【大紀元2014年08月03日訊】專欄作者簡介:
　　寧姨(Judith Lane)，卑詩省知名美食及酒文作家，現定居溫哥華。曾先後居住在四個省份和育空地區，也遊訪過加拿大多個大小城鎮。她除了在溫哥華太陽報Grapevine及Gayot.com論酒專欄寫博客，亦經常為The Georgia Straight、Taste等報刊媒體撰寫文章，更是美酒佳餚賽事的常任評委。
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加拿大誕辰把酒悠然話「國菜」
　　 英文原作：寧姨 Judith Lane
　　 中文文字整理：大紀元報人

加拿大147歲生日來臨。每個家庭都有各自慶祝的方式，但美味的國慶大餐是必不可少的。在這裡，讓我們一起隨本土美食家來創意具有代表性與象徵意義的國慶菜譜。有趣的是，你會發現，在加拿大以多元文化著稱的社會裏，在這個彙集世界飲食文化精髓、優質食材多得令人眼花繚亂、美食品種日新月異的文化大國裡，竟然沒有一道被公認的「國菜」！這究竟是怎麼回事呢？是各種文化相互之間在謙讓，還是文化的歷史正在等待開創？

我出生在一個軍人家庭。在我的記憶裡，部隊經常調防，通常一到暑假我們全家都會隨軍搬遷。常年下來，我們的足跡幾乎遍布整個加拿大。我也總是有機會踏入一個全新的環境、進入新學校、結交新朋友、品嚐不同地方風味的美食。

期間，父親曾由於工作關係跟著部隊在亞洲駐紮了幾年。從那時起，父親愛上了烹飪，他回家的時候，都會在週五晚上為全家人做一頓中餐。雖然只是簡單的炒飯，但卻是那樣的美味，我們愛吃極了。也是從那時起，年紀小小的我和姐妹們就學會了用筷子品味美食……

轉眼間，加拿大國慶日又快到了，「加拿大的國菜，或者說加拿大的經典美食究竟是哪一款？」這個一向具有爭議性的老話題又再次被提起——人們就這一話題已經爭論不休好多年了。加拿大不同於意大利、法國、日本和阿根廷等這些國家，人家對於「國菜」都有很清楚的概念，唯獨加拿大人對於「國菜」，至今仍未有定論。
　　
其實，物產豐盛的加拿大出產的優質食材，其品種稱得上數不勝數，各種著名美食也多得令人目不暇給。譬如新斯科捨省的龍蝦、愛德華王子島的土豆及加東的蠔；魁北克省的煙燻肉、香草肉末派、法式醬汁薯條和楓葉糖漿；多倫多呢，有令人食指大動的豌豆培根三明治，還有著名的甜甜圈咖啡連鎖食店Tim Horton’s，以及Swiss Chalet（這是從安省起家而後發展遍佈全加的連鎖餐廳）；至於高原省份，不但出產扁豆、小麥和芥花籽，其江河湖泊還盛產梭子魚、比高魚、鱒魚和白斑等淡水魚；亞省呢，有遐爾聞名的牛肉；卑詩省，則有豬肉、羊肉、三文魚、斑點蝦以及西岸大肉蟹，還有藍莓、小紅莓、櫻桃等等水果，還有不可不提的舉世聞名的甜點乃乃模糖糕（Nanaimo Bar）。
　　
講起美食少不得要提到佳釀：加拿大的葡萄酒是名聲在外的。我們的釀酒業主要集中在卑詩省和安省，而釀造烈酒的歷史已經有200多年之久，比1876年起始的建國歷史還要長。
　　
而加拿大的飲食文化發源也是有史可究的。加拿大的原住民早在一萬或一萬三千年前就已經生活在這塊幅員遼闊的土地上，並且很早就將海鮮、野味、蕨菜、炸包等食物搬上了「餐桌」。不過真正意義上的加拿大風味美食起源自17世紀第一批英、法移民。當時狩獵的原住民不斷聚居，人口也在不斷增長、變化，加上來自世界各地的移民帶來了他們各自的飲食文化，使得烹飪風格更多樣。時至今日，我們的冰箱和櫥櫃裡擠滿了世界各地的食材，美食品種更是日新月異。
　　
言歸正傳， 2014年加拿大國慶147週年，我們該以怎樣的具有代表意義的應節美食來慶祝呢？
　　
國慶日是所有加拿大人的節日，聚會、遊行、音樂和煙花這些傳統項目是必不可少的。這一天的入籍儀式也是重頭戲（很多人選擇在這個重要的日子裡成為加拿大公民），不過，最為人頭湧湧的地方還是在公園裡、海灘邊——人們看完遊行就去野餐，晚上還未等夜色降臨就提前去等著看煙花匯演。依此推斷，大多數人的晚餐很可能都會選擇戶外燒烤，那麼，食材不外乎三文魚、牛排和漢堡等。這些食材都可以在本地市場方便買到。市場上的卑詩省和亞省產的牛排存貨非常充足。還可以直接到列治文漁人碼頭，現場選購新鮮的海產。
　　
講到國慶菜譜……嗯，說老實話，從小時候起一直到現在，我最喜歡吃的始終都還是老爸烤的那款漢堡包和熱狗，不過，今天我們的選擇可以來得更加多元化一些……那麼，我們不妨來嚐嚐牛肉、火雞或三文魚漢堡包。現在正好是三文魚和草莓的產季，我們不如就來個三文魚漢堡吧，加上草莓蛋糕作為甜點——咦，紅色的草莓、白色的奶油，不就是加拿大國旗的顏色嗎？！哈哈！ 對了，再配上一杯玫瑰葡萄酒，這總該算是最應節的菜式了吧。
　　
選用Joie Farm 獲獎無數的「Re-Think Pink Rose 2013」玫瑰葡萄酒， 桃紅色的酒配搭三文魚漢堡，與松軟的甜點，也該算得上絕配啦。這種葡萄酒口感清爽，酒色清亮, 草莓味中帶有橘香。在卑詩酒鋪、酒類協會或私人葡萄酒專賣店都可以買到。

佳餚共美酒。
　 加拿大，我們祝您生日快樂！

加拿大國旗小常識：
　　
加拿大國旗繪有一片11個角的紅楓葉，又被稱為楓葉旗（英語：Maple Leaf），在法語區被稱為單葉旗（法語：l’Unifolie）。楓葉旗自1965年被樞密院採用，以替代英國國旗，是代表加拿大的官方旗幟。
　　
加拿大國旗由紅白二色組成。中間的白色代表加拿大廣闊無垠的國土，兩側的紅色代表的是東西兩岸的大西洋和太平洋。中間 的紅色楓葉則是象徵生活在加拿大富饒國土上的人民 。參議長莫里斯‧布爾傑曾說：「我們的國旗象徵著國家的統一，因為它代表著加拿大的全體公民，不分種族、語言、信仰或理念。」（資料來源：維基百科、加拿大政府網站） @

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Column: Canadian Food Lane

About Judith Lane

Judith Lane is a Vancouver-based food and wine writer. Growing up in a military family, she has lived in four different provinces and the Yukon (and visited most of the rest). Her work appears in the Vancouver Sun’s The Grapevine blog, Gayot.com, the Georgia Straight, and more. She is a long-standing wine and food competition judge.

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Canadian Food and Canada Day
By Judith Lane

Growing up in a military family, we spent our summer vacations moving across the country to new towns, new schools, new friends, and new food. My father was an avid fisherman and my mother, a former Manitoba farm girl, planted a garden everywhere we lived. My sisters and I grew to love gardening and all have home gardens today. Of the three of us, I was hooked on fishing.

As part of his job, my father spent a couple of years living in Asia. He enjoyed cooking and when he returned home, he made ‘Chinese’ food every Friday night. This was basically a simple, tasty stir-fry with rice that we loved and accordingly we learned to use chopsticks at a young age.

With Canada Day approaching, it’s a good time to ask, “Is there such a thing as Canadian food?” It’s been the subject of debate for years. Other countries and cultures–consider Italy, France, Japan, and Argentina–all have easily identifiable cuisines but what does Canada have?

Plenty as it turns out. Think regional ingredients and dishes like Nova Scotia lobster and PEI potatoes, and Maritimes oysters; Quebec is revered for smoked meat, tourtière, poutine, and maple syrup; Toronto’s pea-meal bacon sandwich is a source of pride, as are Tim Horton’s and Swiss Chalet (these Canada-wide restaurants began in Ontario); the prairie provinces grow lentils, wheat and canola and enjoy fresh water fish like pickerel, pike, trout and walleye pulled from rivers and lakes; Alberta scores with beef and bison; BC produces pork, lamb, salmon, spot prawns and Dungeness crab, blueberries, cranberries, cherries and the world-famous Nanaimo bar. Our Aboriginal citizens bring fish, game, fiddleheads, bannock and more to the table.

Not to be forgotten are the country’s wine producers, predominantly BC and Ontario. Canada has been producing spirits for upwards of two hundred years, long before it officially became a country in 1867.

Canadian cuisine began with the first immigrants–the English and French–who first settled in the East in the early 1600s although Aboriginals arrived 10,000 to 13,000 years earlier. Since those hunt-and-gather days, it has grown and changed with our ever-expanding population base that includes people from most parts of the globe. They’ve brought their food culture with them enriching and expanding our culinary borders. Today our cupboards and fridges are stocked with ingredients from around the world and we use them as a matter of course in our everyday cooking.

With Canada Day around the corner, the question is what will we eat on July 1 to celebrate our country’s 147th birthday?

The day is all about family, friends, food, parades, citizenship ceremonies, music and fireworks. We flock to beaches and parks for picnics in the daytime, and later in the evening as we stake out prime spots to watch Canada Day fireworks displays that many communities put on. You can bet that dinner too will likely be out of doors as we fire up barbecues to grill salmon, steaks, and burgers.

We have easy access to the freshest fish at local markets and from fishermen who sell directly to the public at docks in Vancouver and Steveston. Local butchers and markets are well stocked with BC and Alberta steaks.

As kids, our family favourites were hamburgers and hotdogs that Dad cooked on the grill. This hasn’t changed but today we’re likely to opt for bison (buffalo), turkey or salmon burgers.

This year with both salmon and strawberries in season, we’re having salmon burgers followed by strawberry shortcake for dessert (the cake’s ripe red berries and whipping cream are the colours of the Canadian flag), pairing both with BC rosé.

Happy Birthday Canada！

Wine pairing: JoieFarm Re-Think Pink Rosé 2013

JoieFarm’s versatile, easy drinking rosé will complement both the salmon burger and the cake. It’s off dry, crisp and bright, tasting of strawberries, spice and citrus. Find it at BC Liquor stores, VQA and private wine stores.