June 9, 2010 6:43 AM

Silly me...and here I'd thought gluttony was one of the Seven Deadly Sins

Calvin Trillin describes his entire experience with Canada’s gravy-soaked spuds, from his first taste at the halal chip wagon in front of Nathan Phillips Square, to foie gras poutine at Au Pied de Cochon in Montreal. He concludes that the dish, at its best, “was better than simply inoffensive,” which, while a total non-endorsement, is the closest anyone has come to arguing publicly for poutine to be taken seriously as Canadian cuisine. The first-ever World Poutine-Eating Championship, held last Saturday beside BMO Field, was another legitimizing moment for the widow-making meal. Eating poutine―like eating hot dogs, pie, and buffalo wings―is now an international sport. The event, though organized locally by Smoke’s Poutinerie, was sanctioned by Major League Eating, which calls itself “the World governing body of all stomach-centric sports.”

Another one for those of you intent on digging your grave with your teeth….

Being American, I will likely never fully comprehend the reason for (or significance of) covering perfectly good French Fries with gravy and cheese curds. Then again, what self-respecting Quebecois wouldn’t assume that French Fries would ipso facto be a travesty without gravy and cheese curds? There are those, like myself, f’rinstance, who were raised to believe that French Fries are a salt and ketchup delivery system…and a damn fine one at that. The idea that someone could adulterate (or defile) such perfection with gravy and cheese curds is almost more than I can imagine.

Even more difficult for me to fathom is the idea that the act of eating poutine could be legitimized as a competitive activity on the World Gluttony Tour. I’d always assumed (rather naively, as it turns out) that gluttony, being one of the Seven Deadly Sins, couldn’t possibly be turned into a competitive sport. Silly me.

What’s next? Full-contact Adultery?? Corporate Greed? Major League Avarice?

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This page contains a single entry by Jack Cluth published on June 9, 2010 6:43 AM.

A question no one seems to be willing (or able) to answer was the previous entry in this blog.

A WWJD public service for those of you looking to dig your grave with your teeth is the next entry in this blog.

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