Search for B.C.'s Best Symbol: Round 2 — Coastal

CBC

23-07-2025

Social Sharing
In one corner, a culinary concoction of coconut, custard and chocolate that can be found in cute cafés from coast to coast.
In the other corner, a cylindrical combination of cucumber, barbecued salmon skin and rice, served in sushi joints far and wide.
In a lot of ways, the Nanaimo bar and the B.C. Roll are similar creations: common ingredients, arranged in a novel way for an established type of food, slowly growing in popularity over the second half of the 20th century.
They're the two remaining food creations remaining in the Search for B.C.'s Best Symbol, and they go head to head today as one of four matchups in the coastal section of the friendly competition:
B.C. Roll vs. Nanaimo bar.
Totems vs. B.C. Ferries.
Canucks jersey vs. Cowichan sweater.
Northwest coast art vs. Gastown Steam Clock.
All are very visible archetypes of the West Coast — some of which have been here for centuries, some of which have been here for decades, and one of which (the Gastown Steam Clock) was created to deliberately seem older than it actually is.
But which ones will advance?
Different tastes, different backstories
One of the unique things about the Nanaimo bar is there's no definitive answer on who created it.
While various recipes for custard and chocolate bars circulated in regional cookbooks and recipes for decades, a Vancouver Sun columnist wrote about a "Nanaimo bar" in 1953, and the city's way of creating the treats became the focus of Canadian contests and a standard cookbook recipe by the 1980s.
"I think if it had been called the chocolate slice, it would have faded into the past, but the fact that it was called the Nanaimo bar kept it rolling forward," said food historian Lenore Newman.
The origin story for the B.C. Roll is more straightforward: it was popularized by Vancouver's Hidekazu Tojo in 1974, during the beginning of a legendary career that also saw him create the California Roll (though that claim is more contested).
"When I started making original recipes, the Japanese customers thought I was not doing the right thing," said Tojo to NUVO Magazine in 2008.
"But the local people thought I was being clever."
Unsurprisingly, talking to people at Vancouver's popular Miku sushi restaurant and along Nanaimo's waterfront prompted predictable regional responses as to what should win.
"It's got the [B.C.] name in it, and I eat a lot more of these than Nanaimo bars," said Peter, as he cast his vote for the sushi roll, with others at the restaurant mentioning the roll's connection to local fish and the freshness of ingredients as reasons to support it.
Nobody in Nanaimo mentioned the bar's health benefits — but they did cite its rich flavour and national ubiquity as reasons it should advance.
"They're everywhere, they're good, and they're very specific to B.C.," said Myra Thompson, who was more reticent when asked where the best Nanaimo bar was in her city.
"I'm not answering that question," she said with a smile.