POUTINE PANDEMONIUM!

You'd think that with all these restaurants and pubs now serving poutine - and seeing it on food TV shows and reading about poutine festivals - that it wouldn't become a cause for repeated clashes with a sibling.

To be clear, poutine is a French Canadian comfort food that apparently has two versions. One originated in Quebec in the 1950s and consists of French fries and cheese curds topped with a brown gravy. It is associated with Quebec, but has spread throughout Canada and the U.S.

Then there's the dumpling-like things your mamere in New Brunswick made, called "poutine rapee." They are Acadian and are made with mashed potatoes and pork. No fries or cheese curds.

I am not French Canadian, although I sure do wish I was! Neither is my sister, Paula, although she was married to one. Paula just insists that the Acadian variety is the only real poutine. She will repeatedly post photos of them on Facebook. She argues with me about it at family gatherings. She will not shut up about it, despite my many attempts to point out that the rest of the world goes with the French fry version. Well, most of them. More on that later.

My first encounter with the Acadian dumpling variety was not a good one.
I worked as a reporter for a newspaper in a city with lots of French Canadians. A colleague, Anna, was working on a piece about a local fair at a French church. For weeks, she had been hearing from excited church ladies who were making their famous poutines. They would bring some to Anna at the office! She would love them! 

Anna, an Italian-American who is a darn good cook, pulled me aside and asked me to join her in the taste test, which she promised was something to look forward to. 
The day came. I walked into the back room and there in the middle of the lunch table was a white plastic container filled with shiny white blobs of a dough-like substance floating in a watery brownish liquid. 
We looked at one another in horror. 

Really? Was this an ugly stepsister to the lovely Italian arancini? A very ugly stepsister, actually. The only thing in common is they are both round, have some sort of carbs and meat, and a "sauce." Maybe floating perogies? 

 We dug in. Anna practically spit it out. I ate the darn thing, but really couldn't taste anything other than diluted broth of some kind.
I don't know what Anna told the church ladies, but the fair went on and I think the poutines sold out! I vowed never to try one again, that is until I saw the Quebec version pictured on a menu.

My next try was at Niagara Falls, where a food stand right at the falls had poutine. At this point, a few years later, poutine mania was in full swing. Why not give it another go?  Thankfully, these were Quebecoise style, and the cheese curds could be pushed to the side if need be. (Sidenote: My dad and I used to love chowing down on French fries and gravy at a place in a mall called "Boardwalk Fries," so fries with gravy is a always a good thing in my mind.) 
It wasn't bad, but my friend declined to try them.

Then there was the time in Memphis. One of my favorite restaurants there, the "Kooky Canuck" has two versions of poutine. Both with fries. No greasy floating blobs in sight. I cajoled my husband into ordering something called "Donair Poutine,." and let's just say it didn't go well. The dish was a big pile of ingredients, including Greek gyro and some sort of maybe barbecue sauce (it WAS Memphis, after all...) The thing was like a huge multi-cultural super-nacho - and not in a good way. He couldn't finish it.

So, last week, doesn't Paula post another photo of a "poutine rapee," again making her case in the most belligerent manner possible, that, "these are the ONLY, AUTHENTIC, REAL poutines!" 
"People around here are constantly loving on the French fry type," she wrote. "They need to know about the 'real ones' that take a lot more work and are different than a pile of fries with toppings!"
And then this (directed at moi) "I think the New Brunswick ones are the originals. I just see fries, gravy, and tons of cheese and not that special. The NB ones seem to be more special...time and talent. Family tradition."

I had enough. 

Because now I have allies! Or so I thought. I've become Facebook friends with several fellow Montreal Canadiens fans who live in Canada. One of them, Michel, whose mother was born in New Brunswick. I foolishly got him involved by asking, OK, aren't poutines supposed to be gravy and fries? His response didn't exactly help my case. He also believes the (Rapee) poutine-makers should get credit for putting in the effort to make home-made food. 

Merci, Michel! Not. 

He did acknowledge that the fries-and-curds-style poutine probably originated in Quebec, and are all over the place in Canada. He even got free poutine at a pizza place and says that's pretty common there. Sort of like when you get free wings with pizza here. 

Maybe Paula and I can argue about who started pizza. Maybe there is an Acadian style pizza! Oh, right, those are sold in Louisiana and are called muffa-lettas. Maybe no? Go ask Paula.