Originally posted on Cbc.ca by Andrew Coppolino
Consider the Philly Cheesesteak, Chicago’s drippy Italian Beef Sandwich with giardiniera, Buffalo wings and the meaty Miami Cuban Sandwich: they’re iconic dishes for their namesake cities.
Make no mistake, in Waterloo region, we have our own iconic dishes that give us both an understanding of our past and a view of how we have evolved as a community.
The olde Heidelberg Restaurant and Tavern, an 1860s stage coach stop, is currently well-known for serving a massive smoked pork hock (schwein shaxe) with sauerkraut. It’s a tourist attraction.
A relatively new sandwich — an award-winner, Nostra Cucina’s veal sandwich — was selected in a province-wide competition as Ontario’s best veal sandwich, according to Veal Farmers of Ontario. It may become another edible symbol of the region.
Whether classic or modern, locally-influenced dishes capture our culinary and cultural history in one way or another. They help define who we are and where we came from but, like the proverbial mirror held up to ourselves, they also reveal our current and future evolving multi-cultural identity.