The journalist Christopher Cheung discusses his new book Very Vancouver: Uncovering the Soul of a West Coast City (ECW Press, 2026), with Joseph Planta.

Very Vancouver: Uncovering the Soul of a West Coast City by Christopher Cheung (ECW Press, 2026). Click to buy this book from Amazon.ca: Very Vancouver

Text of the introduction by Joseph Planta:

I am Planta: On the Line, in Vancouver, British Columbia, at TheCommentary.ca.  

Chris Cheung joins me again. He’s recently published a book, Very Vancouver: Uncovering the Soul of a West Coast City. His Vancouver isn’t the Vancouver that tourists are attracted to and visit, or that the tourism board would like travellers to see. He skilfully takes his reader beneath the surface, and gets to the heart of the people that make Vancouver what it is. He tells stories of a Vancouver that other journalists might not cover, and as a result provides a richer view of the people who come here, come through, and/or stay. We meet families who were the first to mass produce tofu and put beef balls in the earliest bowls of pho. We meet the elderly, often Asian women, binners who collect cans and bottles, and find out why they do it. We met the mysterious Baklava Man, as well as get the history of Duffin’s Donuts. Chris has a marvelous way of getting to know the people he interviews, and gaining their confidence so that they’re able to reveal so much. The book also provides a narrative of his years working in journalism in this town. In the decade or so he’s been at it, the media market has contracted and shrunk, and I’ll get him to reflect on that and more. Christopher Cheung is the author of Under the White Gaze: Solving the Problem of Race and Representation in Canadian Journalism. He has worked as a reporter at The Tyee, Metro, and the Vancouver Courier. He is the recipient of two Webster Awards. Visit www.christophercheung.net for more. This new book is published by ECW Press. We spoke one week ago. Please welcome back to the Planta: On the Line program, Chris Cheung; Mr. Cheung, good morning. 

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