Food Badges in Canada: Sampler to Connoisseur

Food badges in Canada work the way they do everywhere in the Mosey app, with a few families that only make sense here. Rate five different places that carry a tag and you are a Sampler; keep going to ten, twenty and fifty for Taster, Expert and Connoisseur. A separate ladder counts the provinces and territories where you have rated.

Which food badges in Canada can you earn?

A badge belongs to a tag, and Mosey's tag list is chosen by market. For Canada that list includes dishes people argue about at the kitchen table. There are families for Poutine, Montreal Smoked Meat, Bagels, Donuts, Dim Sum, Lobster Rolls, Shawarma, Fish and Chips, Wings and Hot Dogs, each added so that a Canadian's habits have a badge of their own.

Beside them sit the familiar ones: cuisines such as Italian, Chinese and Indian, and kinds of place such as Diner, Deli, Bakery and Taproom or Brewpub. A tag that is useful but not a family, such as Late Night, helps people filter without counting towards a level.

How do the Sampler, Taster, Expert and Connoisseur levels work?

The numbers are fixed, and they are the same for every food family. The first level is five different places, the second is ten, the third is twenty and the last is fifty. Visiting one favourite spot twenty times still counts once, because the ladder counts variety.

Names matter here. Sampler suggests a first taste, Taster a developing palate, Expert someone who compares and Connoisseur someone who has eaten widely. Once a level is reached it stays, even if you stop rating, so you never have to defend it.

What is the province and territory badge?

Canada has thirteen provinces and territories, and a separate badge counts how many of them you have rated in. The levels sit at three, five, nine and thirteen, so the top step is the whole country. It is a different kind of badge, a travel one, with its own level names: Wanderer, Wayfarer, Voyager and Globetrotter.

This ladder suits a country where eating changes along the highway. A rating from the Maritimes, one from the Prairies and one from the coast each move it forward, whether you were there for work, family or a long drive. It never asks you to name a place that is not yours to name.

How is a badge holder shown on a rating?

A badge holder is someone who has rated five or more different places of the same kind. Their badge appears beside their name, so when you read a view on a plate of poutine you can see whether it comes from someone who has rated many poutine places.

It is a clue, not a verdict. The badge does not change the stars, it does not make one view outrank another, and it comes with no discount, no prize and no priority. It only tells you that the person has looked around.

How to start collecting Canadian food badges

Pick a dish you already eat and treat it as a small project.

1. Rate a place you ate at this week, naming the dish and giving it stars.
2. Add the tag that fits, such as Poutine, Bagels or Dim Sum.
3. Rate a different place of the same kind the next time you eat it.
4. Open My Badges to see how close the next level is, and share the New badge screen with a friend if you wish.

Tags do the counting, so the one thing that matters is adding them.

What should you write in a rating that counts?

A badge only needs the tag, but a good rating needs a sentence. Name the dish, say what made it different from the last one, and mention who you were with. "Squeaky curds, gravy a little thin, fries held up" is a note a stranger can use and you can read again in a year. The habit of writing one line is worth more than any level, and it makes the later badges feel earned.

A plan for a year of badges

Seasons suit the ladder in Canada. In winter, lean on the cold-weather families: poutine, smoked meat, a diner breakfast, a bowl of something hot from a dim sum table. In spring and summer, add lobster rolls, fish and chips and wings, and take a few ratings on the road, which feeds the province and territory badge at the same time. In autumn, go back to the bakeries and donut shops. By the end of the year the ratings add up to a record of where you ate, and a Sampler or two comes with it.

A free way to back independent places

Mosey is a food app for rating, sharing and keeping track of places to eat. It is free for a place to list, has no hidden fees, and its tools are priced to be affordable for owners who run a single kitchen. A rating by the dish is a free way to support the places you want in your neighbourhood for years.

Pair your badges with the rest of the app. Keep a list of the places you want to try for your next family, invite a friend to add to it, and follow people whose taste you trust. If you are not sure where to begin, start a food list for your province and add the first three places that come to mind.

To see the ladder in a Canadian setting, read about poutine in Montreal or the Montreal bagels guide. The food badges page sets out the levels, and the Canadian food guides list more.

For a first Canadian ladder, try the poutine connoisseur guide.

Get the Mosey app, add a tag to your next rating and watch the five-place Sampler step arrive faster than you expect.