Canadian Retail Thread

[Acajack]

Originally Posted by WhipperSnapper

You have an obsessive compulsion on such subject matter. You make up the vast majority of my experience on the subject and I lived in Hull for some time and traveled to Montreal every other weekend. Your opinions based on personal experiences can by no means be considered scientific.

English Canada is a historic melting pot for many European cultures. It should be less homogeneous comparably than the stronger, established French Canadian culture. However, urbandreamer is bang on the impression I get.

I don't claim to be presenting anything scientific, but I do think that there is a reason when the feds wanted to ban unpasteurized raw milk cheese some years, it's in Quebec (and nowhere else) that it provoked a political crisis.

(And here I thought you and I were friends now? )

[Acajack]

Originally Posted by urbandreamer

I could stereotype the French Canadians I knew and saw around Montreal as: flashy, smokers, junk food and cheap beer/wine drinking, sexually liberal yet insular socially backward people (hatred of English, Protestant, "square" ROC.) When really they're describing 1950s lower class Scots-Irish culture! (Today mostly found in rural Ontario and Western Canada.)

OK so I say that English speaking and French speaking Canadians can sometimes have different attitudes towards food, and this is the green light to trot out borderline racist or at least prejudiced tropes?

Seriously, guys?

[urbandreamer]

I mostly knew working class Montreal. I worked with many Portuguese, Italian, Haitian and South Shore Quebecois, having many interesting and controversial conversations which opened all of our eyes to the reality of the cultural, political and media elite in Quebec controlling the agenda of division and hatred.

[Acajack]

Originally Posted by urbandreamer

I mostly knew working class Montreal. I worked with many Portuguese, Italian, Haitian and South Shore Quebecois, having many interesting and controversial conversations which opened all of our eyes to the reality of the cultural, political and media elite in Quebec controlling the agenda of division and hatred.

Anyway, back to food which is at least somewhat related to retail business...

Most people I know* who like their steaks well done (no blood tolerated on the plate) or would never eat snails, actually think their food preferences are better. They don't have any insecurities about them.

*Includes both ROCers and Québécois BTW, though the proportions do lean more in one direction.

[urbandreamer]

^Less risky perhaps. Look at the houses and cars most people own: grey, silver, white, black and beige.

Do you drink the same beer, like I recall many coworkers doing - "only Coors Lite" or a "real" beer like Canadian lol. (Living in Montreal got me into drinking, probably messing up my esophagus ha. I do miss the corner store culture although realize its dangers.)

Remember, ROC has many non-Anglo cultures who eat bland diets: Polish, Ukrainian, German and Dutch for example. This is where the Quebecois really miss the point, kind of like Mennonites talking about the "English."

[Acajack]

Originally Posted by urbandreamer

^Less risky perhaps. Look at the houses and cars most people own: grey, silver, white, black and beige.
"

You probably don't want to hear about what clothing retailers do then...

[WhipperSnapper]

We're still buddies.

Restaurants are just a poor reflection. French cuisine was the dominant cuisine throughout much of the 20th century in North American. IIRC, it wasn't until post WW2 that a diversity of cuisines became mainstream including faves like pasta and pizza. That early history is still influential today. It's not hard finding snails in sauce anywhere.

Re: Pasteurized milk.

I don't know. Perhaps Ford brushed past someone that day occupying the full attention of the Toronto media.

My kid has a milk allergy. For that reason, I've read my share of googled material over the years. I don't know what is truth or not however, the jist of what I've read concerning milk production is that pasteurization is one of the lesser things to worry about. This encompasses the degradation of the quality with more efficient mass production in tandem with the milk lobby getting reduced standards passed and the cruelty to the animals.

[urbandreamer]

The Dairy Farmers of Ontario is a powerful lobbyist for maintaining status quo; any small change like unpasteurized milk (I grew up drinking this fresh from our Mennonite neighbour's dairy) which could threaten their authority - say it kills someone and less people drink milk for example.

I miss seeing stylish well-dressed attractive women of all ages like I got used to in Montreal. I wonder if the built form and residential architecture contributes to this better relationship between style, color and design?

[WhipperSnapper]

Cows need to give birth to produce milk.

Moma cow is impregnated in the factory
Moma cow gives birth in the factory
Moma cow sees newborn calf taken away to never be seen again.
Moma cow is hook up to a machine for up to 2 years
The process repeats.

Any parent putting themselves in moma cow's hoofs would be devastated. Moma cow is a mom first and foremost. She feels that loss. It would implode the milk industry if people gave it some thought. I didn't think about it myself. I did know chocolate milk doesn't come from brown cows like many Americans believe.

Again, my child has a milk allergy so, naturally, it has come to my attention that milk products end up in the most obscure things. Why does a wax candle need to have milk in ti? That's the power of the lobby and industry.

[kwoldtimer]

Originally Posted by urbandreamer

I find Ottawa is very Scottish/Scots-Irish. The upper class English culture I'm thinking of really only exists on Vancouver Island, parts of Vancouver and along the Yonge corridor of Toronto, possibly parts of London. The other thing most outsiders (French Canadians, lower class and newish Canadians) don't understand is upper class English/Scottish Canadians are very reserved. We're not bragging about our culture like you see Italians doing for example.

More invisible than "reserved" since multiculturalism became the norm. It's an interesting thing that I've never seen much comment on.

[niwell]

Originally Posted by Acajack

Are you familiar, besides steak, with salmon, tuna, prosciutto, lobster, shrimp, etc. tartares?

Not sure if it means anything by the last time I had escargots it was in a Japanese restaurant.

Had lots of seafood tartares but not sure I’ve had prosciutto in one. Sounds delicious though. Also a big fan of ceviche and poke (particularly in Hawaii).

Interesting about escargot in a Japanese place - I know there can be a lot of French influence in contemporary Japanese cuisine. I actually had it a fair bit as a kid as we often made it for “fancy meals”. Also when in French Caribbean islands for vacation. All weird stuff for a kid who did not grow up rich other than vacation destinations (opposed to a university fund!)

[Djeffery]

Originally Posted by WhipperSnapper

I prefer Pizza Nova and Papa John's over the other chains

We have a couple Pizza Nova locations in London, I really should give them a shot one of these weeks. Also, they have one of the best commercials jingles going, sung by Zappacosta.

• Video Link

[SpongeG]

Originally Posted by WhipperSnapper

We're still buddies.

Restaurants are just a poor reflection. French cuisine was the dominant cuisine throughout much of the 20th century in North American. IIRC, it wasn't until post WW2 that a diversity of cuisines became mainstream including faves like pasta and pizza. That early history is still influential today. It's not hard finding snails in sauce anywhere.

Re: Pasteurized milk.

I don't know. Perhaps Ford brushed past someone that day occupying the full attention of the Toronto media.

My kid has a milk allergy. For that reason, I've read my share of googled material over the years. I don't know what is truth or not however, the jist of what I've read concerning milk production is that pasteurization is one of the lesser things to worry about. This encompasses the degradation of the quality with more efficient mass production in tandem with the milk lobby getting reduced standards passed and the cruelty to the animals.

when I was growing up my mom went through a phase where we would drive out to some farm and get milk from them, it was unpasteurized. All I remember is it was really thick and I didn't like it at all. But it had a thick layer of cream or something on top that she would have to separate from the milk.
Today I don't drink milk as I am lactose intolerant and avoid dairy as much as I can, but I sometimes get lactose-free milk I find it tastes too sweet and it's not that great. For tea, I use soy milk. I will sometimes have ice cream, as long as it's a good quality one I don't find it upsets me too much but really only a few times a year. I don't really have any issues with cheese, the varities I get contain no lactose due to the process.

[kwoldtimer]

Originally Posted by WhipperSnapper

We're still buddies.

Restaurants are just a poor reflection. French cuisine was the dominant cuisine throughout much of the 20th century in North American. IIRC, it wasn't until post WW2 that a diversity of cuisines became mainstream including faves like pasta and pizza. That early history is still influential today. It's not hard finding snails in sauce anywhere.

Re: Pasteurized milk.

I don't know. Perhaps Ford brushed past someone that day occupying the full attention of the Toronto media.

My kid has a milk allergy. For that reason, I've read my share of googled material over the years. I don't know what is truth or not however, the jist of what I've read concerning milk production is that pasteurization is one of the lesser things to worry about. This encompasses the degradation of the quality with more efficient mass production in tandem with the milk lobby getting reduced standards passed and the cruelty to the animals.

That would come as a surprise to the vast majority of North Americans. Unless you mean dominant "ethnic" cuisine, and even then I suspect it would have been Chinese.

[SpongeG]

in Culinary school you learn French cuisine style cooking, all the methods and such are based on French Cuisine, and most terminology used is French, Sous-Chef, Mise en place, mirepoix, sous vide, etc.

[urbandreamer]

SpongeG, I too felt the same way about fresh from the farm unpasteurized milk. It literally felt like I could taste the udders ugh. Then 13 years ago after avoiding dairy for ages, I got violently sick from a gourmet ice cream place. Now I just drink lactose free skim milk and eat low fat Greek yogurt, because it's an excellent source of calcium. (My first paid job as a kid was cleaning the neighbors dairy every morning with pressure washer, Ecolab foam etc. I still associate dairy with nasty cow shit.)

[Acajack]

Originally Posted by WhipperSnapper

We're still buddies.

Restaurants are just a poor reflection. French cuisine was the dominant cuisine throughout much of the 20th century in North American. IIRC, it wasn't until post WW2 that a diversity of cuisines became mainstream including faves like pasta and pizza. That early history is still influential today. It's not hard finding snails in sauce anywhere.

Re: Pasteurized milk.

I don't know. Perhaps Ford brushed past someone that day occupying the full attention of the Toronto media.

My kid has a milk allergy. For that reason, I've read my share of googled material over the years. I don't know what is truth or not however, the jist of what I've read concerning milk production is that pasteurization is one of the lesser things to worry about. This encompasses the degradation of the quality with more efficient mass production in tandem with the milk lobby getting reduced standards passed and the cruelty to the animals.

Not sure of your details but one of my kids had a really bad lactose intolerance and it actually went away on its own.

Hope that happens to you.

[Denscity]

Former Sears space in Capilano mall in North Vancouver will become an indoor bike park.
That's one way to take up large unused retail space.

[esquire]

Originally Posted by urbandreamer

Then 13 years ago after avoiding dairy for ages, I got violently sick from a gourmet ice cream place.

Bad memories of my summer vacation in the Maritimes... my wife kept buying the kids Cows Ice Cream, but that shit is thick. On the last night, my poor daughter ralphed up her cotton candy ice cream all over the carpet en route to the bathroom. It was fun trying to clean that up in the middle of the night with a roll of paper towels.

In case anyone from the Downtown Halifax Courtyard Hotel is reading this, I sincerely apologize for the mess

[casper]

Originally Posted by Acajack

Not sure of your details but one of my kids had a really bad lactose intolerance and it actually went away on its own.

Hope that happens to you.

Some think it is genetic others think it is more conditioning. Lactose is tolerated more by people in Northern Europe than southern Europe.

That makes sense, Northern European cooking makes more use of milk and butter, southern European cooking makes more use of olive oil. Italian dishes with things like Alfreto sauce don't exist in Italy. The reason in a place like Italy it is customary to not server Cappuccino and Latte after noon. A half cup of milk is about as much as most people can tolerate in a day.

Then Asia and Africa people are even more lactose intolerant.

There are different maps on the web:
https://vividmaps.com/lactose-intolerance/
https://www.reddit.com/r/MapPorn/com...ntolerance_by/