Don’t get me wrong. There are pubs in Canada. And there is food. But are the pubs and the food “pub food” in the same sense that David Jesudason has asked about for this month’s edition of The Session?
For the July edition of The Session I’m asking participants to write a blog, web post, newsletter (like this one) or even a SM thread on the subject of food in pubs. At the end of the month I’ll post a list of all the various links…. I encourage people to be critical, whimsical or celebratory. In fact, I hope they will be inspired by today’s format which will take one subject and then recommend a few good pub food options.
In Canada, you can find things called pubs but the function that pubs play in the UK is more often sucked up here by neighbourhood diners or a Tim Hortons, the coffee chain that sells hot brown liquid plus a sugary treat or quick sandwich. Despite their best efforts to redesign their spaces as grab and goes, Timmies and their competition are where people go to sit around and take a break. Without any booze.
What we do have are many sorts of places to write off an hour or an afternoon, place like bars that lean towards drinks other than beer, small town hotels and Legion branches with a few regulars, old school taverns that are focused on macro draft, craft brewery tap rooms and a version of a gastropub – which would never call itself that but which do have the telltale pricey menus and good beer. Sure, there are the rare places that are run by ex-pat Brits along with a few pre-packaged forumula pretendy pubs with a few Union Jacks and that one jar of Branston pickle that’s been in the fridge since 2012 but they aren’t really part of our actual culture.
Any one of these places just might have good food but, let’s be honest, that’s more the exception than the rule. You want good fish and chips? You go to a fish and chips place. You want a curry? You go to a restaurant run by newcomers who share the fabulous family food from their region back home. You may find a bottle Molson Canadian in the fridge or even one tap of a local small brewer’s most popular ale at any one of the sorts of spot but only if you are lucky. The best burger joint in my fair city doesn’t even have a liquor license.
My point? In large swaths of Canada there is still a distance between good beer and good food. Sure there are bright spots. The taverns of my Nova Scotian youth still seem to offer local offerings like steamed mussles or boiled dinner instead of french fries or a burger as a snack. And, pre-pandemic, some craft beer bars did move to adding a better sort of food service like a BBQ smoker, maybe on a trailer out in the parking lot. But these are not necessarily cheaper options. Not what I think of as pub food.
Which is the point for me. Pub food – food that hopefully isn’t microwaved gak that was a frozen brick seven minutes ago – should either be almost loss leader to keep the beers pouring or at least be priced below dining out. If you have one of those in your neighbourhood, lucky you. Otherwise, when you are out and about, your beer stops and you grub stops tend to be separate dots on the map.