Canada's best fast food

If asked to think about North American culture I bet that one of the first things that comes to mind is food. Fast food. Hamburgers and fries, pancakes and waffles, milkshakes and doughnuts – North American really knows how to dish up the best fast food on the planet.

All in the name of this blog post (wink wink) I toured Vancouver to discover the best fast food eateries on Canada’s west coast.

A very popular Canadian fast food is Poutine. In its simplest form this is fries, cheese and gravy but fast food chains like New York Fries (my favourite) sell versions with butter chicken, braised beef and maple bacon.

Fast food chain Harveys does delicious flame-grilled beef burgers and allows you to choose your own fresh toppings. Their hot dogs and ‘frings’ (fries and onion rings) are absolutely delicious and well worth a try!

And then, of course, comes Tim Hortons. With more than 3,000 locations across Canada I literally cannot walk more than two blocks in Vancouver without passing one.

They are the biggest and the best coffee and doughnut chain in the country and famous for their ‘breakfast sandwiches’ (an English muffin with sausage, egg and bacon) and their cream cheese toasted bagels.

I have to pass one every morning on my way to the lecture halls and I can never resist the smell of their hazelnut hot chocolates and freshly baked cinnamon rolls.

After a particularly gruelling evening class my friends and I have a tradition of stopping at Tim Hortons for a huge box of Timbits to share. Timbits are basically a pick-and-mix selection of bite-sized doughnut balls in different flavours such as raspberry, chocolate and lemon.

If I was stranded on a desert island with only one food to eat for the rest of my life I would wish it to be Timbits.

Finally there’s Coldstone and Marble Slab – the King and Queen of all fast food dessert chains.

They make the best ice creams I’ve ever eaten. You have to choose a flavour and a selection of toppings and they mix your custom ice cream right before you. My best creation so far is French Vanilla ice cream mixed with Rolo’s, Macadamia nuts and butterscotch sauce – my idea of heaven! You can even design your own ice cream ‘to go’ and have it packaged up into a Ben and Jerry’s style ice cream carton.

I think it’s safe to say that the fast food over here is leaps and bounds ahead of anywhere else I’ve been in the world.

If you can forget about the grease and the calories (it’s probably best to just ignore any nutritional information on the packaging!) then you can find some pretty incredible fast food in Canada and I already know I’m going to miss some of it when I’m home.

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