Canada’s sweetest success story has its roots in 19th century Quebec

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Maybe it should be called a Patience Flakie.

Perhaps ironically, part of the key to a Passion Flakie, with its light, airy layers of pastry cemented with fruit and cream filling, is not rushing into anything. Any sweet tooth worth their salt knows to take it slow with any fruit compote, simmering over medium heat.

Who wants the heart of their passion scorched?

Certainly not Rose-Anna Vachon, the pastry chef and entrepreneur born in Quebec in 1877 who has touched your life and your lunch box, whether you know it or not.

A museum south of Quebec City, tells the story of Rose-Anna’s earliest days of baking cookies on her wood stove — and her accounting of what it cost to run the fledgling business.

Rose-Anna bought the Leblond bakery in Sainte-Marie-de-la-Nouvelle-Beauce with her husband, Joseph-Arcade Vachon, in 1923, according to The Canadian Encycopedia.

They had married in 1897 and bought a farm and sugar bush and, as a homesteader and future entrepreneur did in the day, they had seven children.

Four of their sons moved to the United States for work, and Rose-Anna eventually convinced J.A. to literally sell the farm and go into business to ultimately reunite the family.

It worked and the operation the couple started was renamed J.A. Vachon et fils, boulangers et pâtissiers when their children became involved four years later.

The Depression did its worst, but the business kept growing. In 1936, the Vachons bought the Diamond Shoe factory in the same town where the museum now stands and used its assembly line setup to begin mass production of cakes including the Jos. Louis, named after Joseph Vachon and Louis Vachon, which it had introduced in 1932.

Unfortunately, J.A. Vachon died just two years later as the company was on the cusp of another burst of expansion. At the start of the 1940s, Vachon employed 125 people and ran 30 trucks, by 1947, the workforce and its fleet had doubled.

Rose-Anna took the opportunity to retire and sold the business to four of her sons, Joseph, Amédée, Paul and Benoît, closing the deal in 1945.

By the time the business was renamed again to Vachon Inc., it employed 1,200 people.

Paul and Benoit Vachon sold the vastly expanded business for $14 million in 1970 — not bad for a mom and pop operation born over open flame.

It was sold for $120 million to the Canadian division of a Mexican food multinational in 2015, but the factory in Sainte-Marie remains active.

Passion Flakie joined Vachon’s “luscious lineup” in the 1980s by the company’s own accounting.

A Millenial’s age later, recipes for home takes on the traditional recess treat abound.

Melissa Levac of Dawson City, Yukon, told the CBC in 2021 she was driven to recreate one of her childhood favourites from “100 per cent a nostalgic craving.”

The Flakie Giant appeared courtesy of Madame Germaine the same year and it’s exactly what it sounds like.

And @vanillabean_mtl posted their own recipe for Heart-Shaped Flakies to Instagram in time for Valentine’s Day this year.

For any Canadians feeling especially passionate about Canada, and snacky, there’s a maple Passion Flakie variant available through retailers including Giant Tiger, another jewel in Canada’s commercial crown with its original location steps from Parliament Hill.

Maybe it should be called a Patriot Flakie.

Too soon?

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