Acadian cuisine

French colonists who settled Acadia in the 17th century adapted their 16th century French cuisine to incorporate the crops, seafood and animals that flourished in the region. Their descendants became the Acadian people and their ingenuity created Acadian cuisine. After the English conquered Acadia during the 18th century, they decided to deport the Acadians and take their settlements, which were often build on the most fertile earth in the colony. Most Acadians did not manage to escape the deportation. But, of those who did, most fled to the east and north of New Brunswick^{Note 3}. As such, Acadian cuisine in the 18th century was refocused around what could be grown and used in the less fertile lands of the East Coast of New Brunswick and the Upper St. John River Valley. [5]

Acadian cuisine often features fish and seafood, especially cod and Atlantic herring, but also mackerel, berlicoco, lobster, crab, salmon, mussels, trout, clams, flounder, smelt and scallops. Most fish is consumed fresh, but some are boucané (smoked), marinated or salted.

The most commonly used meat is pork, followed by chicken and beef. As with the rest of North America, turkey is commonly consumed during the Holidays. Game like deer, hares, ruffed grouse and moose is consumed regularly in some regions. Game will replace livestock meat if present and can be given as a gift. In some regions, for example Caraquet and the Îles-de-la-Madeleine, more unusual game is or was caught like seal, bear and seagull.

The vegetables of Acadian cuisine are the potato, onion, carrot, turnip, legume, beet, squash and corn. These vegetables were popular because they were easily preserved for the winter in root cellars and jars.

Popular fruits include: blueberries, apples, strawberries, raspberries, blackberries, plums, pears and cranberries.

Some ingredients like rice, molasses, dried raisins and brown sugar make a frequent appearance in Acadian recipes because of historical commerce between Acadia and regions like the Antilles and Brazil.

A poutine à trou smothered in maple syrup.

Ployes are extremely popular in the Madawaska region.

Rappie pie or râpure is a dish whose name comes from "patates râpées", meaning "grated potatoes".

Some examples of traditional Acadian dishes are:

• Beurre de homard
• Bouilli Acadien:[6] a boiled dinner consisting of potatoes, salted beef or pork, carrots, green beans, cabbage and turnips.
• Bouillie à la viande salée
• Bouillon aux coques
• Chiard/Mioche: purée of potatoes, carrots and/or turnips.
• Chow-Chow
• Cipâte
• Coques frites/Acadian Fried clams
• Coquille Saint-Jacques
• Cretons:[7] a type of boiled, ground pork pâte
• Croquettes de poisson
• Doigt-à-l'Ail
• Fricot: a type of stew
• Morue bouillie avec patates et beurre fondu
• Pain au homard: a lobster and mayonnaise sandwich
• Pâté au poisson
• Pâté chinois: a dish consisting of mashed potatoes, ground beef and creamed corn
• Pets de sœurs: pastry filled with butter and brown sugar which are rolled, sliced and then baked.
• Ploye
• Pouding chômeur
• Poutine râpée
• Poutine à trou
• Poutine au bleuet
• Ragoût: a thick kind of soup
• Rappie pie/Râpure: grated potatoes and chicken or salted pork
• Soupe aux pois
• Tarte au sucre acadienne
• Tourtière: meat pie

• Cuisine of Quebec
• Cajun cuisine
• Occitan cuisine

1.^ When one speaks about Acadia before the Deportation of the Acadians, they are referring to the Acadia colony owned by France, which is today the Maritime region of Canada. When one refers to Acadia in the present tense or after the Deportation of the Acadians, they are referring to the regions where Acadians live today. The Acadia of today is the north and east of New Brunswick, and some small parts of Prince Edward Island and Nova Scotia. Acadia, while not always recognized as such, can be considered a nation because of the language, culture, institutions, symbols, territory and history its people share.

The flag of the colony of Acadia	The colony of Acadia. The English conquered the brown territory in 1710, and the green territory in 1763.	The flag of present-day Acadia	The present-day cultural region of Acadia is in light yellow. The rest of the Maritimes are in orange.

2.^ Louisiana is not the only place outside of Canada where many people of Acadian descent can be found; there is also France, the Falkland Islands, the Antilles, New England and Texas.

3.^ A few Acadians also fled to sections of Cape Breton, western Nova Scotia and south Prince Edward Island. Because of their relative distance from New Brunswick, these communities experienced their own challenges and developed some unique dishes. Some also escaped to New France (now Québec) and assimilated to the Canadien population.

• Marielle Cormier Boudreau et Melvin Gallant, La Cuisine traditionnelle en Acadie : historique des traditions et coutumes culinaires chez les Acadiens du Nouveau-Brunswick, de la Nouvelle-Écosse, de l'Île-du-Prince-Édouard et des Îles-de-la-Madeleine, Moncton, Éditions d'Acadie (réimpr. 1980, 1987) (1re éd. 1975), 181 p.

• Ghislain Savoie, Histoire de la pomme de terre et autres tubercules connus dans l'ancienne Acadie, Les Cahiers, Société historique acadienne, vol. 42, no 1, March 2011, p. 4-25

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