Poutine - the quintessential Canadian comfort food

very tasty artery clogger

Poutine is a dish consisting of French fries topped with fresh cheese curds, covered with brown gravy and sometimes additional ingredients.

Poutine is a fast food staple in Canada; it is sold by many fast food chains in most provinces, in small diners and pubs, as well as by roadside “poutine trucks” and “fries stands,” commonly known as “cantines” or “casse-croûtes” in Quebec. International chains like McDonald’s, A&W, KFC and Burger King also sell  poutine across Canada. Along with fries and pizza, poutine is a very common dish sold and eaten in high school cafeterias in various parts of Canada.

The dish originated in rural Quebec, Canada, in the late 1950s and is now popular in many parts of the country. Several Québécois communities claim to be the birthplace of poutine, including Drummondville, Saint-Jean-sur-Richelieu, and Victoriaville. One often-cited tale is that of Fernand Lachance, from Warwick, Quebec, which claims that poutine was invented in 1957, when a customer ordered fries while waiting for his cheese curds from the Kingsey cheese factory in Kingsey Falls (now in Warwick and owned by Saputo Incorporated). Lachance is said to have exclaimed ça va faire une maudite poutine (”it will make a damn mess”), hence the name. The sauce was allegedly added later, to keep the fries warm longer.

Preceding text, shamelessly stolen from wikipedia.