What’s the first thing that comes to mind when you think of Canada? I used to think of maple syrup, but I can tell you from visiting recently that Canada offers waaay more than maple syrup, these days. When I returned to the United States, I craved the Canadian food I had on my vacation. From Nanaimo bars to Canadian pizza, which is literally the same as American pizza, except made in Canada, my vacation served as a good foodie trip. Here are 9 Canadian food treasures that the whole world needs:
1. Nanaimo bars
Nanaimo bars are one of Canada’s signature desserts. A Nanaimo bar has a chocolate and coconut crumb base, vanilla custard filling and silky chocolate topping. I’ve never had anything like this in the US before. Although, I could do without the coconut on the bottom, the custard and chocolate combination made the bar worth it.
2. BeaverTails
BeaverTails might not sound like the most appetizing thing considering no one wants to eat a beaver (unless you are into that kind of thing, then you do you). Basically, a BeaverTail is a fried pastry that can be made sweet or savory. The BeaverTail I got was chocolate banana, and it tasted divine. The classic cinnamon and sugar was also anything but basic. While BeaverTails has branched out with a few locations in the US, there aren’t any by me. Therefore, I will not be satisfied until I have one no more than five minutes from me.
3. Maple leaf cookies
Maple leafs are so stinkin’ cute, to me. I realize Canada’s flag has a maple leaf on it, so that’s why Canadians have maple leaf everything, but I think we could use some maple leafs in the States. I got my maple leaf cookie from Le Moulin De Provence in Byward Market, which offers many other pasties and sandwiches. The US and Canada are like besties, so I don’t think it would be a big deal to support some maple leaf cookies here.
4. Northern fried chicken and waffles
Most of us think of the South when we want some good fried chicken and waffles, but Canada has Northern fried chicken that’s surprisingly good. These chicken and waffles are from a restaurant called The King Eddy. The crispy chicken with the soft waffle and maple syrup hit all my taste buds. Also, let’s take a second to appreciate the picture above. That chicken wing is literally glistening. This photo should be on the next cover of Vogue.
5. Sweet Jesus Ice Cream
Sweet Jesus, this ice cream looks like a masterpiece! Sweet Jesus is an ice cream place that serves up some creative flavors and combinations throughout Canada. I ordered Krusty the Kone, which has vanilla ice cream with cotton candy sauce, rainbow sprinkles and cotton candy. It was almost too pretty to eat, but I scarfed it down within minutes. Sweet Jesus is only in Canada right now, but if some more people find out about it, I think it could make a move to other parts of the world.
6. Pain au chocolat
(Photo courtesy of minutefacile.com)
Croissants taste good, but if you put a few sticks of chocolate in the middle, you get an upgrade called pain au chocolat. Sure, pain au chocolat is made at bakeries in the US, but they don’t do it like Canada does. Maybe it’s the Canadian air, but pain au chocolate is a delicacy that needs to be perfected, and Canada has it down to a science.
7. Cute peanut butter
(Photo courtesy of mrsjanuary.com)
This actually makes me really angry. Why the heck don’t we get cute peanut butter with bears on it? What’s the deal Kraft? Are we not good enough to have two little bears smiling at us when we want to make a peanut butter sandwich? This peanut butter didn’t taste too different from brands like Jif, but Jif doesn’t give me a cuteness overload when I look at their bottle.
8. Suzy Q donuts
Suzy Q has some of the best donuts I’ve ever tasted in my life. Located a few minutes outside of Ottawa, this one of a kind shop has unique flavors that actually taste good. The flavors above are carrot cake, mocha truffle, wundercrunch, and London fog. Seriously, what even is London fog? I don’t know, but it tasted good.
9. PG Clucks chicken sandwich
Sorry Chick-fil-A, but PG Clucks has the best chicken sandwiches that exist on this planet. Toronto Life even declared that PG Clucks has the best chicken sandwich. I can’t argue with that. I got a regular chicken sandwich that came with a whole lot of extras. My sandwich had a whopping piece of fried chicken breast, coleslaw, ranch, some other kind of really good sauce, and pickles. I dream about this sandwich constantly, so I need PG Clucks to expand.
If you ever find yourself in Ottawa, Toronto, Niagara Falls or any part of Canada, look to see if any of these foods are near you. I will envy you when you eat these Canadian treasures, but I’ll get over it IF they make their way over to the United States.
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