In the headline article, Aleesha Harris claims “We have Expo 86 to thank for Vancouver’s booming restaurant scene” (Vancouver Sun, May 2, 2026). She describes food as a “primary pillar of the global event” that 40 years ago was an “important point in the city’s culinary history.” John Mackie describes it as a “Giant Classy carnival.” The 1980s were economically difficult in Canada, and while the run-up to Expo 86 saw controversy in Vancouver, “the Expo” along with the first “Sky Train” and the opening of the Coquihalla Highway were major expenses and major boosts to the struggling BC economy. Expo 86 opened May 2 and ran to October 13 and over 22 million people visited the site and loved the experience. The site hosted 54 pavilions from around the world (many that offered food) and 112 eateries on the grounds. It was a great experience for visitors who were introduced to foods from around the world. After Expo 86, the city saw an influx of culinary talent from many countries and the diversity and richness of the Vancouver restaurant scene “started to unfold in the years that followed.”
In 1986 I wasn’t living in Vancouver and only heard about Expo 86 from friends who had attended. I arrived the following summer of 1987 amid the energized aftermath the “fair” had sparked. Vancouver and British Columbia had hopped on the tourism bandwagon and working with home economics teachers, departments, and schools, I witnessed the new government created certificate programs for Food Safe and Super Host. These programs were finding their way into school curriculum and Home Economics departments were designing and introducing Hospitality and Tourism Career Preparation programs.
With all the claims made in the recent Vancouver Sun articles about the significance of Expo 86 to the food history of Vancouver and the province in mind, I turned to my bookshelf for a close look at The Official Cookbook of Expo 86 by Susan Mendelson. What could it tell us about the history of food in 1986?
When I moved to Vancouver in 1987, it was fortunately into the neighbourhood close to where Susan Mendelson operated The Lazy Gourmet. We all loved the idea of gourmet and the possibility that you could do gourmet and be a little lazy was very attractive. In the introduction to The Official Cookbook, Susan pointed out that our Vancouver laziness came from our desire to use our time in recreation – swimming, skiing, running, cycling, golf and tennis – and eating well! The coil bound cookbook of 128 pages was an official souvenir of Expo that told visitors about the food of Vancouver. The recipe sections were: Hot & Cold Hors d’Oeuvres, Salads, Quiche & Pizza, Chicken, Fish & Seafood, Beef & Veal, Casseroles, Vegetable Side Dishes & Rice, Restaurant Favourites, Sweets & Treats, and Breads & Muffins.
The recipes in The Official Cookbook were often simple. Salads included potato salads, marinated vegetables, Caesar salad, spinach salad, pasta salads, green bean and asparagus salads. The Quiche & Pizza section illustrated the popularity of these foods with four recipes for quiche, a Greek influenced deep dish spinach and feta pie, two pizza crust recipes, recipes for tomato paste and sauce, and five different pizza recipes. There were ten recipes for chicken, recipes for salmon, halibut and red snapper as well as fish stock, West Coast Paella and Seviche. In the Veal and Beef section, recipes for Beef Bourguignon and Beef Stroganoff along with Breast of Veal, Veal Scallopine and Barbequed Ribs. Lemon, chocolate and raspberry figured large in the Sweets and Treats section as did variations on Nanaimo Bars. The Lazy Gourmet is attributed with popularizing Nanaimo Bars during and after Expo 86 and the highly prized recipes for alternate flavours were offered in The Official Cookbook. One recipe was titled L.G. Bars (for Lazy Gourmet) and recipes for Mocha Nanaimo Bars, Traditional and Mint were included. Other sweet treats popular at the time were cheesecakes, trifle, carrot cake, muffins and cinnamon buns. 
The section on Restaurant Favourites is a reminder of the Vancouver restaurant scene in 1986, and it is worth listing the restaurants profiled so one can consider if 40 years later those listed restaurants are still operating. Each of the restaurants profiled offered a recipe or two from their menu. The restaurants included: Koko Japanese Restaurant, 2053 East Hastings; Restaurant at Mark James, 2486 Bayswater in Kitsilano; The Raga, 1177 West Broadway; Dar Lebanon, 678 & 695 West Broadway and 564 Howe Street; Grandview Restaurant, 60 West Broadway; Isadora’s, Granville Island; Las Margaritas, 1999 West 4th and 745 Thurlow; Binky’s Oyster Bar & Restaurant, 784 Thurlow Street; and Bishop’s, 2183 West 4th. In the early 1980s, Susan Mendelson authored or co-authored four other cookbooks and The Lazy Gourmet was a key player in forging the new culinary scene in Vancouver.
Its fun to think back 40 years to what we were eating at the time, what has changed and what remains the same. We are fortunate to have videos that can carry us back and one is short (2 minutes), and one is long (48 minutes), but both are worth viewing to capture the times that shaped the foods we ate.
References
Mendelson, Susan (1986). The Official Cookbook of Expo 86. North Vancouver: Whitecap Books.
