A complete guide on where to find healthy food and restaurants in Vancouver, that carry or use organic ingredients, ethical animal products, and products that are locally sourced.
Updated with new information on December 4, 2024
Local Markets
The best place to find healthy and fresh local produce, meats, cheese, fish, and other local foods are the local Vancouver Farmers Markets. There are winter markets at Nat Bailey Stadium on Saturdays and at Hastings Park on Sundays. During the spring and summer months there are markets all over the city. Check the Vancouver Farmers Market website for details.
The Granville Island Public Market is also a great place to find a variety of local foods. There is a variety of local produce and a wide variety of cheese, meat and seafood available as well. A number of unusual meats can be found at the meat stalls including venison, rabbit and goat meat. Granville Island market also has the best variety of seafood in Vancouver, if you are looking for a type of fish that is a little unusual. Oyama Sausage sells a wide variety of fresh natural sausages, pates, hams and cold cuts as well as a variety of unusual cheeses.
Organic Grocery Stores
The biggest organic store with the biggest selection is Whole Foods. It tends to be a tad overpriced compared to other organic food stores. Their produce is always very fresh, but it doesn’t tend to be local and their meat selection isn’t that great. They do carry an extensive selection of grass fed dairy products as well as sheep and goat dairy products. They have a few locations in the Vancouver area.
I usually prefer shopping at Choices rather than at Whole Foods. They don’t have quite as big of a selection as Whole Foods, but they are a Canadian company and their prices are more reasonable than Whole Foods. They also have a good selection of meats. Choices has a number of locations in the Vancouver area.
Famous Foods has a reasonably priced, large selection of organic food. They are located at Kingsway near Knight St.
For those that live on the west side of Vancouver who would like to support a smaller local business that is not a chain store like Whole Foods or Choices, Greens Organic Natural Food Market is a good option. They are located at Broadway near Arbutus St. in Vancouver.
For those who live on the east side of Vancouver, Organic Acres Market is on Main street near 20th is a smaller store that has a good selection of organic produce. Those who live on Commercial Drive should check out Sweet Cherubim which is a medium sized store with a good selection of organic food as well as a small restaurant with organic food to go.
Healthy Bakeries
There are a number of healthy local bakeries in Vancouver. My two favourites are the European Breads Bakery on Fraser St. in Vancouver and the Artisan Bake Shoppe in North Vancouver. Both European Breads and the Aristan Bake Shoppe make traditional sourdough bread. The Artisan Bake Shoppe breads and the European Breads Bakery breads can be found at Whole Foods, Choices, and a variety of other local grocery stores.
The Flourist Mill & Bakery on Commercial in the Trout Lake area bakes their own bread from scratch using freshly milled grains sourced from Canadian farmers.
Small Specialty Organic Stores
Home on the Range is a great little store with a lot of unusual, hard to find health foods, such as non-homogenized dairy products and local ethically raised meats. They are the only store in town to sell fresh bone broth. Their retail store is located on Broadway near Main St. They also do deliveries.
Organic Butchers
Windsor Meats on Main and King Edward in Vancouver sells mainly local organic meat, free-range meat and chicken, meat raised without antibiotics and grass fed beef. They also sell ethically raised pork. Even though a number of stores on this list sell meat, Windsor tends to be the most reasonably priced with one of the best selections.
Market Meats in the Kitsilano area of Vancouver on West 4th has a wide variety of free-range meats and grass-fed beef available. They also carry grass-fed butter.
Halal Meat Butchers
There are a number of halal meat shops in Vancouver, mostly located at the south end of Main St. and Fraser St., that offer some good quality lamb and goat meat. Halal meat does tend to be of higher quality than regular meat. One butcher shop worth mentioning is Boss Halal Meat, which is located in Surrey in the Vancouver suburbs.
Sustainable Seafood
The Daily Catch on Commercial Drive is the first seafood store in Vancouver to sell 100% sustainable seafood. Their fish is also very fresh and high-quality.
Organic, Raw and Grass-Fed Cheese
Les Amis du Fromage is by far the best place to buy all types of cheese in Vancouver. They do offer a number of raw cheeses as well as organic and grass-fed cheese. They have a location in Kitsilano and another location on E. Hastings St. in Vancouver.
Organic Food Delivery Service
This is an easy, convenient way to buy local, fresh organic produce. There are many delivery services in town, but I think that Spud organic delivery service is the best one overall. Spud also offers a healthy meal delivery service called Be Fresh Local.
Another option is Farm to Table Market which delivers fresh local produce to your door. They also have a store location downtown.
Organic and Farm to Table Restaurants
In the Kitsilano neighborhood of Vancouver, Fable Kitchen on 4th and The Farmer’s Apprentice on South Granville use locally-sourced seasonal ingredients and are listed in the Michelin guide.
Aphrodite’s Cafe on 4th near Alma serves food made with organic, local ingredients.
Salmon n’ Bannock on West Broadway near Oak is Vancouver’s only indigenous restaurant and uses local ingredients and ethically sourced meat and seafood.
The Main St area of Vancouver is home to 3 Michelin Star restaurants that use local ingredients:
Published on Main
Burdock & Co
The Acorn vegetarian restaurant
Another restaurant worth checking out is The Farmhouse, which uses herbs grown in their back yard and produce sourced from a farm in Abbotsford.
In downtown Vancouver, Fanny Bay Oyster Bar and Fish Market is the city’s only tide to table restaurant. Archer restaurant on Alberni St. uses locally sourced produce, sustainable seafood and ethically sourced meats. Located in Coal Harbour are Nightingale restaurant, named Canada’s Best Farm to Table Restaurant as well as Botanist, which uses locally sourced produce and sustainably sourced seafood. Located in Yaletown are two restaurants that use local and organic ingredients: WestOak and The Flying Pig.
On the downtown eastside, The Garden Strathcona cafe uses humanely sourced meat and dairy products, as well as local organic produce.
On Commercial Drive, the Eternal Abundance cafe serves organic, vegan and gluten-free food.
Keto, Paleo and Low Carb Friendly Restaurants
The Caveman Cafe is located downtown inside the Tinseltown Mall. They cater to many diets including keto, paleo, vegetarian, vegan, and gluten-free. Keto Caveman HaLove is located on Davie St and caters to keto, vegan and halal diets. Shamshiri Caveman in Strathcona accommodates keto, vegetarian and low carb diets and they also have a low carb bakery onsite.