It’s official: Poutine is a global player.

The world poutine-eating championships being held Saturday in Toronto – as a high-cal appetizer to a Toronto FC soccer game – are as good a sign as any that Quebec’s down-home artery clogger has finally arrived on the international stage.

Chicago, San Francisco, and of course New York; you can find poutine in more and more places throughout the world. And Portlanders may have more poutine choices than any other city not in Canada. I spoke to Mr. Allemang about my, and Portland’s, poutine obsession for the article.

In Portland, Ore., there are at least a dozen locales that play to poutine cravings, including the Potato Champion, which boasts of being the city’s only late-night French-fries cart and tempts homebound drinkers with vegetarian and even vegan poutine, as well as the standard version made with free-range chicken stock and artisanal curds.

How does an Oregon city come to be a force in the dish’s globalization? “There’s a big foodie culture here,” says software engineer David Strom, author of the Portland Poutine website. “There’s also an irony addiction in Portland. In the end, poutine’s the perfect junk food. … You’ve got gravy, you’ve got French fries, you’ve got cheese – what’s not to like?”

Mr. Strom traces his passion for poutine to a visit he made to Montreal in 2005: The motto of his website is “We have much to learn from Canada.” Montreal’s reputation as a lively tourist destination is in large part responsible for poutine’s rise in the food world.

Read the rest of the article for more on poutine’s march around the world.

Then there’s Strom’s food-and-drink tips, which he covers in detail on another blog whose name, along with its spirit, is derived from a recent obsession with the little-seen french fry, cheese curd and gravy delicacy the Canadians call poutine.

Welcome, friends and neighbors, to portlandpoutine.com.

Poutine?

Yes, poutine!

Read the rest at OregonLive.com: Portland man’s Web sites cover everything from Portland to poutine

And Portland Poutine was the first guest!

The host of Savor Portland, Devlyn Swenson, is a friend of the blog. Heather and I explored every facet of growing, manufacturing, creating, marketing, and exploring the things we consume day in and day out, but mostly we talked about poutine, and PortlandPoutine.com.

Listen to the podcast (available soon on iTunes!) to hear ramble on (or is it prattle?) about raisins, cheesecake, anchovies, and of course french fries, cheese curds, and gravy poutine sauce!

If you need to learn more about poutine – and really, who doesn’t? – Diner’s Journal suggest spending a little time with Ronna Mogelon and her Poutine Chronicles.

The nuances of the French-Canadian dish built from gravy, cheese curds and French fries are myriad. Does it taste better on a plate or in a foam cup, which allows the dish to stay melty and warm to the last bite. Should poutine be tarted up with foie gras? And does poutine have a season? (Apparently yes.)

Ronna is also the creator of the famous fauxtine cake, featured previously on Portland Poutine: Let Them Eat Poutine.