Christmas Food Traditions in Canada: Tourtière and More

Christmas food traditions in Canada come from the families who settled here. Quebec keeps the réveillon, a Christmas Eve feast with tourtière, Acadian families bake pâté à viande and boil poutine râpée, and many Ukrainian Canadian families sit down to Sviat Vechir, a meatless meal of twelve dishes that begins when the first star appears.

What are the main Christmas food traditions in Canada?

Canada does not have one Christmas dish. It has several, each tied to a community, and a few of them overlap. The best known is the French Canadian meat pie, but the same season also holds a boiled potato dumpling and a table of twelve meatless dishes.

This page is about what is on the plate, not who is open. For opening days on December 25 and 26, read our guide to Christmas and New Year's dining out in Canada.

What is the Quebec réveillon?

The Quebec réveillon is a feast held on Christmas Eve. Great British Chefs reports that it traditionally followed midnight Mass and lasted until Christmas morning, and that today most families eat around dinnertime so they can enjoy Christmas Day too. The custom dates to the 19th century, when the meal was only a few biscuits and perhaps a piece of tourtière.

It faded in the early 20th century and survived mostly in devout Catholic homes, then returned in the 1990s when restaurants began serving réveillon dinners at a more sociable hour. Other traditional dishes include black pudding and pâtés, and many were prepared from mid-November, when animals were butchered and preserved. Newer menus add lobster and scallops from Nova Scotia. Desserts include tarte au sucre and the bûche de Noël, a yule log cake.

What is tourtière?

Tourtière is the dish most visitors ask about. The Canadian Encyclopedia describes it as a double-crusted meat pie, usually made with ground or chopped pork, sometimes with local game such as rabbit or moose. The name likely comes from a shallow pie dish used in France. Several recipes appeared in La cuisinière canadienne in 1840, an early French-language cookbook published in Canada.

There are regional styles. Along the Saguenay and Lac-Saint-Jean it is often a many-layered pie with cubed meats and vegetables, and the Acadians of the Maritimes call their version pâté à viande. If a menu says tourtière, ask which style it is, since the filling can differ.

What do Acadian families eat at Christmas?

Acadian Christmas food includes the meat pie called pâté à viande and poutine râpée. CooksInfo describes poutine râpée as a boiled dumpling of grated and mashed potato with salt pork in the centre, and says it is traditional at Christmas in Acadian areas. It can be served savoury, or sweet with brown sugar, maple syrup or molasses. It is not the fries and gravy dish. Our poutine guide compares the two, and the Moncton Acadian guide goes deeper.

What is Ukrainian Christmas Eve in Canada?

Ukrainian Christmas Eve in Canada is a meal called Sviat Vechir, and a Savour Calgary article describes it as twelve dishes, one for each apostle, with no meat, no animal fat and no dairy. The first dish after the braided kolach bread is kutia, cooked prairie wheat with honey, poppy seeds and nuts, and sometimes dried fruit.

Other dishes include varenyky, which many Canadians call pierogi, filled with potatoes, sauerkraut or fruit. Fish is common, such as fried or baked whitefish from Canadian lakes, pickled herring or jellied fish. Customs include waiting for the youngest child to spot the first star, a sheaf of wheat in the room, hay under the tablecloth and an extra place for relatives who have died. Many families keep a secular version, and dishes vary by household.

How do you eat these traditions when you are out?

December menus are busy and sometimes short. Ask what is in a dish and how it is made, because a filling can change by region. If anyone at your table has a food allergy, ask the place directly. Mosey can hide dishes that a place lists an allergen for, but a dish with no listing says "Allergens not listed, ask the place," so do not assume.

A meatless dish is not the same as a dish without dairy or nuts, so ask even when a dish sounds plain.

If you are a guest at a family table, ask what the dish is called and who taught the cook. People like to tell the story, and it makes a good note for your list. If you are cooking for someone from a tradition you do not share, ask them what matters most, rather than guessing, and let them lead.

How can Mosey help you keep a Christmas food list?

Mosey is a place to remember what you ate. Rate the dish, not just the place, because the pie and the bread can deserve different scores. Add tags such as Celebration or Family Friendly so you can narrow a search next year.

Keep a list called Christmas eats and add a note to each stop, such as the dish a relative loved. Share the list with friends by link, even if they are not on Mosey yet, and follow friends to see where they rate and save. Mosey is free to list, with no hidden fees, so a rating costs a small business nothing. See the Canadian food guides for more.

What should you remember this season?

Be patient when places are crowded, ask before you assume what is in a dish and thank the people cooking on a holiday, since many are working while others celebrate.

Download the Mosey app, rate the first Christmas dish you try this year and start a list called Christmas eats, so next winter begins with your own notes.