Montreal's Culinary History

A creative, festive, exuberant and diverse city, Montreal is a gastronomic destination where the pleasures of the table are endless. With this 5-step tour, discover the unseen side of the city's culinary history through the buildings, milestones and cultural communities that have contributed to its development.

When Montreal was still called Ville-Marie and the city was surrounded by walls, almost every house had a vegetable garden. Cabbages, onions, carrots, potatoes, fresh herbs, strawberries, currants, and other small fruits were grown. 

The priests of Saint Sulpice, then lords of the island of Montreal, also had a splendid garden at the back of their residential complex, the Seminary of Saint Sulpice, located at 116 Notre Dame St. W. (metro Place d'Armes).

The Garden of the Sulpicians' Seminary, now a National Historic Site of Canada, is said to be the oldest in North America. Arranged in a "U" shape, it evokes the French Renaissance gardens and served as a place for walking, meditation, and for growing fruit and vegetables for the priests of Saint-Sulpice. 

Not far from there (a mere 8-minute walk along Notre-Dame Street to the East), the Château Ramezay Museum, the former home of Montreal’s Governors, allows visitors to discover the last ornamental garden - orchard and vegetable - in Old Montreal that was preserved from the city's growth. Carefully reconstructed to bring back to life the 18th century atmosphere in a reduced format (750 m2 instead of the original 4200 m2!), it takes visitors back to the haven of peace and greenery where the summer receptions of the French nobility were once held.  

In the southwest of Montreal, in Pointe-Saint-Charles (metro Charlevoix), we can still visit Maison St-Gabriel, the oldest farm on the island where the Filles du Roy were welcomed when they first arrived in Canada. The "vast agricultural domain of 200 acres" is exploited by the Sisters of the Congregation of Notre-Dame until 1955, where they raise cattle and grow vegetables such as turnips, beans, carrots, onions and leeks. 

Also, near the Places d'Armes metro station, we can easily explore the many marketplaces where local farmers have come to sell the fruits of their crops to city dwellers over the last centuries. 

Montreal's very first public market was established in Place Royale in 1676 near the customs building that is now part of the Pointe-à-Callière museum complex. A new, much larger market, called the Marché Neuf, was then installed on Place Jacques Cartier. It attracted large crowds in summer and winter.

The city nevertheless acquired an indoor market by building the Marché Saint-Anne on Place d'Youville in 1834. Expropriated in 1842 to make it the Parliament of the Province of Canada, the short-lived adventure saw the Parliament burned down by rioters in 1849... In the meantime, the majestic building of the Bonsecours Market was inaugurated in 1847 to become the city's central market where all the small neighbourhood grocers came to get supplies.

During the economic crisis of the 1930s, thousands of unemployed people were no longer able to feed their families. Public and community gardens sprang up all over the city. Even municipal firefighters had their own garden!

The most famous public garden in the city remains the one dreamed by Brother Marie-Victorin. The Montreal Botanical Garden (metro Pie-IX) was created in 1931 in Maisonneuve Park.  

In order to provide employment for the unemployed during the Great Depression, the mayor of the time, Camilien Houde, began major public infrastructure work. Inaugurated in 1933, the Atwater Market is a majestic Art Deco yellow brick building overlooking the Lachine Canal (metro Atwater). Particularly pleasant to visit in the summer, one can taste good artisanal ice creams, pastries, or seasonal vegetables. A discerning eye will notice that the interior of the market is devoted to numerous butcher shops, a remnant of its original vocation as a meat market. 

The Jean-Talon market, metro Jean-Talon is the largest open-air market in North America . It can be visited year-round. This public market buzzing with vitality, is the place of choice for chefs and Montrealer’s to get fresh produce, whether snow crab in April, strawberries in June, corn in August or apples in September. Deeply linked to the history of Little Italy, it was also built by the unemployed in the 1930s. 

In addition to the alley gardens of Greek, Italian and Portuguese families that can be admired while walking in the neighborhoods of Villeray and Rosemont, (metro Beaubien, Jean-Talon, De Castelnau and Jarry) Montreal is also getting renown for its innovative rooftop greenhouses cultures. During open houses organized by Lufa Farms a few times a year, visit the first commercial rooftop greenhouse in the world! (metro Crémazie) 

Continue your discovery of Montreal by clicking on the 4 thematic tours below