International travellers will soon be able to get a taste of Canada’s Indigenous cuisine, right here in Richmond’s Vancouver International Airport (YVR).
Salmon n’ Bannock, Vancouver’s only Indigenous restaurant, is poised to open the doors to its YVR location on Monday, Dec. 19. It will be serving traditional Indigenous flavours prepared in a modern way.
“Travellers are going to get the comfortable deliciousness that they won’t find anywhere else. It’s really hard to find Indigenous restaurants in Canada. We have over 630 nations in Canada, and hardly any Indigenous restaurants,” said Salmon n’ Bannock co-founder Inez Cook, who is a member of Northern B.C.’s Nuxalk Nation and a Sixties Scoop survivor.
“Normally, if you want to try Indigenous cuisine you have to be invited into somebody’s home, so this is a really cool opportunity that travellers get to try something when they’re heading home.”
The award-winning bistro first opened on Broadway Street in 2010, and the YVR location will be its first expansion.
Cook said YVR was a “very fitting” choice for her, as she recently retired after working as a flight attendant for 33 years and was based in YVR for 25 years.
“This is the first time in history there’s an Indigenous restaurant at any airport in Canada. We are breaking history here; the future is now,” said Cook, who added that the historical opening was a “long time in the making.”
In a press release, Cook said she was “honoured to be working with the Musqueam community to follow local protocols during this process and with YVR on this meaningful collaboration on a path towards reconciliACTION.”
Salmon n’ Bannock On The Fly will be serving breakfast, lunch and dinner. Its offerings will “reflect the central role food plays in Indigenous cultures.”
Items on the menu include maple coleslaw dressed with spicy maple vinaigrette and cranberries, wild sockeye salmon with crispy salmon skin, slow-braised bison pot roast, Ojibwe wild rice pudding topped with vanilla custard and sage-infused blueberries, and a breakfast sandwich served on its signature bannock.
Sweet potatoes are also on the menu, explained manager Darnell Stager, as oral traditions say Indigenous people used to grow sweet potatoes in Stanley Park.
The YVR location will also feature works by Indigenous artists, much like the original Salmon n’ Bannock on Broadway.
“Salmon n’ Bannock is a long-standing stakeholder of Indigenous Tourism BC and to see them open their second location at YVR is an inspiring and a significant milestone,” said Brenda Baptiste, chair of Indigenous Tourism BC, in a press release.
“This important addition to YVR’s roster of restaurants acknowledges the power of unique perspectives, accountability and a shared vision to support the development of a sustainable Indigenous tourism economy, thus supporting the economic recovery of B.C.”
Salmon n’ Bannock On The Fly is located in International Departures post-security, next to Starbucks near A&W.
