If you want to set off a poutine purist you gotta change the cheese. Trad poutine is exclusively made with cheese curds. Lots of places that sell “poutine”, however, use shredded cheese of some kind or other. Some people go nuts over it, lol.

I can definitely understand the heritage part. You can’t just throw a bunch of stuff in a bowl and claim it’s a dish that it is not. Coffee is way more broad and varied than something like cacio e pepe though. I still think it’s pretty stuck-up to scorn someone over how they like to drink it. Coffee has been served many different ways in many different places all over the globe. We don’t have to shun one another over it.