Some people may believe that poutine is a "laughable" invention, unfit to be called more than a recipe for food. However, don't we need food to survive? Sure, there are other (and more healthier) food choices out there, but poutine is different. We have many other types of food out there, but how many others are instantly recognizable to being Canadian? So already we have something that makes people think of Canada. People don't really do that kind of thing with something like basketball, or insulin.

Also, even though it is packed FULL of calories, that could be beneficial to many people out there. Body-builders, for example. A serious body-builder will need to consume roughly about 10,000 calories a day for their demanding lifestyle. Poutine is chocked full of what they need, in a meal not too big for them to finish. It probably doesn't have 10,000 calories in it (what would be horrible), but it has enough for them for one meal at a consumption rate of 10,000 calories per day.

Poutine has many other abilities, such as creating many very enthused poutine enthusiasts, traveling Canada to find Poutine in as many places as possible. You can only see things like this in sports, such as football. There's probably not people out there who go to as many stores as they can, trying to find many different types of UV degradable plastics out there on the market. People buy deep fryers, special fries, imported cheese curds, and grade A brand gravy made with a secret recipe, just to have a delicious bowl of grease.

So, there you have it. Insulin helps diabetes victims, the light bulb helps us see, and the telephone helps us talk to each other from great distances. But can those three inventions instantly be thought of as a Canadian invention? How about a pivotal device for body builders? Or how about having a cult following? No? What if you put them all together? Still not one thing? They're all great inventions in their own respects, but poutine has so much to offer to those to dare to go out on a limb and give it a go, reaping it of it's rewards to the public.

Living here in Canada all of my life I have learned many things about my country I would like to share with those of you who don't know much about Canada. Although its not totally informative and does give you a base idea on life here in our great country.

1. Life Expectancy

   The life expectancy here in Canada according to recent studies show men live to be to the average of 77 years where as the women have a longer life expectancy and live to be around 84 years.

2. Biggest Province

   Our biggest province here is Quebec which covers an area over 1,365,128 square kilometres.

3. Highest Populated Area

   Our province with the biggest population is Ontario with an outstanding 12.5 million people. Quebec is the second highest populated area with 7.6 million people.

4. Canadian Sports Inventor

   Did you know that basketball was invented by a Canadian named Dr. James Naismith. Dr. Naismith was originally from a small town in Ontario called “Almonte” in which I grew up. He invented the game while working in Boston with college students.

5. Canada's Size

   Canada is the second largest country in the world next to Russia. The area size of Canada is a whopping 9,984,670 square kilometres.

6. Immigrants In Canada

   A little over 16% of Canada's population are immigrants which equals to roughly 5.5 million people. The total population of people in Canada is nearly 32 million people if not more.

7. Boundary Line/Boarder

   The boundary line or boarder that separates Canada and the United States is 8890 kilometres long.

8. Trans-Canada Highway

   The Trans-Canada Highway is over 7604 kilometres in length and is the longest national highway in the entire world.

9. Deepest Lake In Canada

   The deepest lake we have here in our country is Great Slave Lake. This lake is located in the Northwest Territories and is a little over 614 metres deep.

10. Largest City

    The largest city here in Canada is Toronto. This city is home to over 5 million people and Toronto residents hold more university educations than any other country in the world.

11. Best City To Live In

    According to studies and research, Vancouver in British Columbia is tied with Zurich Switzerland for having the highest quality of life of any other city in the world.

12. Quality Of Life

    According to the United Nations Human Development Index, Canada has got the highest quality of life in the world making it an ideal place to live and raise a family.

Mollejas (ARGENTINA)

This food from Argentina is made from the Thymus gland of young calves, and is served especially with lemons!

Reindeer Steak (CANADA)

How about trying out a little bit of reindeer meat from Canada, for a change, eh?

Nopales (MEXICO)

If you are in Mexico and want to eat something local but vegetarian, try out their special cactus salad.

Kim Chee (KOREA)

Want to go veggie in Korea too? Then just try out some of their fermented cabbage. It is very sour and actually tastes a lot like vinegar.

Ika Sashimi (JAPAN)

In Japan, besides eating the food, watch out for its preparation, because the live squid is normally kept in a tank underneath the table at restaurants. Upon the arrival of a customer, there is a special ceremonious “Squid Dance” performance by the waiters where the live squid is cut up in front of you, then taken for cooking.

PATATJE OORLOG (HOLLAND)

The English translation of this dish from Holland means “war chips”. They are fried potato chips served with mayonnaise, tomato ketchup, garlic sauce and peanut-butter. It apparently gets its name because a war breaks out in your stomach when you eat it!

FUFU (GHANA)

People in Ghana simply relish this local dish made up of beaten yam fried in groundnut oil, and eaten especially with peanut butter

1. Approx. 89% of Canada is not habitable, because of extreme climate conditions.
2. Newfoundland is the only province that does not have an Indian reserve.
3. Yonge Street in Toronto is the longest street in the World. (It also goes far past Toronto. I live 45 min. North of T.O and live on Yonge St)
4. Canada has six time zones.
5. With over 2 Million lakes, Canada has the largest amount of freshwater in the world
6. The oldest program in Canadian broadcasting history is" Hockey Night In Canada". At first it was on the radio in 1931, and in the Fall of 1952 the first TV ice hockey game was broadcast nationally on CBC. It is still being produced weekly in both English and French .
7. The coldest temperature ever recorded was -63C (-81.4F) in Snag, Yukon on Feb 3, 1947.
8. Basketball: now a favourite in the U.S. - was invented by Canadian James A. Naismith , who was born in Almonte, Ontario in November 1871. After studying at McGill University in Montreal,Quebec he became an instructor at the International YMCA Training School in Massachusetts, USA. where he came up with the idea for basketball. The first basketball game was played in 1891.
9. Canada is the world's second largest country , but houses only 27 million people - making it rank only 28th in population.
10. Five pin bowling was invented in 1909 by Canadian T.E. Ryan.