Q.
Is it reasonable to assume that the utterly delicious Nanaimo Bar originated in Nanaimo, British Columbia?

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A.

Reasonable? Yes. Safe? Hmm…

When something is so delicious – a layer of creamy chocolate that gives way to a vanilla custard middle which sits atop graham wafers and coconut – we can only expect that people will fight over its origins.

They’ve made founder claims from New York, New Brunswick, London and Maryland. But no city takes the Nanaimo Bar more seriously than Nanaimo. In 1986, the city’s mayor even ran a contest to unearth the most amazing recipe.

Out of one hundred serious entrants over a sampling period of four weeks, a winner was declared: Joyce Hardcastle.

Tourism Nanaimo has mapped out more than 40 stops on their Nanaimo Bar Trail. Buy yourself a maple bacon topped Nanaimo Bar or some Nanaimo Bar cupcakes, spring rolls, fudge, waffles, tea lattes. You can also also find inedible tributes with Nanaimo Bar Pedicures, tea towels, soap…

Wear loose slacks.

Nanaimo Bar Trail + Joyce Hardcastle’s Recipe

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Here’s another version of a Nanaimo Bar recipe from The Great Canadian Baking Show.

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www.justcurious.ca

Header Photo: Getty Images