Chantelle Gorham’s business has been receiving hate mail since her children created a Nanaimo bar larger than a record recently set in the Harbour City.
Nanaimo residents don’t take challenges to their beloved namesake dessert lightly.
That’s the lesson Ontario chocolatier Chantelle Gorham learned when her business started receiving hate mail after her children created a Nanaimo bar larger than an unofficial record recently set in the Harbour City.
Vancouver Island University students and faculty in the culinary arts department spent months preparing to create a 500-kilogram, 21-metre-long Nanaimo bar, which was unveiled on May 17.
The project raised close to $80,000 to replace commercial-grade ovens through sponsors for VIU’s professional baking and pastry arts program, said Aron Weber, the program’s chair.
The massive Nanaimo bar was hailed as the world’s largest and certified by the Culinary Federation of Canada, but the glory was short-lived.
On Canada Day, a group of five children in Levack, Ont., about 50 kilometres outside Sudbury, created a 544-kilogram Nanaimo bar to raise money for three charities that support youth.
Gorham, whose children were part of the baking team, said each charity received $12,000 — $1 per pound for 1,200 pounds.
Gorham’s children already hold the Guinness World Record for the world’s largest Nanaimo bar at just over 240 kilograms. They were five and 10 years old when they set the record in 2020.
The family did not seek certification through Guinness for their latest concoction, and neither did VIU, leaving the 2020 Guinness World Record intact.
Gorham said this week’s massive dessert was not meant to be a slight to VIU or Nanaimo residents, but she has been receiving hate from the Harbour City.
“This isn’t about Nanaimo. It’s just something we’re familiar with. It’s something we’ve done before, and it was just a lot of fun yesterday. But for some reason, Nanaimo really takes this personally,” she said.
Nanaimo Mayor Leonard Krog said he’s disappointed to hear that Gorham has faced a backlash for her latest record.
“There is no excuse for that kind of reaction from anybody,” he said, noting that the new record helps to bring national attention to the confection. “You can take the record, but you can’t eliminate the reality of the birthplace and the pride that we feel in our Nanaimo bar.”
Weber said it was disappointing that VIU’s Nanaimo bar was usurped so quickly, but records are meant to be broken.
Regardless of the record, VIU’s event was a success for students, the university and the city’s community spirit, he said.
“There’s probably some people in the city that would love us to do it again. Maybe in the future, but I don’t think we have an appetite to do it right now,” he said.
[email protected]
— With a file from Hannah Link