I'm Sophie — I'll Settle the Smoked Meat vs Pastrami Debate and Take You Through the Plateau

My name is Sophie and I grew up in the Plateau. Montréal has a food culture that is worth a serious argument. The smoked meat sandwich at Schwartz's is not a pastrami sandwich and I will explain exactly why the difference matters. The Montréal bagel — from St-Viateur or Fairmount, and you are required to have a position — is boiled in honey water and baked in a wood-fired oven and is a categorically different object from a New York bagel. The poutine: proper fries, proper cheese curds, proper gravy, and it exists on a spectrum from the chip truck original to the gourmet versions that are either inspired or a betrayal depending on your position. I take groups through the Plateau across a morning: smoked meat, a bagel bakery, and a poutine lunch, with a walk through the neighbourhood that explains what Québec is as a culture and why Montréalers are so specific about their food.