Very Vancouver: Uncovering the Soul of a West Coast City

by Christopher Cheung

Vancouver journalist Christopher Cheung has spent most of his career chasing the stories that no one else was covering, taking readers beneath the surface of the “city of glass” to expose the beating, multicultural heart of a place that has too easily been characterized by multimillion-dollar condos and yoga pants. In 15 deeply human and well-researched stories, Very Vancouver tours the city to reveal how families, businesses, and individuals are just trying to make a home in this beautiful, and challenging, place of plurality.


There are the families who were the first to mass-produce Canadian tofu and put beef balls in the earliest bowls of Eastside phở. There is the diligent population of binners who scavenge alleyways for refundable cans and bottles. There is the roller-coaster story of how migration has shaped the kaleidoscopic menu — with bear claws, bánh mì, and tamales — of the legendary late-night Duffin’s Donuts. And, of course, there is the mysterious Baklava Man, who sold his treats on downtown streets after a career as an outspoken politician in Syria led to his exile.


Very Vancouver is a tribute to the city’s diasporas and examines the inequalities and fractured histories that mark every backyard vegetable garden and ubiquitous Vancouver Special, the boxy and derided design that housed newcomers. Vancouver is renowned for its natural beauty, but it’s also a place built on a foundation of migration, colonization, the working poor, and families who woke up every morning hoping for better.

328 pages, Paperback

Published August 4, 2026

Reviews

[Joel]

If you lament, as I do, the longstanding approach that a certain Vancouver Sun columnist seems to take in writing about this city (as I like to put it, he’s only really been writing one column for 20+ years, titled “what’s the deal with Chinese people”), read this book.

I am so glad I read it. I’ve lived in Vancouver for 17 years and recently moved from the west side to the east. This was a perfect time to read a book like this for me; I feel like I’ve seen more of Vancouver in the last 18 months than I did in the previous 15 years combined, including many of the things highlighted in this book (the iconic Duffin’s Donuts, the elaborate frontyard vegetable gardens of east van, the vibrant Chinese and Vietnamese shops of Victoria drive, to name a few). Cheung writes about Vancouver as a journalist, but with a feeling I can only describe as love.

[lindsay.books · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved this book! An essay collection written by a Vancouver journalist, about all sorts of different topics related to Vancouver: the Kingsgate mall, a fire in a downtown Eastside SRO, the Punjabi market neighbourhood on Fraser, and the Vancouver Special, for example.

I loved the tone the author takes, he shares human-interest stories that brush up against more serious topics (gentrification, immigration, the downtown Eastside, etc) but never comes across as preachy - more of a ‘sharing information and letting readers come to their own conclusions’ kind of vibe. I found a lot of the stories touching and I just didn’t want the book to end! Especially because I live in East Vancouver (where the author grew up), a lot of the essays really resonated with me.

Thank you to ECW Press for putting this on my radar and sending me a copy!

[Isabella 淑娇 · Rating 5 out of 5]

A heartfelt love letter to Vancouver and the people who constellate its many neighbourhoods, yet are often misrepresented or ignored completely by the narratives and policies that shape their lives. Essential reading for journalists, planners, policymakers, and politicians alike.

[Sandra E Chow · Rating 5 out of 5]

The city lore I was looking for

[Enid Wray]

Gift this to friends or family who live in Vancouver.