Bachelor contestant from Toronto makes Canadian food look disgusting on national TV
Canadians may have a reputation of being overly polite, accommodating and appeasing — but if there's one thing we won't tolerate, it's having our local delicacies misrepresented on national television.
Unfortunately, that's exactly what happened on Monday's episode of The Bachelor, and it has Canadian Twitter up in arms.
This week's episode saw Toronto-born contestant Serena Pitt attempt to give bachelor Matt James the authentic Canadian experience during hometowns by exposing him to four different iconic dishes: poutine, beaver tails, Nanaimo bars and peameal bacon.
But the dishes presented during the episode barely resembled the real things — looking instead like brown-coloured, lifeless and inaccurate versions of some of Canada's best local fare.
Popular Bachelor podcast Bachelor Party shared photos of the four dishes on Twitter after the episode, asking viewers to "Choose ONE Canadian delicacy," but to say Canadian Twitter users were outraged by the portrayal of our local dishes is an understatement.
they literally did us dirty https://t.co/EMLIuaa9Dc
— ria elciario (@riaelciario) February 23, 2021
Some Canadians even took the time to point out exactly what was wrong with each of the dishes and share more accurate photos of what they should look like instead.
As a 🇨🇦, where did these examples get pulled from? That poutine looks disgusting (just a lake of gravy with minimal curds), beaver tails are too thick and no topping, & Nanaimo bars shouldn't have toppings like that. Pemeal bacon, I don't care for (basically just ham). pic.twitter.com/5GcfzCFL7b
— Heynong Man (@Heynong_Man) February 23, 2021
Others meanwhile took issue with the foods chosen to represent Canada in the first place.
Hard pass on all of them. Should be Hawkins Cheezies, All Dressed Ruffles, Lays Ketchup Chips and Smarties. IYKYK. pic.twitter.com/8i45rDxbKl
— Robyn Mac (@PlanetByn) February 23, 2021
And one user shared a photo of a poutine from La Banquise in Montréal, which is widely believed to be one of the best (if not the best) poutines in the city.
Fyi: here’s an authentic poutine from La Banquise in Montreal: pic.twitter.com/T6AJUNw5OG
— real1720 (@Justdiscourse) February 23, 2021
During the episode, Serena also mentioned that she likes to eat poutine with her fingers, proving that she is in fact from Ontario and definitely not from Québec.
I love poutine but this one looked disgusting and why did she say she eats poutine without a fork? 🤔 Seriously? No one eats poutine with their hands. It doesn’t even makes sense with all the gravy and melted cheese 🤦🏻♀️
— Clo (@ClaudiaOhLaLa) February 23, 2021
This deeply offended many viewers, as did the appearance of the poutine itself.
That is the nastiness looking poutine I’ve ever seen and I’ve seen people order poutine from a Pizza Pizza on Gerard st. pic.twitter.com/XcqQPuqGfZ
— Sarah Brown (@_allthemarbles) February 23, 2021
Canada being misrepresented by Americans who know little of our country, nor our food preferences, is far from a new phenomenon. But as a Canadian herself, one would hope that Serena explained to Matt — at the very least behind the scenes — that the dishes served on the show were simply nothing like the real deal.
