h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

In the lumber camps of the Canadian Shield around the turn of the century, to speak during meal times was to be expelled from the dining hall. As there were always more men to feed than room to feed them, the idea was to carboload fast and make room for the next man at the trough, I mean table. Thus we come to the two great culinary contributions of Canada.
First and formost is maple syrup. Pour it over pancakes,ice cream,　ｓnow or whatever or even add it to the tea or coffee. Much easier to come by on the frontier than that fancy-pants store-bought sugar, and tastier too.
What we Canucks call back bacon or peameal bacon is almost nothing like what Americans call Canadian bacon, which is actually closer to canned ham. What is it? Lean, brine-pickled, pork back rolled in corn meal. and then sliced by hand (nice and thick) and pan fried. (brief pause as ex-pat author stuck in Japan -see land of the rising sun entry- mops up puddle of drool.)
For a day of deforesting the Canadian shield by hand, you can't do better than a stack of buckwheat pancakes drowned in maple syrup with a hearty side of peameal bacon

My personal favorite in summer of course being strong coffee and a tomato, bacon and old cheddar sandwich on cracked wheat toast.

Not exactly breakfast but what's that Canadian fast food that I liked in Quebec? It was some sort of wierd cheese, chips (fries) and gravy... I could really go for some of that right now.

Ah poutine, the ultimate in comfort food, I can feel my arteries hardening just thinking about it. French fries, gravy, with melted cheese curd and lots of salt and pepper. yum

I've never been to Canada but my neighbours (when growing up) were Canadian and introduced my sister & me to the joys of waffles, bacon & maple syrup. I guess that being introduced to it as kids meant we didn't have any preconceptions about it. Totally yummy. I have since introduced numerous English friends to it - they are always reluctant to put what they consider to be an ice cream topping on bacon but every single one has liked it so much that I had to beat them off the rest of my breakfast with my fork!

The thing to remember is that it must be REAL MAPLE SYRUP and not 'maple flavoured sauce' since the former is an aromatic, complex flavour which brings out the flavour of the bacon, (I think the waffles are just to soak up the syrup) and the latter is disgustingly sweet and absolutely foul . Always read the label carefully before purchasing.

Getting hold of good ready-made waffles can be a problem - I have often been shown to the potato waffles by uneducated shop assistants! Have now got a waffle maker so I'm never without.

You get the true essence of a Canadian breakfast while camping at a Canadian Shield lake in the summer. To set the scene, its a pine forest, you've been up since dawn and out fishing for 4 hours, with just a couple of slices of toast, toasted on the camp fire, and 2 cups of strong coffee in your stomach. Light the Coleman stove, get out 2 cast iron frying pans and set to work.

Breakfast is 2 or 3 fried eggs each, bacon, fish (catch of the day - perch, pickerel, jackfish or bass), fried bannock with real maple syrup, fried potatoes if there's any left from supper last night, toast, coffee.

Do the dishes, tidy up the camp, crawl into the tent camper and doze the afternoon away waiting for evening fishing.