After having been thwarted twice by bad weather and cancelled flights for a winter trip to Quebec City, the third time was a charm for Jill and me to make the trip in April. We followed most of our original itinerary and had the added benefit of being able to participate in the last weekend of the Maple Syrup Festival.
People: The people in Quebec City are bilingual (French and English) and very welcoming. We tested our French language skills, relying on two years of an excellent high school French class and were able to hold conversations in French until we couldn’t and then the Quebecoise natives subtly and kindly shifted to English for us.
Places: We had many opportunities to use our French speaking skills at museums and restaurants and when celebrating maple syrup at a Cabane au Sucre (aka Sugar Shack) where we had a multi-course maple syrup dinner at a large community center.
There was live music from a banjo and guitar accompanied by the audience playing cuilleres musicales (musical spoons), which the person sitting next to us taught us how to play.
The meal started when the server placed a bottle of maple syrup on the table. In case you are not up to date on your taste buds, there are now five flavors our buds can respond to: sweet, sour, salty, bitter, and umami (savory). Maple syrup activates umami, and we were instructed to pour the maple syrup on every item that we would be served, including the first course of pea soup, the next course, baked beans and a meat pie, and the final courses of sausages, potatoes, pancakes, pancake pieces with diced apples drizzled with syrup and a maple syrup pie.
But wait…. we had not yet had enough maple syrup. As we were leaving, we were directed to a snow-covered table with rectangular indentations into which our hosts had poured maple syrup. With our syrup sticks (tongue depressors) we scooped up the chilled syrup and, with our teeth, pulled the snow and sugar on to our tastebuds, thus completing the full Cabane au Sucre experience!
Reflecting on this evening, we were struck by the community spirit shared by 200 people with one common denominator: celebrating the Quebec maple syrup harvest, which is a universal experience of enjoying locally harvested food, lively music, and camaraderie.
Pies: Quebec City is known for its wonderful food and not a day went by without eating at least 2 pies. Every restaurant served 
a boreal (from the forest) meat pie made from ground elk, bison, pig, or deer, and of course a dessert pie, with maple syrup as the featured ingredient. In the photos you will notice a dollop of “ketchup” served on the side or on top of the pie along with field greens. Ketchup in Quebec is a sweet tomato relish made from diced tomatoes and seasoned with vinegar, salt, onion and other spices and provides a nice contrast to the meat pie. During the “season” the pie might rest on a drizzle of maple syrup!
