[1] For decades, it remained a country snack food in Quebec's dairy region, due to the narrow freshness window of cheddar cheese curds.

In November 2001, Martin Picard of bistro Au Pied de Cochon began serving a foie gras poutine which was praised by customers and food critics.

[20] Over the next decade, poutine gained acceptance and popularity in all types of restaurants, from haute cuisine to fast food, and spread across Canada and internationally.

[24] The traditional recipe for poutine consists of: To maintain the texture of the fries, the cheese curds and gravy are added immediately before serving the dish.

[29]: 195  It is important to control the temperature, timing, and the order in which the ingredients are added to obtain the right food textures—an essential part of the experience of eating poutine.

[15] Poutineries which are too distant from dairies may make their own cheese curds on site, in batches every few hours, to ensure a fresh and steady supply.

[10] The texture, temperature and viscosity of poutine's ingredients differ and continuously change as the food is consumed, making it a dish of highly dynamic contrasts.

[1] Even small variations in ingredients or preparation—the oil used for frying, the origin of the curds, or spices in the gravy—can result in a distinctly different experience of eating the poutine.

[32] The Quebec City-based chain Chez Ashton is known for its poutine Galvaude (topped with chicken and green peas) and Dulton (with ground beef).

[34] Montreal's high immigrant population[35] has led to many takes on the dish inspired by other cuisines, such as Haitian, Mexican, Portuguese,[34] Indian, Japanese,[13] Greek, Italian[36] and Lebanese.

[1] Many variations on the original recipe are popular, leading some to suggest that poutine has emerged as a new dish classification in its own right, as with sandwiches, dumplings, soups, and flatbreads.

[33] Chains such as Smoke's Poutinerie,[42] New York Fries,[43] McDonald's,[44][45] Wendy's,[46] A&W,[47] KFC,[48][49] Burger King,[50][51] Harvey's,[52][45] Mary Brown's,[53][54] Arby's,[55] and Wahlburgers restaurants also sell versions of poutine in Quebec and the rest of Canada (although not always country-wide).

[58] Poutine is found in the northern border regions of the United States, including New England and the larger Northeast, the Pacific Northwest, and the Upper Midwest.

[1] Food critic Jacob Richler noted in 2012 that Canadian dishes are too similar to their European roots to be considered original, with the exception of poutine, which he credited as the country's most famous culinary creation.

[73][72][74] In March 2016, poutine was served at the White House during the first state dinner hosted by President Barack Obama and Canada's Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.

[75] Poutine has been a highlight of Canada Day celebrations in Trafalgar Square in London, England, for several years,[76] and was a comfort food for the local community after the 2013 Lac-Megantic derailment.

[82][83][84] Le Grand Poutinefest is a poutine festival founded in 2015 which tours cities and towns in Quebec, operating most weekends from April to September.

[8][96][97] Since 2010, the International Federation of Competitive Eating (IFCE) has held a world poutine-eating championship sponsored by Toronto-based chain Smoke's Poutinerie.

[100] Jones Soda Co., an originally Canadian company now based in the US, created a poutine-flavoured limited-edition soft drink in 2013, which received international pop culture attention.

[106] In a 2018 promotional campaign for the film Crazy Rich Asians, "the world's richest poutine" was created with wagyu steak, lobster, truffles, shiitake and chanterelle mushrooms, edible orchids, and gold flakes, priced just under $450.

[107] Joel Edmundson, of the 2018–19 National Hockey League champion team St. Louis Blues, ate poutine from the Stanley Cup during celebrations attended by over 4,000 fans in his hometown of Brandon, Manitoba.

[134]In a Talking to Americans segment on the Canadian mock television news show This Hour Has 22 Minutes, during the 2000 US election, comedian Rick Mercer posed as a reporter and asked US politicians what they thought of "Prime Minister Jean Poutine" and his endorsement of George W. Bush for president.

[71][135][136] A few years later, when Bush made his first official visit to Canada as president, he joked in a speech, "There's a prominent citizen who endorsed me in the 2000 election, and I wanted a chance to finally thank him [...] I was hoping to meet Jean Poutine."

[138][139] The similarity has been a source of confusion; in commenting on the Talking to Americans prank on Bush, Washington Post columnist Al Kamen mistakenly believed that Mercer's fictional Jean Poutine was a reference to Putin.

[136] In 2017, Russian-themed poutinerie Vladimir Poutine opened in Montreal, with dishes named for political figures from Rasputin to Donald Trump.

In Quebec, Le Roy Jucep announced that it was retiring the word poutine in support of Ukraine and reverted to "fromage-patate-sauce" on its menus and branding.

[145] The allegations became known as the Robocall scandal, and subsequent investigation by the Royal Canadian Mounted Police resulted in Michael Sona, a junior Conservative Party staffer, being convicted of violating the Elections Act.

[146] Belgian Prime Minister Charles Michel had a Canadian lunch with counterpart Justin Trudeau on 16 June 2017, during which they ate hotdogs and poutine.

[147] In 2019, Canada attempted to garner support for its campaign for a non-permanent United Nations Security Council seat in the following year's election by serving poutine to UN diplomats.