Strange Things Canadians like # 1

I was inspired to do this by the following :

a) this hilarious website
b) seeing Canadians do stuff that is strange to a faux-Canuck like myself

Hopefully, it will educate the foreigners and give a giggle to the natives. So here's the first installment of my journey through the bizarre rituals of the inhabitants of Canadialand...

# 1 : Grilled Cheese Sandwiches



Hang on, what's so strange about grilled cheese sandwiches? Bread = good. Cheese = good. Bread + cheese = mega good. Well, yes. Except these "grilled cheese sandwiches" are not grilled, they're fried.

That's right, fried. They make a cheese sandwich, then throw it in a pan.

So why not call them "fried cheese sandwiches"?

Well, therein lies the conundrum. To make this even more complex, consider that a grill in Canada isn't even called a grill, it's called a broiler. So if they really were grilled cheese sandwiches, the Canadian mouth would call them "broiled cheese sandwiches". A grill to these people is like a BBQ.

Yet these BBQ-loving peoples would never put one of these culinary delights (because don't get me wrong, they taste delightful) on a barbie. It would get cheese all over the coals for a start.

No, this type of munchie is more likely to be made post-piss-up, or as a hangover snack the next day. I've even come across this most North American of foods in miniature as a canape, and it was fairly excellent.

Still, no Canadian can seem to explain to the bewildered onlooker how this name came about, or why they don't 'broil' them. Describe the general way of making (which, in our Manchester flat, at least, was to mash cheese up with some mustard and tabasco sause, put it in a sandwich and shove it in the top of the oven) and they look either confused or upset.

Strange stuff.