A Taste of Acadie

If you've never heard of fricot or poutine râpée, it's not surprising. You won't find these words in most French dictionaries or in traditional French cookbooks. But travel thorugh what was once Acadie and you'll discover that these savory dishes are a central part of an original North American French cuisine. In A Taste of Acadie, Marielle Cormier-Boudreau and Melvin Gallant take their readers on a culinary tour of Acadie, sampling dishes from the Gaspé Peninsula to Cape Breton, from the northern tip of Prince Edward Island to the Magdalen Islands. Here you'll be encouraged to savour a hearty pot-en-pot or one of dozens of variations on the meat pie (called pâte à la viande by the Acadians). The adventurous will want to sample pâte à la râpure with a crust made of grated potatoes or the ever-popular poutine râpée, one of the few French dishes to survive the transition to the New World. For those with a sweet tooth, Cormier-Boudreau and Gallant feature desserts which use maple syrup and fresh wild berries including favourites such as poutines à trou, a tart mixture of cranberries, nuts and apples in a sweet pastry sleeve, and pets de soeurs, a simple biscuit with a puckered middle and a spicy Acadian name. Complete with information on the many natural ingredients favoured by the Acadians and now available in many city markets, A Taste of Acadie offers a delectable glimpse of a unique culinary tradition.