If you read any US-based food blogs, websites or magazines, you’ll know that Americans tend to go a little coo-coo about what they eat for the Fourth of July. Whether it’s a frighteningly patriotic and sickly sweet Flag Cake, or a meticulously planned backyard BBQ that goes to hell when Uncle Bill drinks one too many cans of Coors Light, it seems that you’re just not a real American if you don’t spend the holiday stuffing your face with something red, white and/or blue.

Up here in Canada, we take a somewhat less nationalist tone when it comes to what we eat on Canada Day. If you head out to a celebration in or around Toronto this weekend, you may find yourself sampling African-style seafood or Jamaican Jerk Chicken at Harbourfront, Mexican specialities or variety of delicacies from around the world at Yonge-Dundas Square, or - somewhat ironically - good ol’ American style BBQ at Centennial Park in Etobicoke.

But if you’d like celebrate our nation with some fine Canadian cuisine, look no further than Splendido where chef Jason Lee will be serving his fourth annual Exotica Canadiana tasting menu throughout the months of July and August.

Priced at $130 (with an additional $75 for wine pairings by sommelier Carlo Catallo), it won’t be a cheap night out, but with menu items such as Nova Scotia Blue Fin Tuna Tartar, New Brunswick Lobster with Welsh Farms Peaches n’ Cream Corn, and Haldimand County Dorset Lamb Tenderloin Cuit Sous Vide, it will certainly be a tasty one.

If you’re looking for something a little less spendy and not so Canada-centric, but equally mouth-watering, consider the sustainable seafood themed tasting menu being offered at Scaramouche.

For an exceptionally reasonable (by Scaramouche’s standards, at least) $70, diners who visit on Monday to Thursday nights from now until the end of August will be able to enjoy a six-course menu that highlights the best ecologically-friendly fishies from the coasts of Canada and other seas around the world. According to chef Keith Froggett, the menu will be changing weekly based on what’s available at the time, and all seafood items will either be wild and organic, or responsibly farmed.

Whatever you end up eating this long weekend and beyond, everyone here at Taste T.O. hopes you have a Happy Canada Day!