Don't forget the snacks! A guilty-pleasures guide to Canada Day munchies

Junk food is plentiful in Canada. For that, we can thank — or blame? — the lasting influence of wartime food, the Great Depression and the invention of the microwave. It's a culinary legacy neither Hal Johnson nor Joanne McLeod have been able to wrestle from Canadians' clutches.

Well, snack lovers, we're not even going to try to challenge your sweet tooth this Canada Day. 

Here's a list of pre-packaged goodies to slip into your picnic baskets and backpacks (with apologies to Hal and Joanne). 

1. An assortment of oh-so-Canadian chocolate bars

Canadian expats clamour for Coffee Crisp, a gift from the U.K. that combines a delightful layering of wafer cookie with a coffee-flavoured filling, covered in milk chocolate.

In fact, Canadians abroad missed this delicious chocolate bar so much that they petitioned its maker, Nestlé, to sell it in the United States. The petitioners claimed victory in 2006, when Nestlé relented and marketed Coffee Crisp to Canada's southern neighbour; however, the win was short-lived when it was removed from the American market just three years later.

Thanks to the internet, though, expats can now buy Coffee Crisp — "imported from Canada"! — online on Amazon.

Crispy Crunch may not be as well-loved or missed as Coffee Crisp, but what it lacks in nostalgia it makes up for in delicious, peanut flavour. Originally created by Neilson in Toronto, the hard chocolate bar was the result of candy maker Harold Oswin's entry into a chocolate-bar making contest in the 1920s.

Other Canada-only chocolate bars are, curiously, mainly brands owned by England's Cadbury, such as Wunderbar, Mr. Big, Caramilk and Dairy Milk.

Nestlé also makes a number of Canadian chocolate and candy bars, including Big Turk, Mackintosh's toffee bars and the aforementioned Coffee Crisp. And Canadians have claimed Hershey's stretchy Eat-More bar, too.

Smarties, made by Nestlé, are another Canadian favourite, although they're not uniquely Canadian. They've available throughout Europe, South Africa and the Middle East, but not the United States.

Cadbury Creme Eggs are not Canada-only, although the ultra-sweet, gooey and egg-shaped treat from England has entrenched itself in Canadians' Easter-time impulse-buying habits.

2. Whippets (aka Viva Puffs)

Today's Whippet — essentially a marshmallow on a plain biscuit, coated in chocolate — pales in comparison to the luxury snack of yore created by Théophile Viau, the son of Viau Biscuits Corp. founder Charles-Théodore Viau.

The younger Viau debuted the Whippet's predecessor, the Empire, at a hockey game in 1901. Based on its popularity, and given the post-war recession, a simplified (and cheaper) version was commercialized in 1927. The original Whippets were assembled by hand at the Viau cookie factory in Montreal's east end.

Dare took over the manufacture of the Whippet when it bought Viau in 2004. It now markets an almost identical product, the Viva Puff, outside of Quebec. However, within Quebec's borders the snack is still known as the Whippet.

Similar snacks are popular in Germany, Switzerland and France, although none are exactly like the sweet, sweet Whippet.

3. Jos Louis and May West snack cakes

Americans may have their Twinkies, but Canadians have something far better: May Wests and Jos Louis.

Both created in Quebec, the snack cakes started out their lives as competitors. The Jos Louis, created in 1932 by Vachon, is a cream-filled chocolate cake coated in more chocolate; the May West, created around the same time by Quebec City bake René Brousseau, is a cream-filled vanilla cake coated in chocolate. Vachon later bought the makers of the May West, creating a snack-cake empire in 1979.

4. Maple everything

Canadians would be remiss not to take the opportunity to put a little maple in everything.

There are maple leaf cookies, sucre à la crème à l'érable — basically pieces of creamy maple syrup that melt in your mouth — maple cones, maple baked beans, maple bacon, maple-coated nuts. Then there's just the straight-up maple syrup on a stick and hardened on snow, a sugary off-season staple known to Quebecers as "tire" (said in a hard French accent) and to the rest of Canadians as "maple taffy."

5. Pineapple Crush and Birch Beer Crush

You may know Pineapple Crush's more famous brother, Orange. But people in Newfoundland and Labrador — and in Fort McMurray, where many Newfoundlanders moved to find work — are intimately acquainted with a more tropical Crush variety not known to most other Canadians.

Parent company PepsiCo makes another Newfoundlander favourite, Birch Beer Crush, the long-lost sibling of spruce beer, another popular tree soda.

6. Spruce beer

Speaking of which, who wouldn't love a nice, big glass of Christmas tree-flavoured soda?

Spruce beer dates back to the origins of Canada, when French explorer Jacques Cartier arrived with a boatload of Europeans suffering from scurvy. The local native population along the shores of the St. Lawrence River shared with Cartier and his men the recipe for a vitamin C-rich concoction made from boiled evergreen tree needles. The news that the drink improved people's health was communicated to Europe, who ensured future explorers — like Samuel de Champlain, the father of New France — knew of this natural cure for scurvy.

Spruce beer soda became a staple in Quebec diners at the turn of the 20th century, with famed Montreal diner Restaurant Émile Bertrand serving up the brew alongside steamés and patates frites — a well-loved Québécois combo of steamed hot dogs and fries. (Some nostalgic scenes from the old Montreal diner can be seen in this United Steelworkers of Montreal music video.) The beverage also became popular in Newfoundland around the same time.

The soft drink has since fallen off many diners' menus, but can still be purchased at some big-box grocery stores in pockets across the country.

7. Hickory Sticks

Made by former Canadian chip company Hostess, Hickory Sticks are — you guessed it — hickory smoke-flavoured mini-chips in the shape of little sticks.

They're also one of the only remaining snacks still branded as Hostess, despite the brand largely disappearing following its acquisition by Frito Lay and its parent corporation, PepsiCo.

8. Hawkins' Cheezies

Cheezies — Cheetos' crunchier, skinnier sibling — were created in Chicago in the years following World War II. However, production was moved to Tweed, Ont., in 1949 and then to nearby Belleville the following decade. This cornmeal-based snack is finger-licking good… if only because it's impossible to get its trademark neon-orange cheese dust off your fingers.  

9. Ketchup chips and their all-dressed friends

The origins of ketchup chips are heavily disputed, although they are believed to be patently Canadian — if only because they're currently very difficult to find outside of the country.

These red-dusted devils are a favourite among expats and visiting Americans, and some of the most well-known versions of them are made by Old Dutch and Lay's (formerly Hostess). Dill-pickle flavoured chips are also purportedly Canadian, although they too are accessible beyond the 49th parallel.

However, all-dressed chips are indisputably Canadian and far tastier.

Made by Ruffles, these bright-orange ridged potato slices possess a mysterious spice blend that tastes like the perfect marriage between salt and vinegar and BBQ chips, with a little bit of the sweet tang of ketchup chips.

Americans have discovered this Canadian secret, though; Ruffles introduced the chips — for a limited time only — to the U.S. last year, as evidenced by this hilarious ad. 

What's your favourite uniquely Canadian snack? Tell us in the comments below!