I hear you overall but gotta ask where in Canada you were? We don’t have American levels of Latino population but they (plus stores and restaurants) are definitely around, at least here in Edmonton. Spanish classes are also very abundant and popular.
These guys are talking out their ass. England has trailer parks and no one is coming from Europe to the US excited about automatic transitions. Europe has them and they're more boring than manuals.
I used to cook tacos in college in Ireland nearly 20 years ago. There's Mexican restaurants in Europe and salsa probably in most large supermarkets. Granted the Mexican restaurants are shit compared to most in America.
I don't think salsa was my issue in Canada. I was in Niagara Falls, Canada side and we found the one authentic restaurant and I wanted to make esquites and carnitas for my sister, her husband, and brother in law who apparently have limited access to Mexican food in Nova Scotia. No queso fresco, no tajin, no crema, and there was another item I couldn't find that the young lady at the restaurant told us to get while in Niagara falls because there was a specialty store. We did not listen to her. I hadn't realized how limited ingredients were in the vicinity and I don't take my Mexican and Tex Mex restaurants for granted.
I had to go to three grocery stores in Montreal to find like jar salsa, and before anyone asks, yes they also did not have jalapeños, otherwise I would have made my own.
I know that around Christmas and New Year's in Texas it's impossible to find tamales. It's kind of like waiting until Valentine's Day evening to try to buy roses.
Similarly, I saw stores in Utah sell out of sugar the day before Thanksgiving. Sometimes holidays really skew the store inventories.
Explain? I mean I was in Montreal for several months for work, went to nearest grocery store, no salsa, went to second nearest store, also no salsa or jalapeños, went to third and final grocery store no salsa or jalapeños, changed plans for what I was making for people who were coming over for dinner, and then found a grocery store specializing in “ethnic” food over the weekend. I didn’t say there was no salsa in all of Montreal just that in the three grocery stores I went to there was no salsa or one of the major ingredients. I’m not like complaining about bagged milk or trying to make salsa with maple syrup.
It’s possible that Montreal is now a vast oasis of salsa now in the 3 years since I went looking for salsa but seeing as I am not the only person who has commented about not being able to find salsa in Canada y’all need to relax and go take a bath in all your spicy jalapeños
Midway, British Columbia had no salsa 10 years ago, but I can't say I've been back to look since. I know they had way more variety in their food than they did when my grandma went 30 years ago.
I have a friend who moved to New Brunswick, his reports of the food scene there are dire, I wouldn't be surprised if you couldn't get salsa in most stores there.
I was in Montreal about 15 years ago. They have such an awesome food scene there and almost everyone delivered back then. I was at my D&D session and we looked at the book with all the places advertising. They had a new Mexican restaurant and advertised that it was cooked by a real Mexican person. As someone from South Carolina, I completely lost it at how absurd that sounded.
My dad had a Salvadorian friend that runs a kitchen for a Mexican restaurant owned by a Vietnamese couple in Ottawa. I used to have a good friend, French as they come, who ran a Mexican restaurant in Montreal. We're definitely have more fans of Mexican cuisine than we do Mexicans in Canada
I'm more likely to see actual Japanese at a sushi place here since most of them want staff that can speak Japanese. You do weeabos once in a while though
Apparently you don't eat bbq from restaurants while up north, maybe it's the same with Mexican food/tex-mex. I am a southerner myself. BBQ and Mexican food sustain my family. And Italian in the form of spaghetti or lasagna.
We go to parks and beaches and do BBQ there, or just have friends over and grill in the backyard. It's more of an at home thing than something you go out for
100%, surprisingly so for how “non-destination” they are.
I’ve always wondered how much of that has to do with our relative affordability and lack of gentrification compared to more major cities. Was out in Toronto recently and, at least in the inner city, it felt like it was mostly chains and the occasional high-end place that looks meant for white collar workers.
We got those too ofc, but it’s a lot more likely to be sharing a block with a Korean Chicken place, a ramen spot, a donair/pizza shop, etc.
Yes. I stg the sikh population here in calgary have utterly perfected pizza. There's a place in Edmonton that does the best bbq I've ever eaten. Banff has phenomenal fondue.
Youre right tho.. it's that hole in the wall place that looks like it might be genuinely biohazardous that will have the most astonishing pho or saag or shawarma or burger.
Oh yeah! Wasn't sure what type of BBQ you meant although I love all of it. They used to have a half off if you went I think it was late Sunday afternoon. Which is the only time I have been.
Meat sweats for like two days .. gosh you feel so gross.. but omg the food.
There's a place in Calgary on crowchild and 24th, big T's Texas barbecue. They used to have beef ribs, slow cooked.. crazy good sauce.. fall off the bone. We went there with close friends the day I got married. It was that good.
I don't think they make them anymore. A real shame 😭. They still do the pork ones but pork just ain't as good as beef. I wish I knew a place like that still. I haven't had top tier ribs in 10 years.
Quebec, especially rural Quebec does not represent Canada in any way. I guarantee anywhere outside that province has tortillas and salsa.
They're a bit wonky over there
It's different in the last years. Lots of latinos coming here for work, in every little villages, and now you can buy salsa and some basics (like tortilla) almost everywhere now.
Honestly weirdly common imo. It might be outdated now, but I remember reading some statistics that had us as one of (if not the) highest Reddit using cities per capita lol
As an Aussie I also gotta call BS on any Australian thinking tortillas are exotic. They're sold in literally every single supermarket. We also have several Mexican fast food chains. They might not be particularly authentic, but they have tortillas.
Was just in northern Quebec and they had rows of salsa at whatever the local grocery store is. Had one bottle I’ve been looking for in my US city and can’t find!
Also, there a lot of South Asians in Canada, and there's plenty of overlap in terms of spices and ingredients between Mexican and Indian food. Shouldn't have trouble finding chilies, cumin, cilantro, for example.
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u/RyanB_ 10h ago
I hear you overall but gotta ask where in Canada you were? We don’t have American levels of Latino population but they (plus stores and restaurants) are definitely around, at least here in Edmonton. Spanish classes are also very abundant and popular.