I thought I knew syrup — using the rural wood-based domicile brand name as a kid on my pancakes made from a mix. A lot of syrups are made from high-fructose corn syrup and regular corn syrup. Discovering maple syrup, real maple syrup, really changes your thinking about what to put on pancakes.
The Essence of a Country (Le goût d’un pays) takes you through the path of maple syrup from the taps on the trees to the food on your plate. You might think a documentary on maple syrup would be as exciting as watching maple sap drip into a bucket or the excitement in watching maple sap boil down for hours into what looks a bit like maple syrup.
Francis Legault takes us through the process of maple syrup in context to the meaningful relationship that his home province of Quebec has with maple syrup. Families and friends bond over the experience of gathering maple syrup. The days are long, often 12-16 hours. The buckets are emptied into larger buckets and carried onto alternate terrain vehicles and small trucks back to the shack. The sap must be boiled down for hours, no sleeping on that job since you have to wait for that crucial moment when the syrup is ready.
The Essence of a Country speaks more to the bonds of the people who create the liquid gold that is maple syrup. Tradition being passed down to generations; taking kids out of school so they can be part of the experience; appreciating what it takes to get true home-grown maple syrups.
The syrup you get on these farms doesn’t have the consistency of what you might get in the store. One analogy in the film is the stuff you get in the store would be the equivalent of taking red wines from different farms and pouring them into the same bottle.
The film also takes us into the world of cabana a sucre, or sugar shack. This is a world I find fascinating, given what little I’ve seen of this, with large wooden tables full of fabulous food with maple syrup as the common denominator.
The intimate moments we see in the film are with loved ones cooking amazing looking food to share with that common sticky bond of maple syrup and love.
We also get to see the wonders of making sugar pie and other desserts with home-grown maple syrup.
In Quebec, maple syrup isn’t just a condiment. Maple syrup does flow through the veins of Quebec. When you see the story of maple syrup, you feel like you understand a bit more about La Belle Province.
Legault uses Gilles Vigneault, who he refers to as the Bob Dylan of Quebec in terms of poetry and fellow poet/songwriter Fred Pellerin to illustrate the traditions and meaningfulness of the gathering of the maple syrup sap. Their story is more about Quebec than maple syrup but their dialogue helps us to understand the story of the maple syrup process.
Martin Picard of Au Pied de Cochon fame said in the film that maple syrup to Quebec is olive oil to Italy. Given the reports of so many false olive oils in the U.S. market, that analogy becomes even more meaningful.
The film tries to draw analogies to separatists and turn a bit more political. The analogies aren’t subtle. Like a typical heated but generous gathering of ideas, you can tune this out and get back to the maple sap process.
The maple sap tapping season is unpredictable as to when the season starts or how long the gathering will happen. If you do pursue a cabana a sucre meal at a place such as the Au Pied de Cochon shack, you should reserve that around December for a uncertain peak time, but typically March/April.
The film shows us that the best way to experience a cabana a sucre is to be an intimate part with a small gathering, and help out to earn your keep and maple syrup.
photos credit: Le goût d’un pays
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