But this is not the only story. Another man, named Jane-Paul Roy, claimed that he was the first person to invent poutine in 1964 at his drive-in restaurant. He stated that since 1958, he had been serving fries with a special sauce and he called this dish \u201cPatate-sauce.\u201d Then, he noticed that customers were adding cheese curd to their fries, so he added that dish to the menu and named it \u201cFromage-patate-sauce.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n In the years that followed, many specialty poutine chains and restaurants opened in Canadian cities, including Smoke’s Poutinerie in 2008 and Poutini\u2019s House of Poutine. The iconic dish invented in a small town in Canada eventually spread beyond Canada becoming popular in the UK, Korea and even Russia, where it is known as \u201cRaspoutine.\u201d Today this iconic dish is loved and enjoyed by people all around the world. <\/span><\/p>\n Sources:<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n https:\/\/www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca\/en\/article\/history-of-poutine<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/seeds.ca\/schoolfoodgardens\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/unnamed-8-1-300x155.png\")
The first story takes place in Warwick, Quebec. This town was surrounded by dairy farms and was famous for its cheese curd, which is one of the main<\/span>\u00a0ingredients in poutine. It is widely believed that in 1957, the owner of \u201cLa Lutin Qui Rit,\u201d Fernand Lachance, was the first person to create poutine. According to the story, one of Fernand Lachance\u2019s regular customers, Eddie Lainesse, requested something rich and tasty. He suggested adding cheese curd to the fries. In response, Fernand Lachance said, \u201c\u00c7a va faire une maudite poutine!\u201d which translates to, \u201cThat will make a damn mess\u201d (in Quebec, poutine is a slang word for mess.) Soon after, he added this dish to his menu. By 1962, he began serving it on plates. However, customers complained that the fries got cold too quickly, so he decided to drizzle them with gravy to keep them warm.<\/span><\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/seeds.ca\/schoolfoodgardens\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/unnamed-7-1.png\")
Regardless of which story is true, poutine quickly gained popularity in small towns in Southeastern Quebec before arriving in Quebec City in 1969. It then made its way to Montreal in 1983, and soon became a common offering at food trucks in Quebec and Ontario.\u00a0 As poutine grew in popularity, different variations of this dish began to emerge. Some of these include Italian poutine, made with spaghetti sauce or sausage instead of gravy, and veggie poutine, which includes mushroom sauce and vegetables. Some regional variations include Montreal-style poutine, made with smoked meat. By the 1970s, a variation of this dish appeared in New York and New Jersey, where it was known as \u201cDisco Fries\u201d. This version of poutine was made with shredded mozzarella instead of traditional cheddar cheese curd.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/seeds.ca\/schoolfoodgardens\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/unnamed-6-1.png\")
Poutine was first introduced in a restaurant chain in 1985 by Frits, a short-lived Quebec franchise that closed in 1988. In 1987, Burger King added poutine <\/span>to the menu in all of its Quebec locations, followed by McDonald’s in the 1990s. This dish gained even more popularity across Canada in 1992 when Harvey’s added poutine to its menu in all the locations throughout Canada.<\/span><\/p>\n