Some of my fondest childhood memories are of family road trips down to the US. Once or twice a year, we’d wake up before the sun fully rose and drive the long, flat route from Winnipeg to North Dakota. We’d do some sightseeing if there were things to see (Grand Forks does not have much in the way of tourist attractions). Spend time in malls and hotel pools. But the thing we looked forward to most was going to grocery stores. Not to stock up on staples that were cheaper south of the border—but to buy snacks in flavours that we didn’t have back home.
For a long time, it felt like Canada was the land that snack companies forgot. Do you know how many flavours of Pop-Tarts are available here? Nine. Pathetic. (On the brand’s official US website, there are twenty listed right now, including Hot Fudge Sundae and Banana Bread.) Such a small selection makes shopping and snacking feel utterly boring. But in the past few years, I’ve noticed specialty candy stores popping up in Toronto and across the country, some with “exotic” in their names, selling imported treats from the US and overseas. And while the prices in those stores can feel outrageously high, the sheer variety of what’s on offer—colourful shelves full of chips, cookies, and chocolate bars the likes of which this country has never seen—makes up for blowing your budget on junk.
