Offer Food to Eat, On-Site
Granville Market was at the top of our list when we visited friends in Vancouver. Our friends confirmed that they had Granville Market too, at the top of their list of places where they would like to bring us. We spent half a day, first going around the craft stores around the market and then perusing all the variety of food and fresh produce available in the periphery of the market. We proceeded to buy some charcuterie to enjoy later and finally sat down for a well-deserved lunch.
Granville Market, Vancouver
Thai Lunch with “Vancouverites”
The fact that Granville Market offered meals on-site extended our “market experience,” allowing us to stay longer, chat over our meals, and enjoy a Thai meal which satisfied our craving for Asian food. We also got to appreciate Vancouver more as a multi-cultural city, because of the variety of food cuisine which was present in the market.
Granville Market, Thai Pork Belly with Cilantro and Boiled Egg
Our friends confirmed that Granville Market is a “go-to place” for them in Vancouver. For one friend, she and her partner will go out walking on a Saturday morning and head out in the direction of Granville, as it was only a 20-minute walk from her apartment in downtown Vancouver. For another, although she lived about an hour away, she would always bring her visitors to Granville market because she liked the combination of shopping, sight-seeing, and ending the trip with a meal for her visitors.
Granville Public Market Dining Options [6]
A Bread Affair – organic bakery with artisan breads
A La Mode – homemade sweet and savoury pies
Blue Parrot Espresso Bar – European style espressos
Celine’s Fish and chips
Chau Veggie Express – Vietnamese vegan dishes
Fraser Valley Juice and Salad – fresh salads, steamed and stir-fried vegetables, salad rolls, juices and smoothies
Gourmet Wok – Chinese cuisine
Granville Island Tea Company Ltd. – a custom cup of tea
J.J. Bean – espressos
Kaisereck Delicatessen – sausage hot dogs
La Tortilleria – Mexican cuisine
Laurelle’s Fine Foods – meat pies, sausage rolls, macaroni and cheese, cupcake and cookies
Lee’s Donuts
Market Grill – beef, salmon, chicken, and veggie burgers
Muffin Granny – muffins, scrumpets, cookies, crepes
Omi Japan – Japanese cuisine
Petit Ami – organic coffee shop
Pizza Pzazz – pizza and artisan gelato
Sen Pad Thai – Thai street food
Sprig Contemporary Greek Kitchen – Mediterranean cuisine with lamb as favoured meat
The Stock Market – soups, stocks, and sauces
GRANVILLE MARKET, VANCOUVER
VARIETY OF DINING OPTIONS
Think of a place to meet up with friends, a place to bring your visitors over to experience your community, a place which you would plan to visit when you are in a new place, or a place in your community that you frequently go to [7]. Chances are, it will involve a place where there are meals to partake and drinks to enjoy together.
“Is this a place where you would choose to meet your friends? Are others meeting friends here or running into them? Do people bring their friends and relatives to see the place or do they point to one of its features with pride? Do people use the place regularly and by choice?”
Whyte, in his seminal piece on New York public spaces, said it even more simply, food brings in people into a place, and people bring in more people [8]. The recent trend for dining in food halls taps into the “foodie generation” and their desire for more creative food experience [3-5, 9]. They want to learn more about how their food is prepared and what is the story behind its preparation.
The Culinary Visions Panel is a private institution focused on researching insights and trends related to food and dining. In their 2017 Food Market Culture Report, the Culinary Visions Panel gathered insights about US consumers and their desire for a food experience. The report explained that food halls delivered on the consumers’ need for a food experience while also allowing them to multi-task in terms of socialization and shopping [5].
“The food culture in the U.S. is pervasive among consumers of all ages and consumers crave an experience when they are looking for more than a fast-fueling experience. 60% of the consumers surveyed say shopping at food markets is one of their favorite types of food experiences while 67% of the respondents wished there were more farmers markets in their local areas. 62% of consumers surveyed said they were more impressed by visiting a farmers’ market than a supermarket.
The food market culture provides a food experience that allows consumers to feed multi-tasking lifestyles. At food markets and food halls, consumers can have a dining experience, socialize with friends and pick up some grocery items for home all in one venue. 57% of the consumers surveyed said they enjoyed going to the market because it’s just as much a social occasion as it is a shopping trip.”
— Culinary Visions Panel
Food Market Culture Report 2017 [5]
Dimitrovski brought in the additional perspective of food experience as a driver for tourism, explaining that a tourist can understand and enjoy a city more, like a local, if they were to visit a food market [2]. Anderson added an even more important reason to bring in food. He theorized that exposure to a diverse group of persons and eating different kinds of cuisine in a food hall setting may actually break down some forms of barriers, like race and income levels [1].
“Perhaps the focus on food is a reason for this, suggesting a kind of multiethnic festival… when diverse people are eating one another’s food, a social good is performed for those observing… As people become intimate through such shared experiences, some barriers can be broken.”
— Reading Terminal Market
The Cosmopolitan Canopy [1], page 32
Food is an important aspect of most everyone’s life. Food halls capture and deliver on the food experience which a lot of people are looking for, whether as a community resident or a visitor. Food halls enable familiarity and socialization because of their ability to draw a crowd into a place where they can observe, interact, and engage with each other. If planned well, food halls can even break down barriers.
Sources:
Elijah Anderson, The Cosmopolitan Canopy: Race and Civility in Everyday Life (New York, New York W.W. Norton & Co., c2011. 1st ed.).
Montserrat Crespi-Vallbona and Darko Dimitrovski, 'Urban Food Markets in the Context of a Tourist Attraction: La Boqueria Market in Barcelona Spain', Tourism Geographies, 20 (2018), 397-417.
'Cultivating Development, Trends, and Opportunities at the Intersection of Food and Real Estate', (Washington, DC, USA, Urban Land Institute, 2016).
'Food Halls of North America', (Cushman & Wakefield, 2018).
'Food Market Culture Report', (Culinary Visions Panel 2017).
'Granville Public Market: Dining Options ', 2019 <https://granvilleisland.com/directory?field_tenant_category_tid=2&location=73>.
'What Makes a Successful Place', Project for Public Spaces, 2018 <https://www.pps.org/article/grplacefeat>.
William Hollingsworth Whyte, The Social Life of Small Urban Spaces (Washington, D.C, Conservation Foundation, 1980).
Tad Wilkes, 'Food Halls and Markets Still on-Trend ', in Hotel F&B (2017).