If you're feeling hungry, this might not be the best article for you.Seriously, it would be like going to the supermarket hours after you made the unwise decision of skipping breakfast, when your stomach is moaning for sustenance while you pass the snack aisles.But then again, if you're famished, this might be a perfect chance for you to select your favourite (Canadian-invented) sweet or savoury treats and beverages.So whether you're a bit peckish or you like to know a bit about Canada's culinary innovations, you've clicked on the right headline..9. Coffee and chocolate — what's not to love? — Coffee CrispAs the Great Depression was reaching its final hours of economic turmoil, the invention of one delectable chocolate bar illuminated Canadians' lives with sweet, sweet hope.The Coffee Crisp, a familiar companion in many Canadians' Halloween candy baskets, a crispy wafer paired with chocolate and a hint of coffee and has its origins in Toronto.The UK first popularized a similar crispy chocolate wafer bar (without the coffee flavour, of course) earlier in the 1930s, naming it Rowntree's Wafer, which was later introduced to Canadians as Biscrisp."In 1938, a coffee variation was added to the line of flavoured Biscrisps and eventually became known as Coffee Crisp," revealed Nestlé Canada to Curiocity..What's exceptional about the Coffee Crisp is that, despite over 153 million of these bars being made a year, they are all made in only one location — at Toronto's 72 Sterling Road."By 1948 Coffee Crisp was one of Canada's most popular confectionery products, a position it has maintained throughout the years." The rest, is Canadian chocolate history..8. The Canadian champagne of soda — Ginger AleThe classiest Canadian soda ever invented, which was created over a century ago, still stands as a classic in the Canadian soda repertoire.Canada Dry's Ginger Ale was devised shortly after the Victorian era, in 1908, taking inspiration from the alcoholic beverage ginger beer.John J McLaughlin owned a carbonated water plant in Toronto.He began to develop an alternative to the very sugary sweet soda many companies served at the time.It was the age in which people believed sodas to have health benefits, and people began to drink them more leisurely at home. With soda popularity at an all-time high, McLaughlin concocted a lighter form of the syrupy ginger ale — and Canada Dry Ginger Ale was born..7. Tomato juice, but add liquor — Bloody CaesarSince the Western Standard does not reveal its staff's personal feelings towards beverages, this drink will be presented objectively: it is being a medley of vodka, claim juice, tomato juice, spices and Worcestershire sauce.It was coined the Caesar Cocktail, or the Bloody Caesar, and was created in Calgary, Alberta, back in 1969 — at Calgary's Westin Hotel, only a few years after it opened.Walter Chell, a bartender and food and beverage manager, was the man behind the legendary alcoholic elixir, creating it for the purpose of accompanying the opening of his Italian restaurant in what was called the Calgary Inn at the time.."He looked back at his heritage, he’s from, originally, Montenegro, was an orphan in Italy, and he knew about some Italian pasta dishes," explained Daniel Boychuk, previous director of restaurants and bars to CTV News."He thought tomatoes and clams would go great together, so he decided to make a cocktail."To everyone's surprise at the time, the cocktail caught on and became a hot commodity for those visiting the restaurant."It was 1969, Calgary, and I don’t think at the time they thought it was going to get as big as it did. It did take off pretty quick, especially in the city, but you just chalk that up to a local thing. You didn’t think it was going to get so big and sell hundreds of millions of Caesars every year," pointed out Boychuk. .6. How'd you like these apples? — McIntosh ApplesBefore the beloved tech brand even had two legs to stand on, a slightly sour but hearty-tasting apple found its roots back in Canada, in 1796.It was then that John McIntosh settled in the land he had traded with his brother near Iroquois, Ontario, along the St. Lawrence River.As told by Canada's History, in attempts to tame the unruly land in which only a fragment had ever been cleared, many trees towered over the head of McIntosh.One in particular would prove more fruitful than McIntosh ever could have imagined.He was perplexed at first sight, "an apple growing in the Canadian bush?" he thought, looking up at the tree..McIntosh was merciful and left the trees to grow, transplanting dozens of the seedlings to a nearby garden on his land.Bearing the fruits of his labour, the plants grew and became the red-flushed crisp fruit many Canadians know and savour.Fast forward to today: the McIntosh apple is the most produced apple in the whole of Canada and in the north-eastern United States, with orchards growing the fruit around the world.And to think, one thoughtless act, likely thanks to passerby tossing an apple core on the ground, grew into a world of pie, cider, and other recipes, not to mention just a really good snack..5. Canadian Nectar of the gods — Maple SyrupAlso known as the Canadian nectar of the gods, this sacred syrup finds its origins in Canada's French-speaking capital.The first European encounter with the "sweet as honey" sap came in the years between 1536 and 1542 when Monsieur Jacques Cartier, traveling up the St. Lawrence River in what is now modern-day Quebec, came across what he and his fellow journeymen first perceived to be a walnut tree.Alas, after chopping it down, something odd happened: the tree began gushing a plethora of maple sugar sap.Cartier and his peers compared its taste to good wine.In 1557 cosmographer André Thévet wrote that First Nations, who already knew of the sap, called the tree "couton.".Over time, numerous reports of maple syrup began to grow through the 17th century, including the evolution of how it was used.Then, in the second half of the 17th century, bleeding into the 18th, there were growing historical references to the export of maple sugar to France, coinciding with increased sugar consumption of the general population.The rising popularity was amplified when one Montreal resident, Agathe de Repentigny, an inventor and businesswoman, supplied King Louis XIV with maple sugar candy.More innovation came which evolved maple sugar production to become especially efficient over the centuries, with the 1950s finally bringing a way to preserve maple syrup, which slowly took over in popularity from maple sugar..4. The Curious Case of the Nanaimo BarEveryone claims credit for its creation, but no one truly knows who spawned what is now a nationally treasured sweet treat."Elusive and shrouded in mystery," says the BC city where the recipe first originated, about its origins.The first known recipe appeared in the 1953's Edith Adams Cookbook, as it was the first recorded recipe labelled the Nanaimo bar. ."If you actually own or know the whereabouts of a cookbook or other publication dating back to the early 50s or beyond, we would very much like to see it and put an end to all this confusion with documented proof," retorts the city in its history description of the bar. Flash-forward in 1986, Nanaimo Mayor Graeme Roberts initiated a contest to find the ultimate recipe of the bar.During the four-week-long contest 100 different variations of the recipe were presented, but only one could win: a woman named Joyce Hardcastle came out the reigning Nanaimo bar champ, remaining the face of the bar ever since.We may not be able to trace back to the exact moment the no-bake dessert, layered with graham crust, soft yellow custard, and chocolate ganache was invented, but one can be assured it's here to stay..3. Hawaiian, but Canadian at heartThe sweet, salty, and most delectable combination of pineapple, ham, and cheese on pizza has torn apart families, started rivalries amongst friends, and even soiled relations between countries and their politicians, and has its origin here in the great, white north.Sam Panopoulos, a Greek immigrant who moved to Canada in 1954, was the guy crazy enough to chuck pineapple on pizza, and we're all now more grateful for it.In the golden year of 1962, at Panopoulos' restaurant named the Satellite in Chatham, Ontario, the "Hawaiian" pizza came to be, the name appropriated from the pineapple can that Panopoulos had used..2. The best dishes are made by mistakeIt's hard to believe almost every Chinese restaurant one enters has on its menu the sweet, tangy and savoury battered ginger beef, yet it was invented here in Canada. As reported by Global News, at Silver Inn Restaurant in Calgary, which opened in 1975, revamped an old café just outside of the city's Chinatown. The original menu consisted of some Western and Beijing-style Chinese dishes to cater to mostly non-Chinese people who aren't used to authentic dishes..The owner of the restaurant for over 47 years which closed back in 2022, Kwong Cheung explains perfectly how the magic happen, mostly, by mistake."Like any dish, it was made by mistake," Cheung explains."My oldest brother was a trained chef, and when we first decided to open the restaurant, he noticed that Canadians liked to eat French fries. Of course, being Alberta, people liked to eat beef.""We were trying to find a way to mix the two together… We figured out that we could get the beef and get it as crunchy as a French fry, then pair it with a sweet and sour sauce kind of like ketchup.".1. A damn delicious messIt's difficult to decipher the true tale of this Quebecois dish, but a few things are known for certain: it originated back in the 1950s in rural Quebec.This is where the stories diverge: in 1957, at the Café Ideal (which was eventually renamed Le Lutin Qui Rit) in Warwick, one customer, Eddy Lainesse, requested a bag of cheese curds be tossed on top of his French fries and gravy.Because the dish was actually served in a paper bag at the time, owner Fernand Lachance, spoke the now-famous words, "Ça va faire une maudite poutine," which translates to, "That’s going to make a damn mess.".Later that same year, poutine earned a spot on the menu: a damned delicious mess, for 35 cents.Another widely popularized story comes from Drummondville, where a husband and wife, Jean-Paul Roy, and Fernande Roy ran the restaurant Le Roy Jucep.They claim they invented the dish in 1964, and they claim they were the first to put poutine on their menu in 1967.The story attributes the name to one of the restaurant's cooks who was nicknamed "Ti-pout" saying poutine was a tribute to him.The first poutine dish to be served in Quebec City happened in 1969, and it was not long after, in the 1970s, it was being sold all over Montreal.
