This text is part of the special book Plaisirs
Each region of La Belle Province has a particular culinary and agri-food heritage. Tour de table of some historical facts that have given each corner of Quebec a unique flavor, sometimes leaving traces.
01 – Bas-Saint-Laurent
Millennia before the arrival of Europeans, natives fished, smoked and dried eel each fall. The settlers who settled more permanently along the river from the 18e century fished it first to survive the winters, then commercially. This practice is now closely regulated to protect the fragile species.
02 – Saguenay–Lac-Saint-Jean
In 1870, the Great Fire ravaged 3800 km2 of land and forests in this immense region of Quebec. The tragedy favors the expansion of the wild blueberry, which has difficulty growing when too many trees compete with it. After a fire, on the other hand, the blueberry is one of the first plants to take root in soil that the ashes of the trees have enriched with minerals. Berry picking generates significant income for this territory. Blueberry farms, canneries and freezing plants quickly set up there; there are still many of them today.
03 – Capitale-Nationale
Lamb from Charlevoix was the subject of the very first protected geographical indication (PGI) in Quebec, in 2009. To earn their certification, lambs must be born and grow up in a sheepfold in this region and eat barley, oats and local fodder, without corn inputs.
04 – Mauricie
What do Teddy Roosevelt, Winston Churchill and certain members of the illustrious Kennedy, Molson and Rockefeller families have in common? All these fine people caught fish at the seigneury of Triton, in Mauricie, during the 19e and XXe centuries. Provincial leader in outfitting, the region remains an El Dorado for hunters and anglers.
05 – Estrie
In 1979, the Sanders farm, located in Compton, in the Eastern Townships, obtained the very first organic certification in the province. The company still grows organic fruits and vegetables on 60 acres of land today. Currently, Quebec has nearly 2,900 certified agricultural businesses.
06 – Montreal
It was Jewish immigrants from Eastern Europe who made the first Montreal bagels in the early 20th century.e century. The two best-known bakeries, Fairmount Bagel and St-Viateur Bagel, have been vying for the title of best traditional bagel for six decades, hand-rolled, blanched in honey-sweetened water and baked in a wood-fired oven.
07 – Outaouais
In the 19the century, successive waves of Anglo-Saxon immigration mark the culinary heritage of the region. The Scots popularize smoked fish and soups thickened with barley and oats; the Irish prefer potatoes and boiled beef; and the British imported curry and pudding from Yorkshire.
08 – Abitibi-Temiscamingue
The mines attract immigrants from all over the world to Abitibi. During the 1930s, Poles, Finns, Norwegians, Ukrainians, Italians and Germans rubbed shoulders with French and English Canadians. In Rouyn-Noranda, people eat borscht, cabbage rolls, pierogis (potato ravioli), buckwheat, sheep’s cheese, wild mushrooms and moose with cranberry jam.
09 – North Shore
In the 1990s, the world’s largest cod stock collapsed on Canada’s east coast due to overfishing. In 1992, a moratorium on commercial cod fishing was imposed by the federal government. This affects thousands of North Coasters. Thirty years later, the species is still in a critical situation, and a new moratorium is imposed.
10 – Northern Quebec
Woodland caribou have always been central to the northern Aboriginal way of life. Its meat, blood, bones, antlers, fat and coat: all parts of the animal are used. However, declining populations threaten this traditional hunt.
11 – Gaspésie–Îles-de-la-Madeleine
Seals, or seals, have been hunted for centuries in the Magdalen Islands. However, the techniques used to kill seal pups had a very bad press from the 1960s, which strongly harmed the commercial practice of this type of hunting. The inhabitants are now trying to revive it to take advantage of this abundant and sustainable resource.
12 – Chaudière-Appalaches
From the earliest days of New France, farmers settled in the fertile lands south of Quebec. Over the centuries, the region has risen to the top of several charts: today there are the largest number of dairy producers in the province, the highest concentration of maple syrup producers and the largest share of young farmers.
13-Laval
During the first half of the twentiethe century, Île Jésus was an important center of poultry production. In 1953, the Pont-Viau Cooperative Hatchery even won the award for being the largest producer of eggs and chicks in the province. However, faced with the galloping urbanization that Laval experienced during the following decades, the industry declined rapidly.
14 – Lanaudiere
The Savignac pear and the Savignac pink tomato, two heritage varieties, owe their name to Brother Armand Savignac. A pioneer of organic farming, he planted hundreds of species of vines and conducted horticultural research in the garden of the Clercs de Saint-Viateur, in Joliette, during the 1940s.
15 – Laurentians
Faced with the exodus of French Canadians to the United States, priest Antoine Labelle made the agricultural colonization of the Laurentians the goal of a lifetime. Despite mixed success—the lands in this region were poor—he was appointed Deputy Commissioner of Agriculture and Colonization for Quebec in 1888. This made him the first priest to hold a ministerial post.
16 – Monteregie
The apple-growing heart of Quebec, the Montérégie is the region where ice cider was born. In 1998, the hidden face of the apple orchard in Hemmingford was the first to market this sweet cider obtained thanks to the freezing cold of Quebec winters, which concentrates the sugars in the juice.
17 – Centre-du-Quebec
Poutine was invented in Drummondville in 1957. Jean-Paul Roy, of Roy Jucep, was the first to serve his fries with cheese curds and gravy. The snack bar now offers some thirty variations of this typical Quebec dish.
This text is taken from the most recent issue of Caribou which relates to the regions.
This content was produced by the Special Publications team of the Duty, relating to marketing. The drafting of Duty did not take part.