Food in Canada

How Canadians eat

Canadian food is regional first and national second. A Montrealer, a Newfoundlander and a Vancouverite will each give you a different answer to "what is Canadian food," and each will be right. The country's cooking comes from Indigenous foodways, French and British settlers, and waves of immigration that made Toronto and Vancouver two of the most varied places to eat in North America.

Day to day, eating in Canada will feel familiar. You will find the same chains, supermarkets and brunch culture you know from home. The differences show up in the details: fries with cheese curds and gravy, bacon that looks like ham, chocolate bars you have never seen, and menus in French across Quebec.

This page goes region by region, then covers the practical side: ordering, paying, tipping, taxes, groceries, dietary needs and the food calendar. For beer, wine, liquor laws and cannabis, see Drinks.

Eating times, ordering and paying

When people eat

Breakfast runs about 7 to 9 a.m., lunch from noon to 1:30 p.m., and dinner from 6 to 8 p.m. in most of the country. Montreal eats later, with 7:30 or 8 p.m. a normal dinner booking. In small towns and rural areas, kitchens can close by 8 or 9 p.m., and many independent restaurants close Mondays and often Tuesdays, which catches road-trippers out. Weekend brunch is a big deal in Montreal, Toronto and Vancouver, and the popular spots have lines by 10 a.m.

Reading a menu in Quebec

In Quebec, menus are in French first and sometimes only. Most Montreal servers switch to English easily; in Quebec City and the regions, a few words of French go a long way. See French for travelers for pronunciation.

Paying the bill

Your server will not bring the bill until you ask for it ("the bill, please," or l'addition, s'il vous plaît). Canadians say "bill" rather than "check." Ask for separate bills at the start if your group wants to split; servers handle this without fuss.

Payment happens at the table on a handheld card terminal, so your card rarely leaves your sight. Tap-to-pay is everywhere, and US Visa and Mastercard work fine. American Express is accepted at most mid-range and upscale places but not at every small café or casse-croûte (snack stand). Use a card with no foreign transaction fee, and always choose to pay in Canadian dollars when the terminal offers a choice. More in Money.

Taxes on the bill

Menu prices do not include sales tax, exactly as in the US. The tax added at the end depends on the province:

Tipping

Tipping works much as it does at home. At a sit-down restaurant, 15% is the floor for decent service and 18% to 20% is normal for good service. Tip bartenders a dollar or two per drink or 15% to 20% of the tab. At counters, coffee shops and takeout, tipping is optional, although the terminal will ask.

BYOB in Quebec

A sign reading Apportez votre vin ("bring your own wine") means the restaurant has no liquor license and welcomes you to bring a bottle. These places cluster on Montreal's Plateau, especially along Rue Prince-Arthur and Avenue Duluth, and range from casual Greek and Portuguese grills to serious French cooking. Most charge no corkage fee. Buy your bottle at an SAQ store, or a cheaper one at a dépanneur (corner store) or grocery store, before you arrive. Ontario also allows BYOB at licensed restaurants that opt in, but these usually charge a corkage fee, so call ahead.

Tap water is safe and free everywhere. You can ask for it without ordering bottled water.

Quebec: poutine, bagels, smoked meat and tourtière

Poutine

Poutine is fries topped with fresh cheese curds and hot brown gravy. It was born in rural Quebec diners in the late 1950s; several towns, including Warwick and Drummondville, claim it. Good poutine depends on three things: crisp fries, curds fresh enough to squeak against your teeth, and gravy hot enough to soften them without melting them into a puddle.

You can now get poutine across Canada, from Tim Hortons to fine-dining menus, but it is best in Quebec, where cheese curds (fromage en grains) are sold fresh daily. Look for variations: italienne with meat sauce, galvaude with chicken and peas, and smoked meat poutine in Montreal.

Montreal bagels

Montreal bagels are smaller, denser and slightly sweeter than New York bagels, with a bigger hole. The dough is hand-rolled, boiled in honey-sweetened water and baked in a wood-fired oven. Order sesame (the default) or poppy, and buy them hot by the dozen.

The two famous bakeries, St-Viateur and Fairmount, sit a few blocks apart in Mile End and both bake around the clock. Locals pick sides; you should try both. These are takeout bakeries: expect a counter, a paper bag and no seating to speak of.

Smoked meat

Montreal smoked meat is beef brisket cured with spices, smoked, then steamed and hand-sliced. It sits somewhere between pastrami and corned beef. Order a sandwich on rye with yellow mustard, ask for "medium" (the fat level between lean and fatty), and add fries and a pickle.

Quebec home cooking

Tourtière is a spiced meat pie, usually pork or a mix of pork, beef and veal, flavored with cinnamon and clove. It is the centerpiece of the Christmas Eve réveillon, but you will find it year-round at bakeries and in sugar shack meals. In the Saguenay–Lac-Saint-Jean region, tourtière is a deep-dish pie of cubed meats and potatoes.

Look also for pâté chinois (a layered beef, corn and potato dish similar to shepherd's pie), pea soup, cretons (a spiced pork spread eaten on toast), fèves au lard (baked beans), tarte au sucre (sugar pie) and pouding chômeur, a cake baked in maple or brown sugar syrup. Quebec also makes excellent cheese, from Oka to small-farm raw-milk cheeses sold at markets.

Montreal's public markets are the best single stop for Quebec food. Jean-Talon Market in Little Italy is open year-round, with produce stands, cheese shops, maple vendors and butchers. Atwater Market near the Lachine Canal is smaller and good for a picnic. In 2025, Michelin began rating restaurants in Quebec, so fine-dining reservations in Montreal and Quebec City now fill faster.

Sugar shacks and maple season

Quebec makes most of the world's maple syrup, and the season is one of the best reasons to visit in early spring. Sap runs when nights drop below freezing and days climb above it, typically March into April. During that window, sugar shacks (cabanes à sucre) open their dining halls for long, loud, all-you-can-eat meals.

What you eat

A traditional sugar shack meal is a parade of farmhouse dishes, with maple syrup poured over everything: pea soup, baked beans, ham, sausages, tourtière, a fluffy oven omelet, crispy fried pork rinds, potatoes and pancakes, then sugar pie. The finale is tire sur la neige, maple taffy: hot syrup poured onto clean snow and rolled up on a wooden stick. Many shacks add sleigh or wagon rides, music and a walk through the sugar bush.

Where to go

In the 2026 season, adult prices at well-known shacks ran from about C$69 (about $50) to C$100 (about $70), plus tax and tip, with cheaper kids' menus. Simpler family-run shacks and those near Quebec City and on Île d'Orléans (see Quebec City) are often more modest. Several now offer vegetarian, vegan or gluten-free menus if you book ahead, and some are BYOB.

Maple outside Quebec, and taking it home

Ontario, New Brunswick and Nova Scotia have sugar bushes too. Ontario's Elmira Maple Syrup Festival, usually on a Saturday in early spring, is one of the largest one-day maple events anywhere. Check the festival's site for the date.

Canadian syrup is graded the same way as in the US now, as Grade A in four color classes from golden (delicate) to very dark (strong). Look also for maple butter (beurre d'érable or crème d'érable), maple sugar and maple taffy. Syrup is fine to bring home through US customs; declare it with your other food. See Shopping and US customs.

Ontario: peameal bacon, butter tarts and a global table

Peameal bacon

What Americans call "Canadian bacon" is a cousin of what Canadians call back bacon. Ontario's version, peameal bacon, is lean pork loin cured in brine and rolled in cornmeal (originally ground yellow peas, hence the name). The classic Toronto way to eat it is a peameal bacon sandwich: thick slices griddled and piled on a soft bun with mustard.

The best-known version is at Carousel Bakery in the St. Lawrence Market's South Market building. The market is closed Mondays and gets crowded on Saturday mornings, when the farmers' market adds to the bustle. See Toronto for more.

Butter tarts

The butter tart is a small pastry shell filled with butter, sugar, syrup and egg, baked until the top crackles and the middle stays gooey. Canadians argue about whether the filling should be runny or firm and whether raisins belong (pecans are the other common add-in). You will find them at bakeries across Ontario cottage country and in small towns along any road trip.

Several Ontario regions, including the Kawarthas and Northumberland, publish self-guided butter tart trails, and Midland on Georgian Bay holds a butter tart festival, usually in June. See Ontario beyond Toronto and Road trips.

Toronto's global food

About half of Toronto's residents were born outside Canada, and the food reflects it. Michelin has rated the city since 2022, but the best eating is often in strip-mall restaurants in the suburbs.

• Chinese: Chinatown on Spadina Avenue downtown, and Markham and Richmond Hill to the north for Cantonese dim sum, Hong Kong cafés and Sichuan.
• South Asian: the Gerrard India Bazaar in the east end, and Mississauga and Brampton for Punjabi and Pakistani food. Scarborough is strong for Sri Lankan, Tamil and Hakka Chinese food.
• Caribbean: Jamaican patties are sold almost everywhere, and roti shops (Trinidadian and Guyanese) are common in the west end and Scarborough.
• Others: Koreatown on Bloor Street West, Greektown on the Danforth, Little Portugal and Little Italy along Dundas and College, and Kensington Market for a mix of everything.

Ottawa

Ottawa's sweet is the BeaverTail, a hand-stretched fried pastry topped with cinnamon sugar and lemon, sold at the ByWard Market and on the Rideau Canal skating rink in winter. The city also has a serious shawarma culture, thanks to its large Lebanese community. See Ottawa.

Atlantic Canada: lobster, scallops, donairs and cod

Lobster

Lobster is the signature food of the Maritimes, and it costs less here than almost anywhere in the US. Fishing seasons are set by area and staggered across the year, so some part of the region is landing lobster most months. Southwestern Nova Scotia's big season runs through the winter and spring; Prince Edward Island and the Northumberland Strait have spring and late-summer to fall seasons. Summer travelers will find lobster on every menu either way.

Ways to eat it:

• Lobster suppers: a PEI tradition of long communal tables, a whole boiled lobster, chowder, mussels, salad and pie. New Glasgow Lobster Suppers has served them since 1958 and opens for the summer and fall season. See PEI and New Brunswick.
• Lobster rolls: Maritime rolls are usually cold lobster with a little mayo in a toasted hot dog bun.
• Straight off the wharf: many fishing towns have seafood shops that sell cooked lobster by the pound to eat at a picnic table.

Shediac, New Brunswick, calls itself the lobster capital of the world, with a giant lobster sculpture and a lobster festival in July. Market prices change by the week, so check the board when you order.

Scallops and oysters

Digby, on Nova Scotia's Bay of Fundy shore, is home to one of the world's largest inshore scallop fleets. Order them pan-seared or wrapped in bacon at the waterfront restaurants. Digby Scallop Days, usually in August, celebrates the fleet. See Nova Scotia.

Prince Edward Island oysters, especially Malpeque, are some of the best known in North America, and the Tyne Valley Oyster Festival is a summer fixture. PEI's farmed blue mussels are cheap and excellent everywhere in the region. New Brunswick and Nova Scotia's Eastern Shore add their own oysters.

The Halifax donair

The donair is Halifax's late-night food: spiced ground beef shaved from a vertical spit, wrapped in a pita with tomatoes and onions and a sweet garlic sauce made from evaporated milk, sugar and vinegar. It was adapted from Greek gyros in the early 1970s, and the city named it Halifax's official food in 2015. Expect it to be messy. You will also find donair pizza, donair egg rolls and donair poutine.

More Maritime food

• Seafood chowder on every menu, best with fresh haddock and scallops.
• Acadian dishes in New Brunswick and Nova Scotia: poutine râpée (a boiled grated-potato dumpling with pork inside, unrelated to Quebec poutine), fricot (chicken stew) and rappie pie (a grated-potato casserole).
• Wild blueberries in late summer, and Annapolis Valley apples in fall.
• Fiddleheads (young fern shoots) in May and June in New Brunswick, and dulse (dried seaweed) from Grand Manan.
• COWS ice cream, a PEI company with shops in Charlottetown and around the region.

Newfoundland: cod, jiggs dinner and toutons

Newfoundland's food grew from fishing outports and long winters, and it tastes like nowhere else in Canada. Cod is still the center of it. Ottawa ended the 32-year moratorium on the commercial northern cod fishery in 2024, though catches remain small and controlled.

• Fish and chips: usually cod, often served with "dressing" (a sage and bread stuffing) and gravy.
• Cod tongues: the soft throat meat, battered and fried, often with scrunchions (crisp fried salt pork bits).
• Fish and brewis: salt cod and soaked hard bread with scrunchions, a traditional breakfast.
• Jiggs dinner: the Sunday boiled dinner of salt beef, cabbage, turnip, carrots and potatoes, with pease pudding and often figgy duff (a steamed raisin pudding).
• Toutons: fried bread dough with molasses or butter, a breakfast staple.
• Moose and wild berries: moose burgers and stews appear on menus, along with partridgeberry and bakeapple (cloudberry) desserts and jams.

St. John's has an outsized restaurant scene for a city its size, from fish-and-chip shops to modern Newfoundland tasting menus. Outport restaurants along the coast are seasonal, so check that places are open if you travel before June or after September. See Newfoundland, and Drinks for screech.

British Columbia: salmon, spot prawns and Asian food

Pacific salmon and seafood

BC has five species of wild Pacific salmon: sockeye, chinook (also called spring or king), coho, pink and chum. Wild salmon is best in summer and early fall. Order sockeye or chinook when you can, and try candied smoked salmon, a sticky, sweet, heavily smoked snack sold at Granville Island and seafood shops. Atlantic salmon on BC menus is farmed.

Look also for Dungeness crab, Pacific oysters from Vancouver Island, halibut and sablefish (sold as "black cod" and often served with a miso glaze).

Spot prawns

BC spot prawns are large, sweet shrimp caught in traps, and the fresh season lasts only about six to eight weeks from early or mid-May. During the season, you can buy them live off the boats at False Creek Fishermen's Wharf in Vancouver and at Steveston's Fishermen's Wharf in Richmond. Vancouver's Spot Prawn Festival at False Creek, usually in May, adds cooking demos and a prawn feast. Outside the season, you will find frozen-at-sea spot prawns, which are also good.

Chinese and Japanese food in Vancouver

Metro Vancouver has some of the best Chinese food outside Asia. Head to Richmond, a 25-minute SkyTrain ride from downtown on the Canada Line, for dim sum, Cantonese seafood with live tanks, Taiwanese snacks and regional Chinese cooking. In summer, the Richmond Night Market runs on weekend evenings with a huge spread of food stalls (there is an admission fee).

Japanese food is just as strong: sushi at every price, ramen shops around Robson Street, izakayas, and Japadog street carts that put Japanese toppings on hot dogs. Vancouver also has strong Korean, Vietnamese and Punjabi food; the Punjabi Market on Main Street is the place for Indian sweets. Michelin has rated Vancouver since 2022. See Vancouver.

Nanaimo bars and Okanagan fruit

The Nanaimo bar is a no-bake square with three layers: a base of graham crumbs, coconut and nuts, a custard-flavored buttercream middle, and a chocolate top. It is named for the city of Nanaimo on Vancouver Island, which publishes a Nanaimo Bar Trail of local spots serving the original and variations. See Vancouver Island.

In the Okanagan Valley, fruit stands line Highway 97 in summer: cherries in late June and July, apricots and peaches in August, and apples in fall. Pair the drive with wineries; see Drinks.

The Prairies and the North: beef, bison and perogies

Alberta beef and bison

Alberta is cattle country, and Calgary and Edmonton steakhouses are serious about it. Canada grades beef as Prime, AAA, AA and A; AAA is roughly comparable to high-end USDA Choice. Bison, leaner and slightly sweeter than beef, shows up as burgers and steaks in Banff, Jasper and across the Prairies, and elk is common on mountain-town menus. See The Rockies.

Calgary's own dish is ginger beef: crisp-fried strips of beef in a sweet, sticky ginger and chili sauce, created by Chinese-Canadian cooks in Calgary in the 1970s. During the Calgary Stampede in July, free pancake breakfasts pop up all over the city. See Calgary.

Ukrainian and Mennonite food

Ukrainian settlers shaped Prairie cooking. Perogies (also pyrohy or varenyky), cabbage rolls and garlic sausage (kubasa) are everyday food in Edmonton, Saskatchewan and Winnipeg, at church suppers, markets and restaurants. Glendon, Alberta, has a giant perogy statue. Southern Manitoba's Mennonite communities add farmer sausage and vereniki with cream gravy.

Prairie specialties

• Saskatoon berries: a small, sweet purple berry used in pies and jams.
• Pickerel: walleye from Lake Winnipeg and northern lakes, pan-fried or in fish and chips; Gimli, Manitoba is a good place to try it.
• Honey dill sauce: a Winnipeg dip for chicken fingers that locals miss when they leave.

Winnipeg's restaurant scene is concentrated in the Exchange District, Osborne Village and St. Boniface, the city's French quarter. See The Prairies.

The North

In Yukon, the Northwest Territories and Nunavut, look for Arctic char, whitefish, bannock, and caribou or muskox where it is available. Yellowknife's fish restaurants serve fresh Great Slave Lake fish. Food is expensive in the North and very expensive in Nunavut, where most groceries arrive by air, so budget for it. See The North.

Indigenous cuisine and bannock

Indigenous food in Canada is many cuisines, as varied as the First Nations, Inuit and Métis peoples who make it. On the West Coast that means salmon smoked or cooked on cedar; in Ontario and Manitoba, wild rice (manoomin) harvested by Anishinaabe communities; on the Plains, bison and berries, historically preserved as pemmican; in the Arctic, Inuit country food such as char, caribou and seal; and among the Haudenosaunee, the "three sisters" of corn, beans and squash.

Bannock is a simple quick bread, fried or baked, that arrived with Scottish fur traders and became a staple in many Indigenous communities. You will find it plain, with jam, as the base of an "Indian taco" topped with chili, or as a sandwich bread.

Look for Indigenous-owned restaurants, food tours and cooking experiences through Indigenous Tourism Association of Canada listings. Ask before photographing people or food preparation at community events, and buy directly from Indigenous makers when you can. More in Indigenous Canada.

Snacks, sweets and Tim Hortons

Chips and chocolate bars

A Canadian grocery or convenience store is a fun first stop. Look for:

• Ketchup chips: tangy, sweet and red-dusted, made by Lay's and other brands.
• All-dressed chips: a mix of salt and vinegar, barbecue, sour cream and onion, and ketchup in one bag. Many Canadians consider them the best flavor.
• Dill pickle chips and Hickory Sticks (thin potato sticks).
• Chocolate bars: Coffee Crisp, Caramilk, Crispy Crunch, Mr. Big, Wunderbar and Aero. Canadian Smarties are candy-coated chocolate, closer to M&Ms than to the American chalky candy.
• Kraft Dinner: Canada's name for boxed macaroni and cheese, usually called KD.

Tim Hortons

Tim Hortons, founded in Hamilton, Ontario, in 1964 by hockey player Tim Horton, has thousands of locations across Canada and functions as a national meeting place: highway rest stop, small-town coffee shop and early-morning hockey rink fuel. Canadians love it and complain about it in roughly equal measure.

• A double-double is a coffee with two creams and two sugars.
• Timbits are doughnut holes, sold by the box.
• An Iced Capp is a frozen blended coffee drink.
• Roll Up To Win, the spring contest, now runs through the Tim Hortons app.

On Ontario's Highway 401 and 400, the ONroute service centers almost all have a Tim Hortons, which makes them a reliable coffee and washroom stop. Canadians say "washroom," by the way.

Grocery stores and food costs

Where to shop

• Loblaw stores: Loblaws, Real Canadian Superstore, No Frills (the discount banner), Provigo and Maxi in Quebec, and Atlantic Superstore. Loblaw also owns T&T, a large Asian supermarket chain strong in Vancouver and Toronto.
• Sobeys stores: Sobeys, Safeway in the West, IGA in Quebec, FreshCo (discount), Foodland and Thrifty Foods.
• Metro: in Ontario and Quebec, with Food Basics and Super C as its discount stores.
• Regional chains: Save-On-Foods in the West and Co-op stores across the Prairies.
• Costco and Walmart: your US Costco membership works at Canadian warehouses.

Farmers' markets are a highlight: Jean-Talon and Atwater in Montreal, the St. Lawrence Market in Toronto, the ByWard Market in Ottawa, Granville Island Public Market in Vancouver, and the Halifax Seaport Farmers' Market.

What it costs

Canadian grocery sticker prices often look higher than at home, especially for produce in winter, dairy, and anything in the North. At US$1 = C$1.40, most of the gap disappears in the big cities, and staples end up roughly comparable to a US supermarket. Dairy and cheese stay more expensive because of Canada's supply management system. Discount banners such as No Frills, FreshCo, Food Basics and Super C are noticeably cheaper than the flagship stores.

Rough meal budgets

For planning, use the tiers on this site. A casual counter meal such as poutine, a smoked meat sandwich or a donair is $ (under C$20 per person). A mid-range dinner main is $$ (C$20–35), and a city bistro main is $$$ (C$35–60). Tasting menus are $$$$. Add tax and 15% to 20% tip on top, and remember that drinks add up fast; see Drinks and Budget.

Bringing food into Canada, or back into the US, has rules. Declare all food at both borders; see Entering Canada and Shopping and US customs.

Dietary needs

Allergies

Canada's food labeling rules are strict and bilingual. Packaged foods must declare a list of priority allergens that includes everything the US requires plus mustard, sulphites and mollusks. Peanut awareness is high; many schools and some bakeries are peanut-free. In restaurants, tell your server clearly, and in Quebec use the word allergie ("J'ai une allergie aux arachides" for a peanut allergy).

Vegetarian and vegan

Big cities make it easy, with dedicated vegetarian and vegan restaurants in Toronto, Montreal and Vancouver. Rural areas and Atlantic Canada are more meat- and seafood-heavy, but most menus have at least one option. In Quebec, vegetarian is végétarien and vegan is végétalien or végane.

Gluten-free, kosher and halal

Gluten-free is sans gluten, and awareness of celiac disease is good in cities. Montreal and Toronto have long-established Jewish communities and kosher bakeries, delis and restaurants; look for MK (Montreal) or COR (Toronto) certification. Halal food is easy to find in Toronto, Montreal, Ottawa, Calgary and Edmonton, and many shawarma and donair shops are halal.

Food festivals and seasons

Dates move every year, so treat the months below as typical and check each event's official site before you book. For the wider events calendar, see Festivals, and for seasons by region, When to go.