This text is part of the special book Plaisirs
By offering an ultra-local and vegan version of the monument to Quebec culinary culture that is the sugar shack, the Cabane à tuque, in Mont-Tremblant, proves that traditions are not immutable and can be enriched by new approaches.
La Cabane à tuque was born from the will of Simon Meloche Goulet, a market gardener who became a maple syrup producer and restaurateur a few months a year. A convinced ecologist, he wanted to “share [son] way of life” around a unifying activity.
“I have been a vegetarian since I was a teenager, I try to be zero waste, to eat as locally as possible. My menu reflects all of that. The vegan side of the company stands out, but what I’m most proud of is that there are no ingredients that come from the grocery store, apart from salt and millet. Through my menu, it’s my little community that I discover. »
On his table, the vegetables served come from his farm, the boreal spices, the mushrooms and, of course, the maple syrup are harvested in the surrounding forest. The essential potatoes go a little further: they grow on the land of a friend, eight big kilometers away. For foods that come from a little further afield, such as miso, produced in the Eastern Townships, Simon recalls the path they have traveled by recording the number of kilometers traveled on the menu. A way for the friendly thirty-something to prove that veganism can also rhyme with locavorism.
“I am proud to show that it is possible to eat [sainement et localement]. There is a false belief that local veganism cannot exist in Quebec. It’s wrong, we can find [dans les aliments locaux] everything we need,” says Simon Meloche Goulet.
“Beyond veganism, I am for locavorism, he adds. It makes more sense to eat what comes from my backyard than to have a Californian diet with avocados that grow thousands of miles away in conditions that we don’t know. The closer we get to the food, the more we see the effort behind it and the more we treat it with respect. »
new tastes
Those familiar with the sugaring-off season will therefore not be disoriented since the menu at the Cabane à tuque follows its main lines, with friendly nods to tradition: pea soup, cretons (vegan), hash browns, “pas de lard” broad beans (the bacon is replaced by dehydrated vegetables and onions), meat pies (with millet) and buckwheat pancakes.
The ears of crisse have become ears of Buddha (dehydrated pieces of butternut squash), the eggs are replaced by “temp’oeuf”, a homemade tempeh with yellow peas, and the chômeur pudding is spiced up withamazake, a plant-based yogurt. The author of these lines can confirm that this meatless formula is very successful and provides as much satisfaction as a traditional menu.
“In general, people who arrive with a certain curiosity leave with new knowledge about lots of new products and different flavors,” explains the maple syrup producer. But a lot [de goûts] are very similar. »
The success of the Cabane à tuque, which will mark its seventh sugaring season this year, proves that there is a demand for an alternative to the traditional meal. From the opening, in 2016, the experience was crowned with success.
“We quickly became popular because there were no options for vegetarians during sugaring-off time,” explains the entrepreneur, who points out that his clientele also includes a lot of omnivores.
Keeper of tradition
The ecological concern of the Cabane à toque does not stop at the food served. On site, the only plastic is in the dishes that customers are invited to use to bring back their leftovers and avoid waste. Maple sap is harvested not with pipes, but the old-fashioned way, one boiler at a time, by customers or friends. The water is then boiled over a wood-fired fire.
“We are probably in the last sugar shacks to use the traditional method, both in harvesting and in the production of syrup,” says Simon Meloche Goulet.
Paradoxically, the Cabane à tuque is very similar to the sugar shacks of “old times”!
The concept of a family business is also taken to a higher level since customers are welcomed into Simon’s house, which he shares with his wife and two young daughters, who are often present at receptions. A welcoming and warm house that he built according to the principles of ecological construction, capable of receiving small groups of 20 to 40 people.
Like what traditions do not die while being transformed, but improve.
La Cabane à tuque, 370, Montée Fortier, Mont-Tremblant. By reservation only.
This special content was produced by the Special Publications team of the Duty, relating to marketing. The drafting of Duty did not take part.