When eating dinner, is it common for Canadians to eat their side dishes one by one?

When I was about 10 years old, my family was invited to dinner by an acquaintance of my father's. The friend -- married with two kids of his own -- lived somewhere in Ontario, between Toronto and St. Catherines. (My family lived just outside of Buffalo.)

I don't recall much about the evening except for one thing: This family didn't serve dinner in the usual manner. Instead of putting some green beans on their plate, and some mashed potatoes and some chicken and then enjoying the full meal as one, they served the side dishes separately and ate them individually.

For example, first they passed the beans. Everyone put some on their plates andate them. Then, the potatoes came around. Everyone took a few and ate them. Then came the chicken. We all took a piece and ate it. Never at any time were there beans, potatoes, and chicken on our plates at the same time. Everything was passed individually and eaten separately

I thought this was really weird, and left that night assuming that's how all Canadians ate their meals -- one side dish at a time leading up to the main fare. In my family, we even had a name for it -- "Eating in the style of the Canadians," we called it.

This is bonkers, right? Canadians don't eat this way, do they?