The Winter Olympics appear to be drawing more attention to Nanaimo's eponymous goodie, with several blogs and articles touting this "Olympic dessert." And despite the Nanaimo Bar's worldwide fame, local tourism gurus say they're glad to see the extra exposure. The Chicago Tribune ran a story about the iconic bar and its origins in its food section last week with the headline "An Olympic dessert," while Cory Hostetter, marketing co-ordinator with Destination Nanaimo, said the treat has received some recent ink from lifestyle magazines in Seattle. Meanwhile, there is no shortage of food blogs featuring Nanaimo Bar recipes and history in honour of a "native" food from the Olympic host country. Included in the mix is a website for a New York-based Irish-American magazine and a blog by a pair of graduate students determined to sample the delicacies of the world. "That has a lot to do with the marketing we had done a year out. They save those stories until the Olympics and that's the time they start writing about it or blogging about it," said Hostetter. Perhaps tourists won't flock to Nanaimo because of a popular dessert that bears its name, but she does think the bar will get more people thinking about the community. "It's iconic, it has our name attached to it. It's one of the things that keeps Nanaimo top of mind, and it's a story that is told in other cities," said Hostetter. Zeni Maartman, president of Nanaimo Tourism, said she isn't surprised that the dessert has been receiving some new attention during the Olympics. "The Nanaimo Bar is a popular treat that helped put us on the map," she said.