I mean, sure, it’s not as population dense as the USA, or Mexico, but Canada is huge, your people are nice, you have some of the best entertainment companies on the planet (namely Cirque du Soleil and Pornhub), your natural resources and attractions are unbelievable and your actors are the best (especially the BSG/Chronicles of Riddick cast).
And yet, as an Italian with an international perspective (lived abroad for the last 16 years and visited the USA and South America repeatedly), I have been not “Canada-aware” for most of my life.
I get it that you are not boasting like your neighbors (and that alone makes you better than them imho), but how come that I was left to realize only today that the Manitoba flour I used to make pizza all my life takes its name from one of your provinces, while I know about all the shitty pizzas the US made up in a century.
Same thing goes for Latin American countries, even the ones I never visited, like Mexico or Argentina.
I shall visit soon and I hope you can take the chance to teach me more in the meanwhile.
I think it has to do with an old saying.
“Speak softly and carry a big stick”
Generally we as Canadians on the international level speak softly, while the US speaks very loudly. It is of no shock to me that you only remember us when we have to bring out the stick because we aren’t as “interesting” to watch as the US is.
We may have Cirque du Soleil but everyone knows the real circus is US politics, and it is hard to compete on the world stage with the best of the best. haha
- Quoting Theodore Roosevelt very funny in context
- What big stick?
What big stick?
The one between every Canadians legs causing Trump the penis envy required to invade our beautiful nation.
“Speak softly, hide behind America’s stick and hope they never notice us”
The big stick of “we own most of your natural resources and energy so you probably shouldn’t fuck around”?
Just remember that it was a Canadian who invented the Hawaiian pizza. So, sorry about that.
(for the record, I like Hawaiian pizza)
The meme about hating pineapple pizza comes from Americans that hate eating anything that’s recognizably plant-like.
It must be ultra processed or meat.
Hey hey pineapple is officially a good pairing with cheese. Afaik the mozzarella foundation (??) recommends it specifically as a good flavour combination. No need to apologise bud.
The key to Hawaiian pizza is you need to add spice to it. Then you get sweet, savory, and spicy all in one wonderful mouthful. Even jalapeños work fine, but preferable something with a little heat.
As I stated in another comment, the reason for it being a possibly bad pizza has nothing to do with flavor, but “texture”.
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Can you explain?
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I was ambivalent, but now I support invasion. Not really, it’s just fun to hate on pineapple on pizza.
If the US takes over, it becomes their invention. It’s like our diamond shield. Like, whoever smelt it, dealt it.
I especially love Boston Pizza’s Hawaiian pizza with a sweet chilli drizzle on top. I can’t remember the name.
I never tried hawaiian pizza, mostly because I hate soggy pizza. I guess it is not meant to be eaten on a Neapolitan style base, but then again, I am not interested.
I am from Rome, where we have a pizza that would be possible not to get soggy when putting pineapple on it, but it is a curse from God, rather than real pizza.
It helps to give the pineapple a really good squeeze to reduce the liquid before you put it on. Then use the juice for sangria or whatever. :)
Happy to hear you’re thinking of us! I think the average Canadian thinks more about our country’s international reputation than mindshare. Personally, it doesn’t bother me hearing that someone in another country doesn’t think about us very often, but it does make me happy to hear that when you do it’s positively. Please do visit!
The Beaverton satirical article: Canada ranked number 1 in list of countries that care the most about international rankings
Claiming the bottom spot for the 35th year in a row was the US, whom researchers described as “firmly not giving a shit about what anyone thinks to a detrimental extreme”.
Honestly, it’s more like they invent a narcissistic alternative reality where everyone either loves them or hates them out of envy. Which is worse.
Not saying out inferiority complex is great either, though.
To be honest I never knew we shipped our flour that far. (I live in Manitoba)
I think for the most part we realize that we are not perfect by any stretch, and instead of bragging about what we do or don’t have, many of us would prefer to just try our best to make our corner of the planet as nice as we can. We are, after all, made up of people from all over the world and I think that’s one of our greatest strengths.
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I think it is not always produced in Manitoba, but it is the name of the kind of wheat flour that is best for pizza.
Durham wheat (also grown in large amounts in Manitoba) is considered one of the best for making pasta flour.
It’s kind of funny how many non-Italian things go into making that distinctly Italian food, pizza. I don’t think of this as a criticism, but a credit to them, that they will unashamedly take those things they can’t find or weren’t originally found in their region and make them their own.
Just remember, it takes exploring half the world to make a Hawaiian pizza.
Ya, I would assume that although the name originated from here, it’s grown throughout the prairies and probably the states as well.
Still interesting to know that our name is attached to it though. I’ve always thought that “manitoba flour” was just regular flour that was local.
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I probably learned that as well but just don’t remember it. I do know we’ve developed a lot of different hybrids from the Morden research station over the years. (I used to live across the street from there, years back.)
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I’ve never heard of Manitoba flour.
Why is it good for pizza?
It is a strong white flour, it builds quite a strong glutinic net (I am translating from Italian here) and therefore keeps a good elasticity after rising, while being stretched and pulled.
I don’t think your experience is unique - I think because the U.S. has been so dominant economically, culturally, and certainly militarily, much of the world overlooks us. It’s not in our national character to be boastful, we just get things done - but never mistake our quiet nature for meekness. We’re fiercely proud of our country and our accomplishments - and of being very unlike our neighbors to the south.
You should definitely come visit if you get the chance, there’s a lot to see, and a nation of friendly people to help you enjoy it. Ciao!
Sometimes we Canadians overlook ourselves, too…
Just as one example: the National Film Board making and promoting Canadian films just seem like some art-school hobbyists in comparison to the USA. You see all the big-name Canadian actors ending up in Hollywood blockbuster movies.
Absolutely. I had a friend (f*ck cancer) who was a huge movie buff, never missed TIFF, but he refused to watch Canadian-made movies. His argument was that he had been disappointed by them too many times, but I pointed out that Hollywood had disappointed him way more often lol. I finally got him to watch some, but he was a stubborn bastard about it. Miss ya, Fred.
You see all the big-name Canadian actors ending up in Hollywood blockbuster movies.
That’s because hollywood has the big audiences and therefore the big budgets.
If you want to be an actor you want your work to be seen and you want to be paid.
And films mostly in Canada at this point.
I preferred being out of sight out of mind actually, especially the lack of tourists. Hell is other people.
When I visited Scotland, I felt the city core of Edinburgh wasn’t for the locals anymore and it turned me off tourist reliant locations entirely for context.
the lack of tourists.
It’s a big country, that’s definitely not the case coast to coast.
You can do tourism wrong (as Italian cities do), and do it right, like Amsterdam started to do now. I was there in April last year and I was able to take pictures of the canals with no one in them but me effortlessly. They literally paid ads to tell British low cost flight tourists not to come visit.
It’s called self-care.
You can do tourism wrong (as Italian cities do)
Santorini is feeling the impacts of that over-tourism big time.
Yeah, Portugal also has a really big problem with tourism - we back here need a wakeup call fast.
I’d agree, with my limited experience anyways. I’ve only left Canada once and it was a trip to Scotland, Netherlands, Austria, Czech Republic.
Wait … did you just say that all the tourists in Edinburgh spoiled it for … you, as a tourist?
No, more like what tourism did to Edinburgh.
Which you discovered because you were a tourist there?
You’re really gonna do the “and yet you participate in society, curious” thing?
I have only been on that singular trip in my entire life, if that helps you.
It’s just kind of weird to lament that a place is touristy as a tourist of that place. Kind of like driving a car and lamenting the traffic that you’re in.
What better way to grasp the impact of an activity than by doing it? Of course this can be harmful - if every visitor to a natural reserve picked a flower, eventually that reserve would have no more flowers. But it can certainly bring that impact home when you’re in the midst of the results of many insignificant actions.
Honestly we forget about Canada, in a way. Having the US so close geographically and culturally has made it hard to see anything else. I can think of three distinctly Canadian dishes, and two of them have only stayed Canadian because they involve ingredients Americans can’t get.
The Anglo-Canadian identity is pretty much just “we’re not American” and having an inferiority complex. It’s been weirdly natural for people to switch to thinking of America as the enemy.
while I know about all the shitty pizzas the US made up in a century.
Yep, none of that was us. For sure. /s
ingredients Americans can’t get
Horsemeat? What are the other two dishes?
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God… American beer…
The dishes in mind were actually butter tarts, Nanaimo bars and poutine. Cheese curds are hard to come by in the US (so they make a much worse version with cheddar or whatever), and Bird’s custard powder for the filling of the bars is a British commonwealth thing. Butter tarts just aren’t exciting enough I guess.
I have no idea how prevalent horsemeat is anywhere. The white people in my area are loudly butthurt it exists at all.
Many years ago I worked in food logistics and we would send a pallet tote of horsemeat from somewhere in Quebec to somewhere in BC every few months so I wouldn’t think that horsemeat is in huge demand by any stretch of the imagination.
Meat is meat, if we raise it we should be eating it. Just because it is a beast of burden/pet doesn’t mean it shouldn’t be on a plate when it has served its other purposes. They can’t just be glue afterwards.
So you are North American Scots?
Yes, a bit like that (it’s not the groundskeeper Willie meme, other Lemmings). I wonder if Austrians feel the same way about Germany?
And I should say, Quebec does not suffer from this exact issue as far as I know.
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Obviously not a scifi fan. So much filmed there most significantly various stargates.
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Night at the Museum (all of them) was a big one that very few people realize was shot in Canada.
That just brought back a memory for me. I remember a career day or something like that at school and one of my classmates brought his aunt who worked on that movie. She showed us some early pre-sfx footage she had of the t-rex chase where it was just a tennis ball on a stick. Definitely not something that could happen today, but that was before every kid had a camera on them at all times.
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This would’ve been the (school)year before the movie came out, 2005/6. I suppose it’s possible it was publicly available at the time. It doesn’t really matter, it was just a cool memory from decades ago. I hope it didn’t come across as a classic “my uncle works at Nintendo” kind of comment.
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The Canadian film industry is so huge that a great majority of ‘Hollywood’ films have at least part of the movie shot in Canada
One historic district in Winnipeg regularly stands in for pre-fire era Chicago.
And various other parts of the city can easily act like many mid-west American cities.
One of the malls here hosts the shooting of a hallmark channel Christmas movie almost every summer.
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Not a Stargate one. I know a few sci-fi movie were shot in notable Canadian cities, such as Chronicle in Vancouver, but I never really recognized Canada in a sci-fi film, no.
Canadians that live in Vancouver and Toronto do this a lot for various films set in “American City, USA”:
Alberta has a thriving film industry, too. Nearly any Western, or show that’s written for Texas and vicinity will have scenes shot in Alberta. The Last of Us was shot in Calgary, Edmonton, and Canmore along with various “wilderness” locations. The giraffes in the series are Calgary Zoo residents.
Even if you’ve just visited, you’re like “wait, that looks really familiar” sometimes.
It’s 'cause they get a tax break, or so I’ve heard.
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We know we aren’t flashy. The world kind of forgets about us sometimes because we are next to the loudest kid in the class. We are proud generally of the co-operation we have with other places and groups. Our medical advances raise waters that lift all ships , we have a space program that primarily assists other nations space exploration. We have a military but we are primarily devoted to UN peacekeeping.
The Canadians were a pivotal force tasked with the Italian Campaign in WWII which had some of the most brutal on the ground city fighting of the war. My Grandfather was there from the beginning to the end of the Campaign… Yet I have heard Americans on here ask “Did Canada storm the beaches of Normandy?” as some kind of “gotcha” to shame us because they don’t know that we had our own beach operation but all they know is that Americans were there because Hollywood only shows American battles.
We are used to being kind of forgotten but we can be proud of ourselves for a job well done.
@biofaust Ok, the gig is up, which one of us Canadians wrote this. /s
As a second-generation Italian immigrant to Canada, Canada is pretty great. (Italy is pretty great too).
There are about 200-250 countries. I doubt most of us could name 1 fact about half of them.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_ISO_3166_country_codes
I repeat: Canada is quite a big one, it has a developed economy and produces solid cultural products.
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Sure if you count the departure of 1 person as a fact about a place.
I’m also skeptical unless you are counting disputed territories by every name they’ve ever gone by. Europe and Asia account for 80% of Mississauga population (and it was less diverse in the past). they’ve got 100 countries between them assuming you had the most possible representation, which is doubtful. Then you still need 40 more countries from very uncommon backgrounds.
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I cannot really relate to hockey or Tim Hortons, but c’mon Shuster was only born in Canada.
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How?
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The author of the Superman comics. Joe Shuster.
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