When it comes to Nanaimo bars, most Americans don’t know them. In Canada, by contrast, they’re a national classic. If you, like most in the U.S., haven’t had one, broadcaster Karin Larsen described them for the CBC as a “grahamy-coconutty-custardy-chocolate-no-bake treat.” I brought one home last year, and Tammie devoured it! The next morning, she asked, “What was that? It was so good!”
The bars are named after the British Columbian town of Nanaimo, a port city on Vancouver Island that’s roughly the same size as Ann Arbor. Instead of being centered around academia, as Ann Arbor is, Nanaimo’s focus has long been coal mining, as well as all the activity around the harbor. Though Nanaimo bars were first recognized in a print recipe in 1953, they were being made for quite a while without an actual written recipe. In a 2014 paper for Canadian Food Studies entitled “Notes from the Nanaimo bar trail,” Lenore Lauri Newman explores the bar’s murky origins, concluding that, most likely, the bar began its life in Nanaimo in the late 1940s.
Over the years, Nanaimo bars have been served at state dinners and in probably well over half the homes in Canada. In 2019, they even earned a postage stamp, prompting Larsen to write, “Now here’s a stamp you wouldn’t mind licking if stamps were still lickable!” In the same article, restaurateur George Kulai, who moved to the town of Nanaimo a little over 20 years ago, says the bar is “a piece of Canadiana and a wonderful honor for anyone who’s ever made Nanaimo bars here in Nanaimo and contributed to the legend.”
Nanaimo bars are so iconic in Canada that in 2022, the National Post ran this headline about national election tension: “Conservative leadership race descends into argument over Nanaimo bars.” And back in 2006, the same publication featured an article entitled “Democracy never tasted so delicious”:
Canadians have spoken, and they’d like you to pass the Nanaimo bars. Thanks in part to a heartwarming display of civic pride, the little dessert bar that could can now proudly call itself Canada’s Favourite Confection.
That’s right—a national confection election chose Nanaimo bars as the country’s favorite.
At the Bakehouse, Nanaimo bars are (a) delicious and (b) a salute to Co-Managing Partner Amy Emberling’s Canadian roots (she hails from Nova Scotia).
The Bakehouse version has a chocolate-coconut base, a filling made with the British Commonwealth favorite Bird’s Custard, and a really luscious chocolate ganache—chilled and sliced into lovely-looking layered treats!
We’re making them for the rest of the month, so swing by and score some Nanaimo bars soon! As Amy says, “No celebration spread would be complete without them.”
P.S. Want to make Nanaimo bars at home? You can find the recipe in the superb Bakehouse cookbook Celebrate Every Day.
In 1982, Ari Weinzweig, along with his partner Paul Saginaw, founded Zingerman’s Delicatessen with a $20,000 bank loan, a Russian History degree from the University of Michigan, 4 years of experience washing dishes, cooking and managing in restaurant kitchens and chutzpah from his hometown of Chicago. They opened the doors with 2 employees and a small selection of specialty foods and exceptional sandwiches.
Today, Zingerman’s Delicatessen is a nationally renowned food icon and the Zingerman’s Community of Businesses has grown to 10 businesses with over 750 employees and over $55 million in annual revenue. Aside from the Delicatessen, these businesses include Zingerman’s Bakehouse, Coffee Company, Creamery, Roadhouse, Mail Order, ZingTrain, Candy Manufactory, Cornman Farms and a Korean restaurant that is scheduled to open in 2016. No two businesses in the Zingerman’s Community of Businesses are alike but they all share the same Vision and Guiding Principles and deliver “The Zingerman’s Experience” with passion and commitment.
Besides being the Co-Founding Partner and being actively engaged in some aspect of the day-to-day operations and governance of nearly every business in the Zingerman’s Community, Ari Weinzweig is also a prolific writer. His most recent publications are the first 4 of his 6 book series Zingerman’s Guide to Good Leading Series: A Lapsed Anarchist’s Approach to Building a Great Business (Part 1), Being a Better Leader (Part 2), Managing Ourselves (Part 3) and the newly-released Part 4, The Power of Beliefs in Business. Earlier books include the Zingerman’s Guides to Giving Great Service, Better Bacon, Good Eating, Good Olive Oil, Good Vinegar and Good Parmigiano-Reggiano.
Ari regularly travels across the country (and world) on behalf of ZingTrain, teaching organizations and businesses about Zingerman’s approach to business. He is a sought-after Keynote speaker, having delivered keynotes for Inc. 500, Microsoft Expo Spring Conference, Great Game of Business Gathering of Games, Positive Business Conference at the University of Michigan Ross School of Business, American Society for Quality (ASQ), and the American Cheese Society. Most recently, Ari and Paul Saginaw were invited to address an audience of 50,000 for the University of Michigan 2015 Spring Commencement.
One of Zingerman’s Guiding Principles is being an active part of the community and in 1988, Zingerman’s was instrumental in the founding of Food Gatherers, a food rescue program that delivers over 5 million pounds of food each year to the hungry residents of Washtenaw county. Every year Zingerman’s donates 10% of its previous years profits to local community organizations and non-profits. Ari has served on the board of The Ark, the longest continuously operating folk music venue in America.
Over the decades, the Zingerman’s founding partners have consistently been the recipients of public recognition from a variety of diverse organizations. In April 1995, Ari and Paul were awarded the Jewish Federation of Washtenaw County’s first Humanitarian Award. In 2006, Ari was recognized as one of the “Who’s Who of Food & Beverage in America” by the James Beard Foundation. In 2007, Ari and Paul were presented with the Lifetime Achievement Award from Bon Appetit magazine for their work in the food industry. Ari was awarded the Lifetime Achievement Award by the American Cheese Society in 2014. And Ari’s book, Building a Great Business was on Inc. magazine’s list of Best Books for Business Leaders.
Notwithstanding the awards, being engaged on a daily basis in the work of 10 businesses and 21 partners, writing books on business and in-depth articles on food for the Zingerman’s newsletter, Ari finds time to be a voracious reader. He acquires and reads more books than he can find room for. Ari might soon find himself the owner of the largest collection of Anarchist books in Ann Arbor outside the Labadie collection at the University of Michigan library!
