Thunder Bay's iconic pastry is no longer exclusive to the northwestern Ontario city.

A persian-loving baking manager at Safeway in Winnipeg is reproducing the frosted, donut-like treat, to the delight of people transplanted from the Lakehead.

"They are so excited that they found the persians," said Emad Saleh, the baking manager at Safeway's Tyndall Square location. "I'm not usually working on the sales floor. I [am] always working in the office in the back. So they asked [to] meet me in person."

Saleh is an accountant who arrived in Thunder Bay from Egypt around ten years ago and got his first taste of persians at the Persian Man.

"It was fantastic," he said. "I tasted [it] first at the Persian Man because everyone was talking about Thunder Bay persians, Thunder Bay persians."

Saleh learned to prepare the tasty treat after getting a baking job at the Safeway on Arthur Street, he said.

He took the recipe to Winnipeg with him after getting a promotion to baking manager at one of Safeway's Winnipeg stores.

'Some people thought it was sacrilege'

"I love it," he said. "I was so attached when I moved out."

At first, sales were slow he said, but then people from Thunder Bay discovered them.

"It was, 'wow.' They were so happy that they found this here in Winnipeg," he added.

Saleh has yet to run across anyone who's upset with him for violating Thunder Bay's unofficial monopoly on persians.

But former Thunder Bay resident-turned-Winnipegger Julie Bell noticed some backlash after posting a photo of the pastries on social media.

"There was a lot of excitement, and some people thought it was sacrilege to see persians in another city," she said. "I found it quite funny."

Bell made the pilgrimage to Saleh's bakery after being tipped off about the persians on Facebook.

"I was certainly very very surprised," she said. "I'm not too certain it's good for my waistline."