Talk:Nanaimo bar

Nanaimo Bar Recipe.

This reminds me of a joke
What do you find in a Nanaimo bar?

Barstools and drinks! --Note, clean punchline used instead of common one. HighInBC 14:50, 7 October 2006 (UTC)

Other answer: Rednecks and retirees.

Catherine O'Hara's cooking
I don't think I want to eat any of Catherine O'Hara's Nanaimo bars:
 * ''In the American film A Mighty Wind, Canadian actress Catherine O'Hara improvises in one scene that she wants to go home and "bake a nice tray of Nanaimo bars".

because Nanaimo bars aren't baked...(see recipe link).Skookum1 08:13, 14 November 2006 (UTC)

So, how popular is the term outside of Canada?
Has Starbucks really popularized the term 'Nanaimo bar'? Or is it more of a local usage? The article states that the term is used in New York, L.A., etc., but does anyone know how prevalent it is? 207.81.77.182 21:02, 4 December 2006 (UTC)

This is why I love Wikipedia
Immediate answers to immediate questions. Off to the kitchen. O Canada! I would love wikipedia more if I had those nanaimo bars on a plate in front of me right now...03:34, 5 February 2007 (UTC)

source of recipe
Is the reference to Mrs Kowbel providing the recipe vandalism? No source is cited. I note that this paragraph and its information is gone: There is an official recipe for the bar. In 1985, Mayor Graeme Roberts initiated a contest to find the ultimate Nanaimo bar recipe. The recipe submitted by Joyce Hardcastle, a resident of Nanaimo, was unanimously selected by a judging panel to be the official recipe. The bars' influence on the culture of Nanaimo is so strong that the city of Nanaimo's mascot is known as Nanaimo Barney and has the shape of a giant Nanaimo bar. The popularity of the bar in Nanaimo lead to local residents mobilising to have it elected "Canada's Favourite Confection" in a National Post reader survey.

This does seem to have a source although it does not claim to be where the original recipe came from. Without some cite for the Kowbel reference it should removed. -- KenWalker | Talk 15:48, 3 October 2007 (UTC)
 * I removed it - some IP snuck it in after my edits but before Danny's copyedit. Wily D 17:19, 3 October 2007 (UTC)

Soft chocolate
I took out the word "soft". No doubt some people make Nanaimo bars with a soft chocolate topping, but that is not a "defining" characteristic.

In fact the reference given at the end of that sentence (http://www.joyofbaking.com/NanaimoBars.html) talks about the chocolate layer having a "wonderful snap".

CBHA (talk) 17:07, 9 May 2008 (UTC)

Low Importance!!??
In the Canadian context, Nanaimo bars are an institution.

Why low importance? CBHA (talk) 14:56, 10 May 2008 (UTC)
 * Maybe on WikiProject BC the rating his higher; donairs and poutine rate higher countrywide.......and real good Nanaimo bars I've never really had in Atlantic Canada or Ontario/Montreal.....which is why maybe they're not held in such high regard?Skookum1 (talk) 09:20, 14 August 2013 (UTC)

Custard
I slightly amended the description, as it is misleading (and inaccurate) to call the middle layer of a nanaimo bar "custard", as the custard powder is only used as a flavouring, rather than it being a full ordinary custard (which has a much more gelatinous or runny consistency). It is more accurately an icing.

69.172.93.171 (talk) 01:39, 24 September 2009 (UTC)

It seems that someone reverted this change. The middle layer is referred to as a "custard layer" in some online sources, but in others it's referred to as a "custard buttercream". Most accurately, it's a buttercream frosting made with custard powder, which adds vanilla flavouring and stiffness. None of the recipes I can find require making a custard or using eggs. I've edited it to say it's a "custard icing". I think there may be better wording for this, but calling it a custard layer alone is not accurate or descriptive.

Onlysayitonce (talk) 04:48, 22 April 2020 (UTC)

I agree Onlysayitonce, the middle isn’t custard at all. I was surprised to see that term used on the page. Indeed it is much closer to icing than anything. It is basically just butter and icing sugar, like icing; but perhaps with vanilla and custard flavouring. AlfalfaMail (talk) 03:37, 30 March 2022 (UTC)

This isn't really fact
(You can find recipies for nanaimo bars on www.nanaimobarrecipies.com)

This part of the page sounds a lot like advertisement. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 174.2.20.120 (talk) 00:31, 20 February 2010 (UTC)

Updated Information on Origin
The nationalpost.com has a news story dated Mar. 23, 2011 on the "fiercely contested origin story" "Mrs. E. MacDougall’s recipe for “chocolate slices” was first published in The Woman’s Auxiliary to the Nanaimo Hospital Cook Book, and reprinted in the Vancouver Sun in 1952."

Here is the direct link to the story http://www.nationalpost.com/life/Exotic+Canada+great+Canadian+dessert+none/4491721/story.html

Dss902 (talk) 22:42, 17 October 2011 (UTC) — Preceding unsigned comment added by Dss902 (talk • contribs) 02:51, 28 March 2011 (UTC)


 * I ran a Google Books search on "Nanaimo bars" covering the period 1/1/1900 through 1/1/1955 and it returned one hit: the 1931 edition of The Joy of Cooking. The book's contents aren't available online, so it is left as an exercise for some diligent contributor to acquire a copy to verify the inclusion of a Nanaimo bar recipe in that book. —Largo Plazo (talk) 18:49, 9 August 2013 (UTC)


 * I got a hold of it, and the Nanaimo bar isn't in it. I went back to Google Books, and now it isn't returning that book as a hit. Damn, Google! —Largo Plazo (talk) 02:45, 14 August 2013 (UTC)


 * 1950s is the accepted era of origin......1931 seems more than early, but if so why in the Joy of Cooking? Far from homebase i.e. Nanaimo. The 30s doesn't seem a likely era for popularizing a home made confection i.e. custard, sugar, chocolate all in short supply......and no modern refrigeration come to think of it....Skookum1 (talk) 09:23, 14 August 2013 (UTC)


 * For what it's worth, the article itself says that the bar is thought to have existed in the 1930s (albeit without the distinctive name), and the icebox cake article indicates that that confection was popular even earlier. —Largo Plazo (talk) 02:09, 15 August 2013 (UTC)


 * Actually, the 1931 Joy of Cooking (as long as I have it in front of me) has recipes for several different kinds of "ice box cookies" and "ice box cakes". —Largo Plazo (talk) 02:11, 15 August 2013 (UTC)

External links modified
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 * Added archive https://web.archive.org/web/20120213175506/http://www.canada.com/nationalpost/news/story.html?id=c84dc36d-ade6-4595-931b-62faf0773bb0 to http://www.canada.com/nationalpost/news/story.html?id=c84dc36d-ade6-4595-931b-62faf0773bb0
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Pronounciation
I've heard this bar pronounced several different ways, and its name is spoken in at least two languages in common usage. Does anyone have a RS for how it's actually pronounced? Tduk (talk) 19:35, 29 December 2023 (UTC)
 * (The French spelling makes its French pronunciation clear and disagrees with what was recently added to the article - unless there is a source for this I'm going to remove that addition) Tduk (talk) 20:05, 29 December 2023 (UTC)
 * I don't think I'm going out on a limb when I suggest it's pronounced the same way as the name of its namesake city, Nanaimo, British Columbia. And I'm not finding any YouTube videos featuring Nanaimo locals where they pronounce it any way other than the way represented here. WP:OR, I know, not to be cited here, but in case you personally were having any doubts about it, it seems to me there's no reason for doubt. Largoplazo (talk) 20:46, 29 December 2023 (UTC)
 * Except that, at least in French, its pronunciation and spelling are clearly counter to how some people think it's pronounced. There are also many words that have multiple or different local pronunciations (Tadeusz Kościuszko for instance). I don't think it's that clear cut, and I see no reason to have an unsourced pronunciation when there is any ambiguity like that. There are also many places, like Houston Street and Houston, that many people unfamiliar would assume are pronounced the same. There is also the possibility that whoever came up with the name did not pronounce it the same as people from Nanaimo. What is the argument _for_ including an unsourced pronunciation? Tduk (talk) 18:07, 1 January 2024 (UTC)
 * What does French have to do with it? In English, the name is "Nanaimo" and it's pronounced as indicated. I'm not sure why the French name is even there; for what it's worth, the pronunciation indicated by the French spelling is as close to the English pronunciation as French phonetics allow.
 * Nanaimo isn't known far and wide, so it seems reasonable to assume that someone who named the bars after Nanaimo was familiar with Nanaimo and wouldn't deliberately have chosen to pronounce the name of the bars differently. Neither Houston Street nor Houston, Texas, was named for the other, so the situation there is irrelevant.
 * Do you have any examples of anybody familiar with either the city or the bars using a pronunciation any different from what currently appears here? I don't mean some TV or streaming video home chef who read about them somewhere and is demonstrating their preparation of them without ever having heard them referred to aloud. Largoplazo (talk) 21:35, 1 January 2024 (UTC)
 * At it states that the first known recipe for Nanaimo bars appeared in the Nanaimo Hospital Auxiliary's cookbook. I'm betting they knew how to pronounce the name of the city and used the same pronuncation for the name of the bars. Largoplazo (talk) 21:42, 1 January 2024 (UTC)