Archival work suggests that the Nanaimo bar is based on a recipe for unbaked chocolate cake published in the Vancouver Sun in 1947 and republished in 1948. The bar itself was likely developed by a member or members of the Nanaimo Hospital Auxiliary, and the first known recipe was published in 1952 in that group’s cookbook. The mystery of the bar’s origins is explored, the bar's place within the tradition of 'dainties' is noted, and its current role within Nanaimo’s efforts at place making is documented.

Please see 'Notes' below for any suggested/official citation information added by the author(s) of this work. Otherwise, you can cite the HSS Commons instance of this publication as follows:

• Newman, L. L., (2025), "Notes from the Nanaimo bar trail", HSSCommons: (DOI: 10.15353/cfs-rcea.v1i1.11)

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1. Canadian cuisine
2. culinary history
3. fakelore
4. Nanaimo bar

Original publication: Newman, Lenore Lauri. "Notes from the Nanaimo bar trail." Canadian Food Studies / La Revue canadienne des études sur l'alimentation, vol. 1, no. 1, 2014, pp. 10-19. DOI: 10.15353/cfs-rcea.v1i1.11. This material has been re-published in an unmodified form on the Canadian HSS Commons with the permission of Canadian Food Studies / La Revue canadienne des études sur l'alimentation. Copyright © the author(s). Work published in CFS/RCÉA prior to and including Vol. 8, No. 3 (2021) is licensed under the Creative Commons CC BY license. Work published in Vol. 8, No. 4 (2021) and after is licensed under the Creative Commons CC BY-SA license. For details, see creativecommons.org/licenses/.