Feeding the Family

In its early days, Victoria was the commercial powerhouse of British Columbia—its largest city and largest market. Nancy Oke and Robert Griffin present a richly illustrated history of the bakers, butchers, grocers, coffee makers and other suppliers of food and drink in Victoria’s prosperous early days. They begin in 1843 with the building of the Hudson’s Bay Company fort and show how the face of Victoria changed as it grew from town to city, and how later it stabilized in the shadow of Vancouver’s rising prominence. Feeding the Family tells the stories of Victoria’s early food and drink suppliers, manufacturers and retailers—the many colourful characters, the businesses that prospered or failed, the inventors, innovators and crooks. It shows how Victoria’s history is unique yet has many similarities with other towns and cities on the west coast.