You Are Not Alone – Episode Review, Part 2

 

So before the hiatus, I wrote an episode review in 3 parts, which each part dedicated to a different character’s plotline. This week, part 2 of my review is all about Canadian cuisine. I don’t plan on writing Degrassi food reviews as a regular thing, but I was really captivated by this quote from Maya (as seen in the photo above): “Do you want pizza roles, poutine, chocolate pudding, an apple, are you in a gang?”

I was like, whoa, Maya, slow down! She was trying to act so casual but brought up the gang question in the most obvious and unnatural way possible. So anyway, as I was writing out this quote, I was baffled by this “poutine” word. I looked it up. At first I thought she was saying “patine” and would up with some description of a Roman cold omlette with asparagus and quail, known as patina:

 

I thought, man, these Canadians sure do pack weird things for lunch!

Easy mistake for us culture-lacking Americans to make. No, Maya does not have whole quails in her lunchbox. Actually, a note to my fellow non-Canadians: poutine is “a common Canadian dish, originally from Quebec, made with french fries, topped with a light brown gravy-like sauce and cheese curds. This fast food dish can now be found across Canada.” It is one of Canada’s national foods and is served at places like McDonald’s. (Thank you Wikipedia). So Degrassi Community Schools actually sells something more like this:

 

Or this…

 

So, if you stop by Toronto for Degrassi’s parking log party on August 5th, and you want to get in on the down and dirty details of a Degrassian’s Canadian experience, be sure to stop by a fast food joint and order some poutine. While you’re at it, you might as well buy some of this:

It may not be specifically Canadian, but I’m sure I’m not the only one who was introduced to tofurkey by Ms. Emma Nelson herself (Maya’s doppelganger), who basically talked about it nonstop. I think it was mandatory for Emma to mention tofurky at least once per episode. Thank you, blondes of Degrassi, for expanding my cuisine-horizon.