Food History of Vancouver

Key eras

Pre-1858, Indigenous food systems

The Musqueam, Squamish and Tsleil-Waututh Coast Salish peoples lived for thousands of years on Pacific salmon, oolichan grease, herring eggs, halibut and cedar-smoked food across what is now Vancouver. The salmon-curing techniques on the Fraser River and Burrard Inlet anchor BC's seafood identity to this day.

1858-1900, Gold rush and Chinatown

The Fraser River gold rush brought waves of Chinese immigrants to the Vancouver area in 1858, founding Vancouver's Chinatown on Pender Street between Carrall and Main, by 1890 the second-largest Chinese community in North America after San Francisco. Cantonese tea houses and dried-goods shops on Keefer set the canon.

1900-1945, Japanese fishing village and Vancouver Indian

By 1900, Powell Street between Main and Gore was the Japanese-Canadian Paueru-gai or Powell Street neighbourhood, the heart of the Japanese-Canadian fishing community supplying salmon and herring. WWII internment wiped the community out in 1942. Indian merchants opened the South Granville-Punjabi belt 1908 onward.

1945-1979, Granville Island reinvention

Post-war Vancouver became a port city kitchen by neighbourhood: Italian on Commercial Drive with Caffe Calabria in 1973, Greek on West Broadway, Chinese in Chinatown's Pender belt. Granville Island opened as a Public Market in 1979, transforming the industrial peninsula under the bridge into the city's food-tourism anchor.

1980-2000, Pacific Rim cuisine arrives

The Pacific Rim moment landed in Vancouver in the 1980s with West Coast fusion, John Bishop's Bishop's restaurant in 1985, Tojo's omakase counter from 1988 onward. Hidekazu Tojo is credited with inventing the California roll in 1974 in Vancouver. Hong Kong handover migration in 1997 reshaped Richmond into North America's largest Cantonese restaurant belt.

1994 Vij's and modern Indian

Vikram Vij and Meeru Dhalwala opened Vij's on Cambie in 1994, reframing Indian food in Vancouver as a fine-dining proposition, not a curry-house default. Vij's became Canada's most-photographed Indian restaurant and the city's reference walk-in queue, plus the cookbooks and the Railway Express truck.

2000-2022, contemporary tasting tier

AnnaLena, Hawksworth, Boulevard, Botanist, Burdock & Co, St Lawrence, Kissa Tanto and Published on Main built Vancouver's tasting-tier kitchen from 2010 onward. The first Michelin Guide to British Columbia arrived in 2022, awarding stars to Published on Main, Burdock & Co, Kissa Tanto, Masayoshi, Sushi Masuda and St Lawrence.

Immigrant influences

• Cantonese and Hong Kong: Vancouver's Chinatown on Pender since 1890 plus Richmond's No 3 Road belt are North America's largest Cantonese restaurant zones, dim sum, roast meats and hot pot.
• Japanese-Canadian: Powell Street Paueru-gai was the Japanese-Canadian fishing community pre-1942 internment; the modern Robson and Denman corridor now concentrates the city's izakaya, ramen and sushi belt under Kingyo, Kintaro and Tojo's.
• South Asian (Punjabi and Indian): Punjabi merchants opened the Main Street belt from 49th to 51st in 1908; Vij's on Cambie since 1994 reframed Indian dining as fine-dining proposition. All India Sweets, Bombay Bhel and the Surrey-Vancouver corridor.
• Italian: Italian immigrants settled Commercial Drive in the 1950s and 60s, the strip's Caffe Calabria coffee bar in 1973, Federico's, plus the modern wave under Lupo, Savio Volpe, Ask for Luigi and Caffe La Tana.
• Vietnamese and Cambodian: Vietnamese and Cambodian refugees post-1975 founded Vancouver's pho counter belt on Kingsway, Anh and Chi on Main, and Phnom Penh on East Georgia as the city's most-influential Khmer-Vietnamese kitchen since 1985.
• Filipino: Filipino-Canadian community runs the Joyce-Collingwood and East Hastings belts, kamayan-style restaurants Pinpin and Goldilocks, plus the lechon kawali on the lunch menus at Parallel 49 brewery and around East Vancouver.

Signature innovations

• California roll, invented by Hidekazu Tojo at Tojo's 1974
• BC roll, salmon and cucumber inside-out, Tojo's 1974
• Aburi-style flame-seared sushi, popularised by Miku and Minami 2008 onward
• Vij's modern Indian fine dining model, 1994 onward
• Pacific Rim cuisine, the BC seafood-meets-Asia menu language
• Japadog, Japanese-Canadian fusion hot dogs from 2005 onward