Chinese restaurants in Canada

Like many immigrant experiences in Canada, the Chinese who came to Canada 120 years ago in search of a better life while the Manchu dynasty in the Middle Kingdom was crumbling invented a new Chinese cuisine. The Chinese migrants were not cooks or chefs but poor migrants coming to Canada as labourers to work on the construction of the railway, often performing dangerous tasks. Chinese workers would cook for the crew and attracted the attention of non-Asian workers, it was exotic and looked good.  Thus the Chinese cuisine has a long history in Canada dating back to 1880 during the period of the National Dream, the building of the Canadian Pacific Railway spanning from the Atlantic to the Pacific. The first restaurants to appear were in Western Canada from the Yukon to British Columbia to Alberta. However though the restaurants had Chinese owners the dishes on the menu were not necessarily Chinese but dubbed Chinese, they were largely inventions of the Chinese owners to suit the palate of Canadians who had never heard nor seen Chinese food, thus Chow Mein, Chop Suey or General Tao's Chicken, Sweet and Sour Chicken balls and many other migrant Chinese cuisine dishes were invented. The Chinese restaurant is present in every Canadian town from the small village to the large metropolis. In fact there are more Chinese restaurants in Canada than fast food restaurants combined. Often one family will sell their restaurant to the next Chinese immigrant once they move upwards on the social ladder.

The restaurant like the laundry service common in cities like Winnipeg, Toronto and Montreal became a way for the Chinese migrants to establish themselves and to allow the next generation to move up in society. Up to 1968 the total Chinese population of Canada was about 28,000 persons, today it stands at 1.5 million individuals. 


My grandfather who worked in Montreal in the 1930's, had in the Old Chinatown around rue St-Urbain and rue Clark his favourite Chinese restaurants, I remember going to them as a child, to my child eyes they were very exotic places, far removed from anything I knew. The food was good and it was always an adventure to go to such places. 

However when I lived in China I discovered real Chinese cuisine, which is different depending on the region and involves complex recipes, Cantonese, Mandarin, Szechuan and many others which are virtually unknown to us in the West. Beijing has its own dishes which are typical of the Capital, so now I have become very discerning and am not willing to put up with the Canadian Chinese dishes anymore, maybe I have been spoiled in a way. I find the Canadian Chinese dishes to be full of MSG and very bland tasting, lacking the subtle flavours I found in China.  It is probably true that each ethnic group who comes to Canada as migrants bring with them their food and tradition but will modify them to suit their new surroundings and conditions often creating new foods and dishes, it is certainly true of the French, the Irish, the Scots, the English, the Jews, the Italians and many other immigrant groups who have come to Canada since 1608.

From Padova to Verona on our way to Innsbruck

We had made reservations with OBB Austrian Federal Rail System to leave from Padova at 14:08 to go to Innsbruck. We got to the station on time only to discover that the train was not listed anywhere, the personnel from Train Italia could not help, they had no information.

Finally after insisting that there had to be a train, we had tickets, one Train Italia Official told us that, yes there was a bus to Verona with the sign OBB on it. So out the station we go and start looking for this bus, No bus, what to do, we decided to take a taxi to Verona, the distance is short about 55 min trip all together on the highway, the cost 160 Euros extra. Our taxi driver was doing about 220 km per hour.

Verona Porta Nuova Station standing by the DB car.

What a pain, nowhere on the OBB web site does it explain where the bus is etc. It also fails to tell you that the famous bus leaves Padova train station 30 minutes before the actual phantom train leaves. On the other hand the web site of DB, the German Rail system tells you this. You see the train is in fact the express that goes from Verona to Munich via Austria. But then why are the Germans more forthcoming with info than the Austrians? It’s probably cultural.

 Austrian OBB locomotive pulling a German DB train. Verona Station.

Anyway all this to say is that we missed our train departing Verona by minutes, because in the Verona Porta Nuova station, this train is not announced either.

The information desk will tell you that all German trains leave from Binario 1 or 3 and the representative of the other train systems is on Binario 1. You figure it out, dear client, don’t you love it, unresolved issues about moving borders from the First World War some 93 years ago.

So finally we boarded the last train at 16:59 and left promptly first stop is Rovereto, which is a small town in the Dolomite mountains, next lovely Trento, then beautiful Bolzano also known as Bozen, this was part of Austria until 1918, all great wine country of the Alto Adige or Süd Tirol. On to

Bressanone or Brixen, Fortezza or Franzensfeste, the famous Brenner Pass which is the border between Italy and Austria way up in the Dolomites and steps away from the Alps and finally Innsbruck. We will arrive at 20:30 some 2 hours late. The unfortunate part is that we missed going through the mountains in daylight as planned, which is very picturesque at this time of year with all the snow high up in the Austrian Alps.  

Strangely enough our train has no restaurant car, no bar car, nothing to eat or drink, snack's are advertised and the prices of food and drinks are the same as Canada’s Via Rail, is there a conspiracy here? Probably. I did ask the conductor about this situation given that the entire train ride, if we went all the way to Munich would take about 7 hours. The conductor apologized and said it was DB Rail management who had decided at the last minute not to provide anything given that the train was almost empty.  Still to me that is irresponsible and probably contrary to safety rules. 

When we got to Innsbruck, our hotel is just across the street from the train station, The Grand Hotel Europa is a wonderful hotel, impeccable service, the rooms are ultra modern, with lots of facilities. The hotel itself is more than 140 years old, but the owners have take great care to maintain it and done it with great care and good taste. See www.granhoteleuropa.at

What impressed us the most was that the next morning we sent out laundry to be done at 8 am, it was back in the room all neat and clean at 10am, I can honestly say that never in 45 years of traveling around the world have I ever seen this. 

We met friends on arrival last night and went to dinner at a wonderful Tapas Bar called TAPABAR on Marktplatz, see www.tapabar.at great food and excellent Spanish wines.

   

125th Anniversary Transcontinental Canada

This weekend is the 125th anniversary of the inauguration and completion of the Transcontinental railway across Canada, it was built as a promise to the Province of British Columbia in 1871, so that they would join the union with other Canadian Provinces. It was completed by Sir William Van Horne in 1885. The Last Spike of the Canadian Pacific Railway was the final spike driven at Craigellachie, British Columbia at 9:22 am on November 7.
Some 30,000 men and 6,000 Chinese migrant workers built this railway which is clearly a symbol of Canadianism linking the Nation from Sea to shining Sea, across several time zones and thousands of kilometers. With the Maple Leaf, the Beaver, the railway is an iconic symbol for all Canadians.