How did pumpkin and squash find their way onto the dinner tables of Quebec? There is no simple answer to this question. The story of pumpkin and squash illustrates, perhaps better than any other vegetables, the way our diet in the province, and indeed across north America, is the result of multiple influences, some of them with a grounding in Indigenous culture. This is certainly the case with the squash family. Squash and pumpkins were first domesticated over 10,000 years ago, mainly in what is now Mexico, although there are also examples of domestication in Central America and the Andes. It is easy to grow and highly adaptable; its seeds keep well. It was a staple food of many Indigenous cultures before Europeans ever arrived on the continent, often grown together with corn and beans – a system of companion planting known to the Iroquois as The Three Sisters.