At Vancouver's Powell Street Festival, food is culture
Spam musubi, matcha, and black-sesame chocolate are among the food and drink on offer at the celebration of Japanese-Canadian arts
Inari sushi. Photo by The Spruce/Kristina Vanni
Tea Lani.
Powell Street Festival runs July 30 and 31 from 11:30 am to 7 pm in Paueru Gai (Oppenheimer Park and surrounding area)
IN CELEBRATING Japanese-Canadian arts and culture, Powell Street Festival is all about bringing people together. Food is one of the most accessible and genuine ways of doing just that, and it’s a pillar of the fest now in its 46th year. The 2022 event features several culinary booths featuring everything from Vancouver’s only vegan custard pudding to Japanese-style burgers. Here’s a look at nearly every last bite on offer at this year’s fête.
Masa Shiroki, Artisan SakeMaker.
Artisan SakeMaker.
Artisan SakeMaker
Canada’s first producer of fresh, premium sake is legendary. Ever since Masa Shiroki launched the shop on Granville Island in 2007, he has gone on to receive international attention and praise. In 2015, after years of painstaking research into and experimentation with rice production, he created the first sake to be produced with 100-percent Canadian ingredients. The rice is grown in several sites across B.C.
The company now offers several varieities of small-batch, sustainable, all-natural Junmai sake, including sparkling versions, as well as Apple Yuzu Cooler (the world’s first “sake cooler”). It also sells sake kasu, the natural by-product of sake production that is coveted by chefs around the world for the umami punch it packs.
Artisan SakeMaker is opening a special amazake stand at the Powell Street Festival. The fruity, sweet, rice beverage comes in flavours like mango ginger, yuzu lemon, and mixed berry.
Coconama.
Coconama
Takanori Chiwata and Kayoko Hamamoto are the married pair behind this North Vancouver-based chocolaterie, which launched in 2010. Prior to setting up shop locally and setting out to “connect people with chocolate”, they both spent a decade working as researchers at a confectionery company in Japan. Among Coconama’s most popular truffles are green tea (matcha) and salted caramel; other flavours include mango, passion fruit, Earl Grey, lemon basil, wasabi, Japanese sake, black sesame, and sakura. Making all of their chocolate from scratch by hand, they also offer bars and barks.
Spam musubi. Photo by Takes Two Eggs
Greater Vancouver Japanese Canadian Citizens’ Association
The non-profit organization advocates for social justice for people in Canada of Japanese heritage. Among its operations are multiple Vancouver restaurants and food trucks. On its menu at the 2022 Powell Street Festival is Spam musubi. The tinned luncheon meat is fried, drizzled with soy sauce, nestled atop a bed of white rice, seasoned with furikake, and wrapped in nori.
Hatchan.
Hatchan
A regular at the Richmond Night Market since 2004, Hatchan is a Japanese-owned Takoyaki stand. The popular stand’s namesake snack consists of fried flour-based balls filled with octopus or shrimp.
ICHIYO’s Matcha Bar.
ICHIYO’s Matcha Bar
Taking its name from a Japanese phrase meaning “one leaf”, ICHIYO is a pop-up matcha bar that offers beverages made with 100-percent first harvest tea. That “first flush” is said to yield the finest, most nutrient-dense tea leaves, used here for iced matcha, iced matcha latte, and blended matcha frappe.
JAPADOG.
JAPADOG
A Vancouver classic, it will be serving up wagyu hot dogs (with or without bacon and cheese); kurobuta-pork hot dogs (with or without terimayo), chicken karaage hot dogs, and more.
Japanese Crepe Sasuke.
Japanese Crepe Sasuke
Loved by locals since its 2010 founding, C makes Tokyo-style dessert crepes. Strawberry and banana crepes come with Nutella, whipping cream, green-tea ice cream, and chocolate sauce; “half and half” offers the best of both worlds. The Japanese “luxury” crepe has sweet red-bean paste, shiratama (Japanese rice cake), whipping cream, and green-tea ice cream.
Imagawayaki. Photo by Taste Atlas
Konko Church of Vancouver
Established in 1966, the Konko Church of Vancouver has been part of the PSF since 1990, selling iced tea and imagawayaki. The dessert is a Japanese street snack akin to a crispy pancake, filled with sweet red-bean paste.
POTATO SAN.
POTATO SAN
This isn’t just any “hurricane” potato. It’s a hurricane potato with Japanese-inspired seasonings, like spicy miso, miso garlic, and sweet miso, brought to you by the same team behind Richmond’s Katsu San tonkatsu restaurant. (The eatery specializes in pork cutlet that is koji-cured for 62 hours.)
Tea Lani.
Tea Lani
Tea Lani owner Mayumi Sugano makes hand-picked, small-batch organic teas in varieties such as lavender Earl Grey, jasmine, and turmeric, to name just a few.
Korokke. Photo by Thanks for the Meal
Tenrikyo Yonomotokai
A long-time Powell Street Festival participant, Tenrikyo Yonomotokai is a faith-based organization that promotes the realization of a joyful life through acts of charity and mindfulness called hinokishin. Members will be serving yakisoba (a stir-fried noodle dish) and korokke, which are mashed-potato-based croquettes.
Teppan Yaro.
Teppan Yaro
Comfort food is the name of the game at this spot. Think rice burgers, gyoza, and cream soda.
Teriyaki Boys.
Teriyaki Boys
This crew gets around: fresh off of the 2022 Squamish Constellation Festival, the team headed by Mamo Ijima is rolling into the Powell Street Festival with a truck full of ikayaki (fried squid), garlic shrimp, rice bowls (chicken, pork, or tofu), and more.
Inari sushi. Photo by Pickled Plum
Tonari Gumi (Japanese Community Volunteers Association)
Tonari Gumi is a non-profit organization that supports the local Japanese-Canadian community. It will be offering inari sushi (pouches of seasoned, deep-fried thin tofu), mochi manju (a confection made with sweet red-bean paste), and yaki manju (roasted sweet bun).
Tonami van den Driesen, Van Koji.
Van Koji
Shio koji might not have much visual appeal—the powdery fungus grown on rice looks a bit like white glue—but it adds an umami blast to marinades, sauces, dips, dressings, sauces, soups, and other everyday foods. Once a ubiquitous ingredient in Japanese homes, the salty seasoning disappeared right around the time that MSG began to rise in popularity in the early-20th century. Once it was reintroduced to Japan in 2007 by a centuries-old family-run miso business, it quickly began to regain its culinary presence. Van Koji has been making the natural, probiotic seasoning locally since 2013. Abundant in minerals, fibre, and vitamins, the substance has half the sodium of table salt. Check out Van Koji founder Tonami van den Driesen’s koji recipes for everything from tzatziki and guacamole to chicken wings and spinach goma-a-e.
Matcha lemonade. Photo by Oh, How Civilized
Vancouver Buddhist Temple
In 1904, 14 Buddhist followers in Vancouver gathered to talk about building a local temple, which eventually came to fruition in 1906. The temple was closed during World War II with the evacuation of all Canadians of Japanese descent from the West Coast. In 1951, efforts to reorganize the Vancouver Buddhist Temple began. Today, members continue the tradition of focusing on a life of appreciation and gratitude. Among the temple’s PSF offerings are curry rice bowls, corn on the cob, manju, inari sushi, matcha and black-sesame ice cream, matcha lemonade, and cold green tea.
Soramaru and Hiro Takayama, Vegan Pudding Co.
Vegan Pudding Co.
Soramaru and Hiro Takayama came to Vancouver from Japan in 2011, after years travelling the globe, drawn to the city’s reputation for plant-based cuisine. Sora, a vegan poet, began hosting public poetry readings, with Hiro providing plant-based foods to guests. Sora found himself craving purin, a Japanese custard dessert typically made with milk; Hiro crafted a recipe for a vegan version using kabocha squash and served it at one of the events. The dish was a hit, and requests for it came pouring in. The couple began catering then opened a small take-away window shop on Richards Street; now, their puddings are available at several local restaurants, cafés, and grocery stores in flavours like vanilla, chocolate, matcha, Earl Grey, and strawberry. They make vegan crème brulee, too. Most recently, Vegan Pudding Co. gave rise to Secret Ice Cream. Look for the offshoot’s plant-based frozen dessert in flavours such as salted caramel, mango vanilla, and espresso chocolate chip at this year’s PFS.
Wakwak Burger
Teriyaki burgers, tonkatsu burgers (made with breaded, deep-fried pork cutlet), toriten burgers (chicken tempura), and other Japanese-style patties are the focus of this local food truck.
Related Articles
