – but does Canada have a defined cuisine? As the Post article reports, some think this approach is wrong-headed:<\/p>\n

David McMillan, co-owner of renowned Montreal restaurant Joe Beef, is tired of the trying.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis whole \u2018Canadian music, Canadian art, Canadian wine\u2019 [thing] has to stop. It\u2019s just ridiculous. All the time, it\u2019s like everyone\u2019s financed by insecurity and the CBC. It\u2019s true, it\u2019s a joke. We have to stop thinking that way.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

As the Post recounts – apart from very, very specific regional products – McMillan is among those who think food is bigger than borders. Marketers may need to think in terms of\u00a0“shared identity” like “Pacific Northwest Cuisine”. \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Another expert in the Post story also took a dim view:<\/span><\/p>\n

John Higgins, director of Toronto\u2019s George Brown Chef School, feels attempts like the Canadian government\u2019s in Mexico City \u2013 the Agriculture Canada initiative is costing $50,000 \u2013 are well intentioned but a little bit lacking on execution, not exactly showcasing what Canadian food really is.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s embarrassing,\u201d he said. \u201dThe thing is, we\u2019ve got a wonderful country and all we can do is French fries?\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

According to this CBC article this is a three-week pilot project<\/a> running from April 10- 28. It (or something similar) could return, depending on the response. The truck is “operated by Mexican chef Jos\u00e9 Carlos Redon with the help of celebrity chef Jorge Valencia”. CBC host Robyn Bresnahan \u00a0interviewed Valencia for “Ottawa Morning” earlier this month, that archived audio\u00a0can be heard here<\/a>.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

A promotional announcemen<\/a>t describing this aspect of “Canada Brand’ outreach by Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada was issued on April 2nd. Here’s the menu it described:<\/p>\n

The food truck will offer an appetizer, main dish, dessert and drink.<\/p>\n

The special Canadian menu has a tasty array of Canadian agricultural products. It starts with a choice of either poutine a la Mexicana or a hardy lentil salad. The poutine features crisp Canadian French fries with melted Oaxaque\u00f1o cheese from Mexico–a fusion of two classic ingredients from two countries into one dish. The lentil salad will be crisp and fresh, perfect for a hot afternoon.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Jokes aside, it is an interesting topic.\u00a0<\/span>Farmers, grocers,\u00a0<\/span><\/span>restauranteurs, cooks and householders all want to know what’s good and what new thing (or old classic) they might want to try.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

And hey! If Mexico sends a food truck to Ottawa pitching Mexican food, I’ll be first in line.<\/p>\n

Does Canadian cuisine mean anything to you? What would have to happen to enhance that perception?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Food is hot. And effective marketing can make or break whole industries. But not every […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[11629,880,36,11628,444,11627],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.northcountrypublicradio.org\/allin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3432"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.northcountrypublicradio.org\/allin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.northcountrypublicradio.org\/allin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.northcountrypublicradio.org\/allin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.northcountrypublicradio.org\/allin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3432"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.northcountrypublicradio.org\/allin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3432\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3466,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.northcountrypublicradio.org\/allin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3432\/revisions\/3466"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.northcountrypublicradio.org\/allin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3432"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.northcountrypublicradio.org\/allin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3432"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.northcountrypublicradio.org\/allin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3432"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}