A Dill-icious Creation

There's a lot of goodness packed into this tangy snack

- Leila El Shennawy

IN THE EARLY 17th century’s The Tempest, William Shakespeare had King Alonso ask the court jester, “How camest thou in this pickle?” You could say we’d all be in a pickle without the delightfully pungent and tangy food.

Today, you’ll run into pickles at every turn. Among the array of over-the-top offerings at fairs across Canada, including the Canadian National Exhibition in Toronto, the Pacific National Exhibition in Vancouver and the ever-popular Calgary Stampede, are pickle-flavoured cotton candy, pickle fries, pickle pizza and pickle lemonade. And the most common food-delivery request in eight Canadian cities, according to a 2021 Uber Eats survey? "Extra pickles, please."

Pickle mania is nothing new. Thousands of years ago, ancient Mesopotamians in modern-day Syria, Turkey and Iraq enjoyed cucumbers preserved in vinegar, brought from their native India.