Hey, all! I'm excited, because today's post combines two of my favourite topics: language and food. After discovering that schmoo torte is exclusive to Winnipeg, I decided to do a bit of digging to see if there are other so-called Winnipegisms that I wasn't aware of. Lo' and behold, there certainly are, and, funnily enough, several of them relate to food.
Just like in any city, Winnipeg has food items unique to certain establishments whose names have entered the local lexicon due to their popularity. At Salisbury House restaurants, the burgers are called nips. At the Bridge Drive-In, a seasonal ice cream stand known to locals as the BDI ("beady eye"), they serve what is known as the Goog Special: an upside down blueberry shake with a hot fudge sundae and bananas topped with whipped cream. (!!!) At Jeanne's Bakery, they bake Jeanne cakes: traditional cakes with a shortbread cookie crust.
But I also discovered that there are some foodie items that either aren't found elsewhere, or are common to many places but are just called something different here. Here is a sample - (see below for photo sources):
Just like in any city, Winnipeg has food items unique to certain establishments whose names have entered the local lexicon due to their popularity. At Salisbury House restaurants, the burgers are called nips. At the Bridge Drive-In, a seasonal ice cream stand known to locals as the BDI ("beady eye"), they serve what is known as the Goog Special: an upside down blueberry shake with a hot fudge sundae and bananas topped with whipped cream. (!!!) At Jeanne's Bakery, they bake Jeanne cakes: traditional cakes with a shortbread cookie crust.
But I also discovered that there are some foodie items that either aren't found elsewhere, or are common to many places but are just called something different here. Here is a sample - (see below for photo sources):
- 1 - Dainties: Petit fours, i.e. small baked goods you eat with your fingers - usually served at social gatherings such as bridal showers. Most often they are baked in larger pans and then cut into bite-sized squares.
- 2 - Honey dill sauce: When you order chicken fingers in a restaurant in Winnipeg, they won't come with plum sauce for dipping. Instead, you will be treated to the yumminess that is honey dill sauce, which tastes pretty much just like it sounds.
- 3- Imperial cookies: It seems that these cookies are also popular in the UK, but there they are known as empire biscuits. They are plain vanilla cookies sandwiched with jam and topped with white icing and a cherry in the middle.
- 4 - Jambuster: Our term for a jelly doughnut
- 5 - Matrimonial cake: What other people refer to as date squares, we call matrimonial cake.
So, now, I'd love to know - have any of you ever heard of these terms before, and if so, where do you live? Do you know of any foods or foodie words that are unique to your neck of the woods? Let me know in the comments.
Sarah xoxo
Photo credits: 1 - pegskitchen.ca 2 - allrecipes.ca 3 - claudiascookbook.com 4 - foodnetwork.ca 5 - jocooks.com