Chinatown Cooks Through COVID
Gloves, masks, hairnets — check! We visit eateries like Kam Wai on cooking in a pandemic.
You can’t have Chinatown without Chinese food.
On any given day in Vancouver’s historic neighbourhood, there’s the immigrant senior looking for familiar food. There’s the resident from the Downtown Eastside, looking for something hot, affordable and a place to sit.
In the summer, there’s the tourist, looking for a bite of culture. And when it’s time for re-election, there are politicians like Justin Trudeau, looking for a place to campaign.
But in a pandemic, how are Chinatown’s eateries faring without many of these customers?
Tyee reporter Christopher Cheung and photographer Joshua Berson check in with three favourites in the neighbourhood: the cozy classic Gain Wah, the massive 1,000-seat Floata, and dim sum wholesaler Kam Wai.
In This Series
In the Pandemic, ‘Gain Wah’ Keeps Dishing Out Chinatown Classics
First in a series on cooking through COVID in the Vancouver neighbourhood.
Keeping Chinatown’s 1,000-Seat ‘Floata’ Afloat in the Pandemic
The massive, storied restaurant is doing what it can to keep regulars fed. Part of a series.
Keeping Calm and Wrapping Dim Sum
Kam Wai’s expertly made frozen food is now in high demand. Part of a series on Chinatown cooking through COVID.
Real Cities Give Their People Places to Pee
Public washrooms should be plentiful and accessible, says one scholar. And cities that do flush, flourish.
