Thanksgiving – Canadian Style

Photo: Joel Zimmer

You may know pingg is headquartered in New York—the center of the world—but we also have an office in the other center of the world: Toronto. We look forward to our long weekends here, and the next in line just happens to be Canadian Thanksgiving. Our particular take on the harvest festival traces back to 1565 and a fellow named Frobisher, but the 2nd Monday in October wasn’t officially declared a holiday by Parliament until 1957. In honor of Canadian Thanksgiving here are—in no particular order—some things for which these Canadians give thanks:

Maple
It’s leaf is the symbol of our country and is emblazoned upon our standard; a handful of maple wood chips tossed on your charcoal BBQ delivers a most unique and subtle flavor to your fare; and the tree produces, of course, maple syrup. Canada produces about 85% of the world’s supply, and that’s mostly in Quebec. If you’re looking for a Canadian spin on your Thanksgiving turkey, check out Food Network chef Tyler Florence’s Maple Roasted Turkey with Sage, Smoked Bacon, and Corn Bread Stuffing.

The NFB
The National Film Board of Canada, source of some of the most memorable and hilarious animated short films produced in the last 30 years. It’s hard to choose favorites, but check out The Big Snit and, one of the most requested films in the NFB collection, The Log Driver’s Waltz.

Poutine
If you haven’t had poutine your life lacks a special, heart-stopping kind of magic. Simply put, it’s French fries topped with cheese curds and hot gravy. In the right hands, it’s quite divine, and there are many variations. Poutine originally hails from Quebec but lately—much to the delight of many a Torontonian—a number of little poutine shops have started springing up in the city, including Poutini’s. Get ready for a nap after a plate of this.

Leonard Cohen
For forty years the singer, songwriter, poet, and novelist from Montreal has hypnotized women young and old with his whiskey baritone and inspired legion lesser writers with his songs of sex and spirituality. He’s a fascinating cocktail of shaman and lothario: a Buddhist monk who had a tryst with Janis Joplin. He’s currently on tour, part of a campaign to recoup the retirement fund he was relieved of by his ex-accountant. He’s got several dates across the U.S. into mid-November—don’t miss this Canadian legend.

And that’s just the tip of the iceberg; we could have just as easily substituted any number of Canadiana elements we love here: beer, hockey, Gordon Lightfoot, Stompin’ Tom Connors, the list goes on. From pingg north: Happy Thanksgiving Canada. We’ll be back in a few weeks with some weird American thanksgiving stuff for our pingg south chapter. But first, Halloween!!