Poutine
Poutine (pronounced, roughly, poo-teen, peuh-tin, or peuh-tsin; Audio clip by a Québecois) is a mixture of french fries with fresh cheddar cheese curds, covered with gravy. It originated in rural Quebec, Canada in the late 1950s and is now popular all over the country. It is a good snack in winter if the fries and cheese are fresh and the gravy is hot enough to partly melt everything together.
A common variation, Italian poutine, substitutes gravy with spaghetti sauce. Some restaurants boast a dozen or more variations of poutine. In the eastern United States, which boasts a high number of Franco-American descendants with roots in Quebec, it is possible to find a similar dish called cheese fries. It is popular in places like New Jersey and Maine, and it is often made with melted cheese or cheese spread. Brown gravy or chili sauce is optional.
The exact origin of the name is unknown, but some believe it is derived from the English word "pudding", used in the slang sense of "a mess" or in the sense of "dessert".
Poutine is a fast-food staple in Quebec, and is sold by nearly all fast-food chains in the province, as well as by smaller diners. International chains like McDonalds, A&W and Burger King sell poutine in (and increasingly outside of) Quebec, but their product is scorned by many as being an inferior reproduction.
When ordering a fast-food trio or combo in Québec, you can almost always pay a small extra to get your french fries replaced by a poutine.
In 2000, comedian Rick Mercer of the CBC satire show This Hour Has 22 Minutes persuaded then-presidential candidate George W. Bush to congratulate his "good friend Jean Poutine" on his reelection as Prime Minister of Canada. The prime minister's name is Jean Chrétien. The segment aired as a "Talking To Americans" sketch.
In French transliteration the Russian leader is Vladimir Poutine.
