Discover more of Canada, one great find at a time.

Canada keeps giving us things we had no idea existed.

This week, there’s a Québec-made meal that travelled around the Moon, a P.E.I. landmark built from more than 25,000 bottles, a Northern way to stay warm, and the centuries-old story behind a name making headlines right now.

🥇 Cottage weekends — 42%
🥈 Hockey Night in Canada — 34%
🥉 Poutine — 15%
4️⃣ Timbits — 9%

Products, businesses, people and places that deserve a little more attention.

The Québec-made shrimp curry that went around the Moon.

Happy Yak started in 2012 when nutritionist Christine Chénard and entrepreneur Guy DuBuc teamed up to create lightweight meals for people heading into the outdoors.

Fourteen years later, one of those meals headed considerably farther.

Happy Yak’s shrimp curry accompanied Canadian astronaut Jeremy Hansen aboard Artemis II on its 10-day journey around the Moon.

The best part? This isn’t some special astronaut-only recipe. Happy Yak makes its meals in Cowansville, Québec, and you can order the very same shrimp curry online.

SEE THE MEAL THAT WENT TO THE MOON →

One postcard. One 66-year-old fisherman. More than 25,000 bottles.

In 1979, Édouard Arsenault received a postcard from his daughter showing a glass castle she had visited on Vancouver Island.

It gave him an idea.

At age 66, he began collecting discarded bottles from restaurants, dance halls, friends and neighbours, then started cementing them together.

Over the next four years, Arsenault used more than 25,000 bottles to create three remarkable buildings in Cap-Egmont, P.E.I.

They are still standing today, with sunlight pouring through walls made from thousands of green, clear and brown glass bottles.

STEP INSIDE THE BOTTLE HOUSES →

Cold-weather warmers powered by your own body heat.

Aurora Heat was founded in Fort Smith, Northwest Territories by Brenda Dragon, who grew up in a family that relied on fur from its trapline to stay warm through Northern winters.

Today, the company makes reusable hand, foot and body warmers from wild beaver fur. Rather than generating heat, the fur acts as an insulator, holding your own body heat close.

The products are handcrafted in Northern Canada by Indigenous women and require no batteries, chemicals or disposable heat packs.

SEE HOW AURORA HEAT WORKS →

The Richmond Popcorn Co. is a family-owned Canadian popcorn company making more than 30 sweet and savoury flavours, from their famous homemade Caramel Corn and Chicago Mix to seasonal favourites and unexpected creations.

Every batch is made in Ontario with Canadian farmed kernels and available to order online, with shipping across Canada.

SHOP 30+ FLAVOURS →

The name everyone is talking about this week goes back centuries.

With Lake Ontario suddenly making international headlines, there’s something about its name worth knowing.

The name Ontario comes from an Iroquoian language term that roughly translates to “sparkling waters.” The first known appearance of “Lake Ontario” on a map dates all the way back to 1656.

In fact, the lake had the name long before either Canada or the United States existed.

And here’s something you might not know: Ontario the province was named after the lake, not the other way around.

DISCOVER THE STORY BEHIND THE NAME →

Is there a Canadian business, product, founder or place that more people should know about? Send us your recommendation and tell us what makes it worth discovering.

Your suggestion could be featured in an upcoming edition of More Canada Please.

The garbage bag was essentially a Canadian invention.

Winnipeg inventor Harry Wasylyk began making polyethylene bags in his kitchen in the 1950s, while other Canadians were independently working on the same idea. It is one of those everyday things almost nobody realizes has a Canadian origin.

Until next time,

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