Canadian food is more than poutine. The country's cooking changes a lot by region, from French-influenced Quebec to lobster on the East Coast, beef in Alberta and salmon in British Columbia. This guide covers what's worth trying, where to find it and roughly what it costs. Prices are in Canadian dollars, change often and come from the sources listed at the end, so check menus before you go.

Quebec and Montreal

  • Poutine: fries topped with fresh cheese curds and hot brown gravy, said to come from rural Quebec snack bars in the late 1950s. Expect CAD $8 to $14. A classic at La Banquise in Montreal is about CAD $9.99 before tax
  • Montreal smoked meat: cured, spiced, smoked and steamed brisket, piled onto rye bread with mustard. Schwartz's Deli, open since 1928, is the famous name
  • Montreal bagels: smaller, denser and sweeter than New York ones, boiled in honey water and baked in a wood-fired oven. Try St-Viateur and Fairmount
  • Tourtière: a spiced meat pie, traditionally eaten around Christmas. About CAD $12 to $20
  • Split pea soup and pouding chômeur: a hearty soup, and a cake with hot syrup poured over it, both from Quebec
  • Maple taffy (tire d'érable sur la neige): hot maple syrup poured over snow, served at sugar shacks (cabanes à sucre), mostly in March and April

Toronto and Ontario

  • Peameal bacon sandwich: lean pork loin rolled in cornmeal, griddled and served in a bun. St. Lawrence Market in Toronto is the classic place to try it
  • Butter tarts: small flaky pastry shells with a gooey butter, sugar and egg filling. About CAD $2 to $5 each, and there's a butter tart driving trail in Ontario
  • BeaverTails: deep-fried dough with sweet toppings, which started in Ontario in 1978

Vancouver and British Columbia

  • Wild Pacific salmon: often served on a cedar plank, best in season
  • Sushi and the BC roll: Vancouver's Asian food scene is a strength, and the BC roll is a regional sushi roll with barbecued salmon and cucumber
  • Japadog: a Japanese-topped hot dog sold on the street
  • Nanaimo bars: a no-bake bar with a crumb base, custard and a chocolate top, named after Nanaimo on Vancouver Island
  • Caesar: Canada's famous cocktail of vodka, Clamato juice and Worcestershire sauce, created at the Calgary Inn in 1969

The East Coast

  • Lobster rolls: lightly dressed lobster in a buttered, griddled bun, from harbour shacks in Nova Scotia, PEI and New Brunswick. About CAD $18 to $32. PEI also does lobster suppers with a whole lobster
  • Halifax donair: spiced beef in a pita with a sweet, garlicky sauce
  • Newfoundland: cod, fish and brewis, Jiggs dinner and toutons (fried dough with molasses)

Alberta, the Prairies and the North

  • Alberta beef and bison: grain-fed steaks and lean bison burgers
  • Saskatoon berry pie: a pie made with sweet, almond-flavoured berries
  • Bannock: a quick bread from Indigenous cooking, baked or fried
  • Game meats: moose, caribou, venison and elk, mostly in rural and northern areas

Drinks

  • Ice wine: a dessert wine from grapes frozen on the vine, a speciality of the Niagara Peninsula in Ontario and the Okanagan Valley in British Columbia
  • Craft beer: Canada has plenty of microbreweries
  • Where to buy alcohol: in most provinces, spirits are sold only in licensed liquor stores. Quebec also sells wine and beer in convenience stores and supermarkets
  • Drinking age: 19 in most provinces, including Ontario and British Columbia, and 18 in Alberta, Manitoba and Quebec

Tipping and tax

Tipping is standard. The usual advice is 15% to 20% of the bill in restaurants, bars and nightclubs, and about 20% is customary according to one Rockies guide. Prices on menus and tags are usually shown before sales tax, so the final bill will be higher (see our Canada guide for the tax rates).

Food tours

A food tour is an easy way to try several things in a few hours, especially in Toronto, Montreal and Vancouver. In Toronto there's the Great Canadian Food Tour in Toronto. In Montreal you can choose the Old Montreal food tour or the Beyond the Market food tour, which goes beyond the usual tourist stops. In Vancouver there's the Gastown walking food tour.

Before you go

Check the entry rules in our first-time Canada guide, sort your phone data with our eSIM guide, and see all our Canada guides.

Planning more? See all our Canada guides for UK travellers.

Where this comes from

Prices and rules change, and the sources don't always agree, so this is a snapshot checked on 25 October 2026. These are the sources it draws on: