What is Canadian cuisine? While cookbook authors and historians have spent decades trying to answer this question, Canadian food isn’t summed up by one iconic dish, but rather a huge range of meals, flavours, and cultural influences. It’s about the people who make our food, who cook it and serve it to us at lunch counters, in ornate dining rooms, and through takeout windows.

In her debut book, restaurant critic and journalist Gabby Peyton has penned a celebration of 150 restaurants that have left a mark on the way Canada eats—whether they’re serving California rolls, foie gras poutine, hand-cut beef tartare, or bánh mì—and brings us from one decade to the next, showing how our dining trends evolved from beef consommé at Auberge Saint-Gabriel in 1754 to nori-covered hot dogs at Japadog.

Organized chronologically, from pre-Confederation to the present day, you'll find: Charming, entertaining essays, and transportive photos and menus from archival collections that give cultural, economic, and political context Many restaurants still open for business, so you can plan your visits and bring history alive on the plate 15 recipes inspired or contributed by some of the featured restaurants, for those wishing to truly feel like they’re dining in