“I’d say it’s our national cocktail,” he said. “You get the odd person who doesn’t like them.”

Should you find yourself in a town without bars or restaurants, don’t worry. Many Canadian homes can provide emergency Caesar service.

“Caesars taste like home,” said Christian McPhee, 45, who lives in Toronto and does information technology work in the financial industry. “It’s like comfort food for Canadians. For as long as I can remember, Caesars have been a part of my family’s get-togethers. My grandmother was the first I remember in my family always having them. My family had them at every beach bonfire, Canada Day celebration, long weekend and Sunday brunch.”

“They’ve always been there,” he added.

Well, not quite always. The generally accepted history is that the drink was invented in 1969 in Calgary, Alberta, by a restaurant manager named Walter Chell. (There is, however, evidence of similar clam-and-tomato-juice drinks that predate it. The drink’s most obvious antecedent is the Bloody Mary, which has a longer history, though the Canadians interviewed for this article tend to think of that American favorite as a poor and distinctly less tasty relation.)