For stick-thin health conscious fellows, poutine is venom on a plate. However, to every other “normal” person in Canada, it is simply a mountain of fries topped with cheese curds and gravy.

Poutine may be a Quebec delicacy and extremely delicious, but unfortunately, the fries-cheese-gravy aspect of poutine makes it an artery-clogging snack. Despite these health consequences, this Canadian dish actually has an interesting story behind it.

There are several unconfirmed claims about the origins of poutine, all of which date between the 1950s to the 1970s. The first one is traced back to the year 1957 in Warwick, Quebec. Owner of Lutin Qui Rit restaurant (translated: The Laughing Elf), Fernand LaChance claimed that, one day, a particularily odd take-out customer asked for fries and cheese in the same bag. LaChance warned the customer that it would make a big mess, but the customer paid him no regard and thankfully so. The newly created dish was christened “poutine,” which is slang for mess. LaChance’s original version did not contain gravy, but he claims to have changed the recipe in 1964, when he realized that gravy melted the cheese.

Jean-Paul Roy also claimed the invention of Poutine in 1964. In his restaurant, Roy le Jucep (1050 blvd. St. Joseph, Drummondville, Quebec), Roy used to serve potatoes with a special sauce. The mixture was called “patate-sauce.” He also sold small bags of cheese curd, which people would add to their main dish. Roy noticed people mixing the cheese curds with his “patate-sauce” delicacy, and some of the restaurant regulars suggested adding the cheese directly to the “patate-sauce.” Soon after, “fromage-patate-sauce” appeared on the restaurant’s menu. In the Roy version of the poutine story, the dish’s name was influenced by his grandmother, who would call any mixture she prepared a “pouding” (pudding). After a while, the word began to sound like “Poutine” and used to describe to his “fromage-patate-sauce” delicacy.

Now, when feasting on Poutine, you no longer need to feel guilty about its heart-attack-on-a-plate status; blame your cravings on these two men, instead! So go ahead, enjoy your carb fiestas. It’s monsieur Roy et monsieur Fernand’s fault it is so delicious, not yours.