Access the Vancouver Food Asset Map Here
The Vancouver Food Asset Map has recently been updated to reflect the latest changes in the food resources in the city and to introduce new categories for demographics with barriers to food access. Following the recent changes, the number of food resources has increased to over 1000 mapped across Vancouver.
The Vancouver Food Asset Map was created by the Vancouver Coastal Health in partnership with the Vancouver Neighbourhood Food Network and other community organizations in 2017 with the goal of mapping a variety of food-related resources in the city. The purpose of the interactive map is to provide people with information on available food resources in Vancouver.
This could be directing an individual to a nearby free food program, helping a service provider with resources available for referral, or providing data for a researcher on their next food systems project. A recent discussion with the Vancouver Division of Family Practice expressed an interest from health practitioners for readily available resources for their patients, showing that the Vancouver Food Asset Map can help bridge individuals with limited knowledge of available food assets to the correct resources.
Food Assets are a variable concept that evolve depending on community need, but can be defined as places where people can grow, prepare, share, buy, receive or learn about food. Within the map, food assets range from community orchards, to open kitchens, to free food programs, to school breakfasts, to cultural grocery stores, and more.
The Vancouver Food Asset Map is currently hosted by Google’s free mapping tool due to its ease of access and well known interface. The map is accessible on any device, available to download offline, and has an interactive legend that allows users to filter assets by category. However, a barrier to hosting the server on Google is that it is not open source, preventing other users from updating the map as needed. Moreover, important analytics required to identify what demographics are accessing the map and what groups are missing from the resource are not captured in the Google mapping tool.
While the project was initially put together with the consultation of local food security workers, collaboration has expanded to the broader community, including student, youth, low-income and Indigenous perspectives over the years to identify gaps in the Food Asset Map through community surveys, engagement workshops, map trialling, and more.
As of July 2026, there have been over 1000 food assets labelled on the map, sorted into 8 main categories and 50 subcategories, making this the most comprehensive food asset map in Vancouver. With over 516,000 views, this map has been widely used by individuals, organizations, academics, businesses, and more.
The eight main categories are:
- No Cost/Low Cost Meals – Adults;
- Kitchen and Cooking;
- No Cost/Low Cost Grocery Items;
- Gardening and Growing Food;
- Youth and Young Adult Food Programs;
- Indigenous Food Programs;
- Community Food Organizations; and
- Retail Stores, Markets and Small Cultural Food Businesses.
Recent changes to the map include the addition of the 2 new categories: Youth and Young Adult Food Programs, and Indigenous Food Programs. This was done after consultation with the TRRUST Collective Impact organization and involved youth, where a need for accessible youth specific food resources was identified during research for the 2026 Youth Aging Out of Care Food Insecurity Project. Moreover, the update also seeks to fill a gap in Indigenous food perspectives that were identified during a community focus group and food mapping workshop done in 2021.
As the map continues to grow in the future, the Vancouver Neighbourhood Food Networks seeks to refine the categorization of food retailers by cultural group. This way, map users can filter based on cultural needs, such as Halal food stores, Filipino grocery stores, South American restaurants, and so on.
Since its launch in 2017, the Vancouver Food Asset Map has also served as a model for subsequent food asset maps published in Squamish-Lillooet, Burnaby-New Westminster, Sunshine Coast, the North Shore, and Richmond. However, the impact of the Vancouver Food Asset Map extends beyond British Columbia, where interest in its developmental process has reached as far as Australia.
Using the map to identify gaps in the local food security, an analysis of the Vancouver Food Asset Map done in 2019 by Land and Food Systems students at UBC noticed that food assets were densely concentrated in the Downtown and Strathcona area, while Sunset had little to no food assets. This coincides with the “food deserts” concentrated in South Vancouver identified by Vancouver’s Equitable Access to Healthy Food Retail Report in 2025 and research done by UBC students. Food deserts are characterized by areas where residents have restricted or no access to nearby affordable, fresh, and nutritious food, making South Vancouver a “food priority zone” for future city planning.
However, one considerable limitation to the Food Asset Map is the static nature of maps versus the living nature of constantly evolving food assets in the city, requiring considerable on-going maintenance and updating of the map. The Vancouver Neighbourhood Food Networks assumed management of the Vancouver Food Asset Map in 2019, and with the help of UBC Land and Food Systems students, have been able to occasionally update the map to keep the food assets current. Nonetheless, if you see any outdated information or missing resources, please feel encouraged to email vchfam@gmail.com to help keep the map as relevant as possible.