Experiencing the taste of home in an unexpected place is an amazing feeling. Like when you meet someone and find out y’all share a middle name, or have pictures of you vacationing in the same spot, at the same time, 20 years ago, or some other arbitrary sameness that makes you feel incredibility connected to the magic in the world.
Poutine
Poutine is a hot mess of goodness! French fries, gravy and cheese curds were my lunch staple for… well until I moved to south and just couldn’t find it anymore.
Legend has it, that poutine was invented in Quebec, Canada in the 50’s when a trucker driver asked for cheese curds on his fries and gravy. The owner complied to the request and said “Ça va faire une maudite poutine,” or, “That’s going to make a dreadful mess.”
A Taste of Home
Imagine going out one night for dinner and seeing a favorite dish from home on the menu. And when you take a bite you are pleasantly surprised to be experiencing a delicious taste that reminds you of everything you love about where you are from. But you’re not there, you are 2000 miles and one left turn away. And yet the smell, the feel, the taste – it is all there – on a plate in front of you.
These are the little things that you have to let go of when you move to a new country. Your comfort food. Even if I could find all the ingredients (which I could not for 15 years) I could never make it taste like home.
But then, it happened! Poutine migrated south 🙂
I ordered Poutine here in Atlanta AND it tasted like home. It did have an added feature of brisket – I’m all about the fusion.
Over the last few years I have seen poutine on a few menus, but it has never tasted this much like home. And I started thinking about all the ways we connect with where we are from. And how food is such a big part of that. These recipes connect us across time and generations and make great legacy projects.
Have you explored what tastes like home to you?
Blueskies,
Tami Lynn