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slow-cooked pork belly from the Fraser Valley is silkily addictive. Look for great meat-
loving West Coast dining options in Gastown, downtown and on Granville Island.
An interesting offshoot of the local West Coast noshing scene is also benefiting ve-
getarians. Local veggies and vegans used to be limited to gloomily tucking into heaping
bowls of mung beans here, but the farm-to-table renaissance has not only delivered
great sides for meat and fish eaters but has inspired a mini-wave of tasty new vegetari-
an restaurants around the city, many of them successfully luring and satisfying carni-
vorous diners as well. Look for some of these new veggie hot spots on Main St, in
South Granville and on Kitsilano's West 4th Ave. And don't forget the city's food-truck
scene: some of Vancouver's surfeit of 100-plus mobile food vendors have a strong fo-
cus on West Coast seasonal produce.
Drink & Be Merry
BC's locavore movement doesn't begin and end with what's on your plate. The drive
for area-made treats also extends to drink. Wine kick-started the local trend around 20
years ago when vineyards started popping up in the Okanagan region in the BC interior.
Now rivaling Ontario's Niagara as Canada's leading wine area, the Okanagan's success
has sparked smaller winery regions across the province, from the Fraser Valley to Van-
couver Island. You'll find some BC wine on the majority of restaurant menus - look
out for tipples by Burrowing Owl, Quail's Gate and Nk'Mip Cellars, a celebrated First
Nations-owned winery.
This thriving wine industry has paved the way for another local scene to develop.
From just a handful of producers 10 years ago, BC now has more than 40 microbrewer-
ies and is arguably the craft-beer capital of Canada. Pent-up demand from Vancouver
drinkers, fed up with years of generic beer, has been such that almost everywhere in the
city now has at least a few BC brews to sample. Ask for anything local and you'll
likely be pleasantly surprised. Province-based brewers to look out for include Drift-
wood and Phillips from Victoria, Crannog from Sorrento, Howe Sound Brewing from
Squamish and Central City Brewing from Surrey.
Vancouver itself is on the cusp of a new age of hyperlocal beer making. Alongside
city-made faves such as Storm Brewing and R&B Brewing, a new wave of local micro-
breweries and nanobreweries are opening, many with tasting rooms. Look out for Pow-
ell Street Craft Brewing, Parallel 49, 33 Acres and Brassneck Brewery. And if you
can't make it to the maker, just head to the bars of Gastown, Main St or Commercial
Dr, where you'll find a full round of craft brews at many neighborhood bars.
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