Unexpectedly Canadian: Foods you thought came from somewhere else

This story is part of a week-long series exploring how we as Canadians define "Canadian food," and how it has evolved in modern Canada.

Butter tarts, Pablum and Nanaimo bars are just a few of the unique food items that Canada has gifted the world. But there are plenty of others that Canadians may think are rightfully claimed elsewhere yet were either created or taken to a new level in the True North. Pinning that down for sure can be a tricky business.

“Usually if you find a history of a dish, it’s always contentious,” says Ryan Whibbs, a culinary professor and food historian at Toronto’s George Brown College. “There are few dishes that we can really say ah, this is the person who invented it and they weren’t influenced or copying or following someone else.”

Still, he reminds us that the history of food is an evolution, where recipes get tweaked and reimagined over the generations, including all those that started out somewhere else. The following is a list of some special made or perfected-in-Canada food and beverage concoctions that give us lots to celebrate.

Ginger beef

Created: Calgary, Alta.

Most often credited to the Silver Inn Restaurant and its former chef, George Wong, the original dish did not feature ginger, but instead was called “deep fried shredded beef in chili sauce.” Searching for something that would lure Calgarians away from grilled cheese sandwiches, Wong dusted off a recipe he’d used in England, took some Alberta beef, dipped it in batter, deep fried it, mixed it with sautéed vegetables and sauce, and a culinary star was born.

Green onion cakes

Perfected: Edmonton, Alta. (based on a northern Chinese snack)

K. Linda Tzang of the Royal Alberta Museum isn’t so sure green onion cakes are a uniquely Edmontonian delicacy but there is perhaps nowhere else on Earth you’ll find such obsessive devotion to this street food. Legend has it that a sharp food vendor (the Edmonton Journal says it was Siu To) started serving up the flat, disc-like grilled cakes at Edmonton outdoor festivals in the 1980s. Don’t forget the special sauce: Sambal Oelek.

Persians

Created: Thunder Bay, Ont.

How is it that a U.S. army general gets immortalized in a sweet roll with a Middle Eastern-alluding name, known only to folks in Thunder Bay? The best that we can tell, the “Persian,” described as a doughnut-based cinnamon roll, traditionally slathered in a mysterious pink icing, has nothing to do with Iran. It is also very sweet and as the lore goes, was named by creator Art Bennet in the 1930s after John “Black Jack” Pershing. Pershing gained great fame after successfully leading the American Expeditionary Forces against Germany in the First World War. He died later of coronary artery disease and congestive heart failure.

Donairs

Created: Halifax, N.S.

Don’t get between a Haligonian and his donair. It might look a whole lot like a Greek gyros or a Middle Eastern doner kebab, since it is a pita-wrapped pile of sliced rotisserie meat. But add the special sweet garlic sauce and switch up the lamb to spiced ground beef, like Peter and John Kamoulakos did sometime in the early 1970s, and you’ve got a signature late night snack prized by Nova Scotians.

Hawaiian pizza

Created: Chatham, Ont.

Aloha southwestern Ontario! Lovers of sweet and savoury never looked back after Sam Panopoulos came up with the bright idea of putting pineapple and ham on a pizza in 1962 at his Satellite Restaurant in downtown Chatham. “I said, ‘Let’s put some pineapple on it,’ and all of a sudden we’re doing big business,” Panopoulos told QMI Agency in 2014.

Bloody Caesar

Created: Calgary, Alta.

Who knew that Canadians are the primary consumers of this salty, boozy blend of vodka, tomato and clam juice, properly served on the rocks with dashes of Worcestershire and Tabasco sauces and a stick of celery? But we are nothing if not patriotic, paying homage with every sip to Walter Chell, the Calgary bartender credited with concocting it in 1969. Mott’s, which created its Clamato juice not long after, says Canadians imbibe a good 350 million of them every year, which amounts to 10 per Canadian. Hail Caesar. Hail Walter Chell.

B52

Created: (Allegedly) Banff, Alta.

As with so many famed recipes, there are several pretenders to the crown of inventing this layered shooter. One story goes that Peter Fich, head waiter at the Banff Springs Hotel, first put together the coffee liqueur, Irish cream and triple sec cocktail, naming it after a favourite band of the same name. It then made its way onto bar lists in Calgary. At least, that’s the story.

Pasta Primavera

Created: Roberts Island, N.S.

It wasn’t a Canadian who invented this dish loved by the veggie-conscious, but never mind – it happened on Canadian soil and that makes it ours. Manhattan chef Sirio Maccioni was at the summer home of Carlo Amato in 1975, a place called The Shangri-La Ranch in Yarmouth County. Looking for something new and different to offer to Amato and his guests, Maccioni mixed butter, cream and cheese with lightly-cooked vegetables and pasta, creating a dining sensation. The chef then took it back to his New York restaurant Le Cirque, where it went on to fame via the New York Times.

Vinarterta

Perfected: Manitoba, from an old Icelandic recipe

Also known as “striped lady cake,” this layered prune-filled torte has a much quieter existence in its native country compared to the quasi-sacred status it gets from Canada’s Icelandic descendants, many of whom live in Manitoba. Some trot out recipes at Christmas and other special occasions that have been passed down through the generations since the arrivals of Icelanders after an 1875 volcanic eruption. The prune filling alternates with a cookie-like layer and there are great debates over the inclusion of cardamom, another traditional ingredient, and whether to ice it or not.