The third annual Greater Moncton Poutine Week is well under way with a whopping 52 participants.
A French Canadian tradition -- adopted by the whole country -- the cheesy festival started when businesses needed a boost.
Event manager Tammy Cook says local restaurants and bars not only lost jobs and revenue during the pandemic, they also lost their community of customers.
“We first launched poutine week at a time when a lot of restaurants were in lockdown so it was a really good opportunity for the staff in these places to get creative and to connect with the community and get excited about something. So it really helped them during that time and it’s just continued to be an event that people really like to get out and support and try all the poutines,” said Cook.
Sports Rock General Manager Jamie Jenereaux said the food festival is good for business, but it also gets people out to new places that maybe they haven’t been to before.
“That’s the goal. In the end, that’s the goal. People put out these amazing poutines and you want people to try it and hopefully they’ll try it, they’ll love it and then all of a sudden that restaurant has a new regular,” said Jenereaux.
How restaurants come up with the unique creations can be a trial and error process.
“We do tastings here,” said Eric Somers, co-owner of Cheers Beverage Room.
“We’ll bring in regulars. We’ll let the cooks try it. We’ll let everyone have their own spin on the poutine fest,” said Somers. “Some of them don’t work at all. I’m probably one of the more creative people. I try to do out of the box things. Some of them don’t taste good at all and some of them are fantastic. You never know until you try.”
Five Bridges Neighbourhood Bar and Grill owner Tonya Taylor said poutines are comfort food for most people.
“But I also think everyone loves fries so you can’t really go wrong with adding your favourite toppings on top of fries to make it a delicious treat,” said Taylor.
For Cook, it’s all about the cheese.
“I mean, they’re comforting right? They’re warm, ooey, gooey comforting food,” said Cook. “I’m a fan of the squeaky cheese curds.”
The gravy is what Somers thinks is the key ingredient.
“Nice homemade gravy,” said Somers. “If you can make a good gravy you can make a good poutine.”
Greater Moncton Poutine Week runs until Sunday.
