Poutine (pronunciation in IPA as heard in Quebec French [puʦɪn] — listen to it in .wav format) is a dish consisting of French fries topped with fresh cheese curds and covered with hot gravy (usually brown gravy) and sometimes other additional ingredients. The curds' freshness is important as it makes them soft in the warm fries, without completely melting. It is a quintessential Canadian comfort food, especially but not exclusively among Québécois.
Poutine is a fast food staple in Canada; it is sold by many fast food chains (such as New York Fries and Harvey's) in the provinces, in small diners and pubs, as well as by roadside "poutine trucks" and "fries stands". International chains like McDonalds, A&W, Kentucky Fried Chicken and Burger King also sell mass-produced poutine across Canada, especially in Quebec. Popular Quebec restaurants that serve poutine include Chez Ashton, Lafleur Restaurants, La Belle Province and Dic Ann's Hamburgers. Along with fries and pizza, poutine is a very common dish sold and eaten in high school cafeterias in southern Ontario. It's also a very popular meal at ski resorts.
The dish originated in rural Quebec, Canada in the late 1950s and is now popular in parts of the country. Several Québécois communities claim to be the origin of poutine, including Drummondville (by Jean-Paul Roy), Saint-Jean-sur-Richelieu, and Victoriaville. [citation needed] The most popular tale is the one of Fernand Lachance, from Warwick, Quebec, which claims that poutine was invented in 1957,[1] when a customer ordered fries while waiting for his cheese curds from the Kingsey cheese factory in Kingsey Falls (now in Warwick and bought by Saputo). Lachance is said to have exclaimed ça va faire une maudite poutine ("it will make a hell of a mess"), hence the name. The gravy was allegedly added later, to keep the fries warm longer. Linguists have found no occurrence of the word poutine with this meaning earlier than 1978.
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