Chinese Vegetable Farmers and Food Heritage in Early Chilliwack

Heritage Week 2026 invites us to “Stir the Pot” and to explore how food connects us to land, culture, memory, and community. In Chilliwack and across the Fraser Valley, that story cannot be told without recognizing the contributions of early Chinese vegetable farmers around the turn of the 20th century.

In the late 1800s and early 1900s, Chinese immigrants played a vital role in shaping British Columbia’s agricultural landscape. Facing significant legal and social barriers including restrictions that prevented them from owning Crown land, many became tenant farmers, renting fields from landowners to grow vegetables for local markets. Through determination and agricultural knowledge brought from southern China, they helped transform fertile valley land into productive market gardens. In 1911, there were 49 independent Chinese farmers in Chilliwack, a 2,350% increase over the number of reported farmers in 1901. The area that now houses Chilliwack Heritage Park by the highway was called China Ranch as it was farmed by Chinese agricultural workers.

Group portrait at Edenbank farm in Sardis, c. 1889. Chinese worker Foo, seated in front, was fatally injured at the farm in an attack by a bull named Zad. Photograph courtesy of Chilliwack Museum and Archives (2004.052.0700).

These farmers grew practical, high-demand crops such as potatoes, onions, cabbages, and other greens that supplied both rural families and growing town centers. Their work strengthened local food systems at a time when communities relied heavily on what could be grown close to home. Though their contributions were often overlooked in historical records, their labour helped establish Chilliwack’s enduring agricultural identity.

But “Stir the Pot” is also about what happened beyond the fields — in kitchens, boarding houses, and small-town homes.

Two Chinese men spraying rows of hops, ca. early 1900's? Photograph courtesy of Chilliwack Museum and Archives (1987.013.004)

In small communities across British Columbia around 1900, early Chinese immigrants prepared simple, nourishing meals rooted in tradition and shaped by availability. Rice remained a staple when it could be obtained, often paired with vegetables they cultivated themselves. Meals were stretched with preserved or dried foods, eggs, fish, or small amounts of pork when affordable. When possible, they raised their own pork and chicken. Certain traditional supplies and spices would have been brought in from Vancouver, such as soy sauce. Cooking was practical and communal, grounded in memory and adaptation.

Food became a bridge that connected people to homeland traditions while adapting to new surroundings. In towns like Chilliwack, where discrimination and exclusion were realities of daily life, shared meals offered comfort, continuity, and resilience.

Heritage Week reminds us that history is not only found in buildings and artifacts, but also in everyday acts like planting seeds, harvesting crops, and preparing dinner. The early Chinese farmers of the Fraser Valley were not just growing vegetables — they were cultivating community, sustaining local economies, and preserving cultural identity through food.

Pen & ink front view of the Chinese Masonic Lodge, located in what is referred to as Chinatown South behind Fraser Valley Frosted Foods. A number of Chinese residents kept small garden plots where they grew and sold vegetables to the public. You can see the sign on the bottom right of the drawing for Woo Farms, which sold potatoes. Photograph courtesy of Chilliwack Museum and Archives (P8048).

As we “Stir the Pot” this week, we honour the hands that worked the soil, the markets that carried the harvest, and the kitchens that kept traditions alive. Their legacy continues in the rich agricultural landscape and diverse food culture that define Chilliwack today.

If you have family stories, photographs, or memories connected to Chinese market gardens, farm labour, or early food production in the Fraser Valley, consider sharing them.

The most meaningful heritage work often comes from the community: a name on the back of a photo, a remembered location, an elder’s story, or a recipe that travelled through generations.