This story is part of a week-long series exploring how we as Canadians define "Canadian food," and how it has evolved in modern Canada.

Butter tarts, Pablum and Nanaimo bars are just a few of the unique food items that Canada has gifted the world. But there are plenty of others that Canadians may think are rightfully claimed elsewhere yet were either created or taken to a new level in the True North. Pinning that down for sure can be a tricky business.

“Usually if you find a history of a dish, it’s always contentious,” says Ryan Whibbs, a culinary professor and food historian at Toronto’s George Brown College. “There are few dishes that we can really say ah, this is the person who invented it and they weren’t influenced or copying or following someone else.”

Still, he reminds us that the history of food is an evolution, where recipes get tweaked and reimagined over the generations, including all those that started out somewhere else. The following is a list of some special made or perfected-in-Canada food and beverage concoctions that give us lots to celebrate.

Ginger beef

World famous ginger beef, straight from Calgary Alberta. #thisiswhyicomehome pic.twitter.com/DTjUceBj — David Fyfe (@fyfedawg) December 31, 2012

Created: Calgary, Alta.

Most often credited to the Silver Inn Restaurant and its former chef, George Wong, the original dish did not feature ginger, but instead was called “deep fried shredded beef in chili sauce.” Searching for something that would lure Calgarians away from grilled cheese sandwiches, Wong dusted off a recipe he’d used in England, took some Alberta beef, dipped it in batter, deep fried it, mixed it with sautéed vegetables and sauce, and a culinary star was born.

Green onion cakes

Perfected: Edmonton, Alta. (based on a northern Chinese snack)

K. Linda Tzang of the Royal Alberta Museum isn’t so sure green onion cakes are a uniquely Edmontonian delicacy but there is perhaps nowhere else on Earth you’ll find such obsessive devotion to this street food. Legend has it that a sharp food vendor (the Edmonton Journal says it was Siu To) started serving up the flat, disc-like grilled cakes at Edmonton outdoor festivals in the 1980s. Don’t forget the special sauce: Sambal Oelek.

Persians

Created: Thunder Bay, Ont.

How is it that a U.S. army general gets immortalized in a sweet roll with a Middle Eastern-alluding name, known only to folks in Thunder Bay? The best that we can tell, the “Persian,” described as a doughnut-based cinnamon roll, traditionally slathered in a mysterious pink icing, has nothing to do with Iran. It is also very sweet and as the lore goes, was named by creator Art Bennet in the 1930s after John “Black Jack” Pershing. Pershing gained great fame after successfully leading the American Expeditionary Forces against Germany in the First World War. He died later of coronary artery disease and congestive heart failure.

Donairs

@sortedfood You NEED to visit Halifax NS Canada and be the 1st from "Theothersideofthepond" to discover THE DONAIR ! pic.twitter.com/CwfAZDogzj — Mark Stevens (@Kramsnevets70) April 12, 2015

Created: Halifax, N.S.

Don’t get between a Haligonian and his donair. It might look a whole lot like a Greek gyros or a Middle Eastern doner kebab, since it is a pita-wrapped pile of sliced rotisserie meat. But add the special sweet garlic sauce and switch up the lamb to spiced ground beef, like Peter and John Kamoulakos did sometime in the early 1970s, and you’ve got a signature late night snack prized by Nova Scotians.

Hawaiian pizza

Fun fact: Canada invented the Hawaiian pizza. Thanks for that. Happy Canada Day to our friends up north. #Mahalo pic.twitter.com/dVQs2oFwMV — FREESKIER Magazine (@Freeskier) July 1, 2014

Created: Chatham, Ont.

Aloha southwestern Ontario! Lovers of sweet and savoury never looked back after Sam Panopoulos came up with the bright idea of putting pineapple and ham on a pizza in 1962 at his Satellite Restaurant in downtown Chatham. “I said, ‘Let’s put some pineapple on it,’ and all of a sudden we’re doing big business,” Panopoulos told QMI Agency in 2014.

Story continues