A couple stretches on a beach in Stanley Park, Vancouver. They are preparing to exercise and run along the footpath.; Photo Credit: Destination Vancouver/Kindred & Scout
With the New Year coming soon, you may be setting goals to make 2024 bigger and better than ever. With Vancouver’s natural surroundings and diverse urban offerings, fulfilling your resolutions will be doable and enjoyable.
Where to Find Healthy and More Plant-Based Eating
Brunch at The Acorn Restaurant; Photo credit: The Acorn
If you’re looking to revamp what you eat in 2024, Vancouver’s diverse food scene has plenty of different options. First of all, the city is well known for its plant-based restaurants, including one of the pathmakers, The Naam Restaurant, located in Kitsilano. For over 50 years, The Naam has been serving fresh and comforting vegetarian and vegan dishes, including their favourite Dragon Bowls, such as the Thai, which comes with steamed veggies, sauteed tofu, grated carrots, beets, and fresh cilantro on organic brown rice with a coconut curry sauce.
Other popular plant-based spots include the award-winning and Michelin-recommended Acorn Restaurant, which uses local and seasonal ingredients in revelatory ways. Put yourself in the kitchen’s capable hands with the Chef’s Menu ($79 per person), served family-style, or order items from the à la carte menu, such as kohlrabi with dill, scallion, nuoc cham, plum, and wild rice; or beets with fermented horseradish, fennel, mustard, and apple.
Another popular vegetarian/vegan spot is Do Chay, serving delicious Vietnamese cuisine showcasing fresh, vibrant ingredients and flavours. Menu items are inspired by street food, with dishes such as a papaya salad with vegan jerky, green papaya, basil, pickled carrot, roasted peanut, onion, lime, and sweet soy dressing. Meanwhile Davie Dosa Company, serves many vegan and vegetarian South Indian specialities, such as dosas with fillings like spiced potato, mushroom masala, and spinach and paneer.
Vancouver also has a host of establishments that specialize in healthy salads, bowls, sandwiches, soups, and stews. Field & Social makes salads delicious by showcasing fresh natural flavours and using house-made dressings . Popular salads include the Avocrunch with roasted chicken breast, carrot, cabbage, feta, marinated wheat berries, romaine, arugula, toasted sunflower seeds, crispy shallots, avocado, and basil and white balsamic dressing. Meanwhile, Tractor Foods has locations across the city, serving customizable dishes such as the Nourish Bowl with power greens and/or brown rice, two market sides (e.g., curried cauliflower), and grilled protein add-ons (e.g., grilled avocado). And if you’re looking for power juices, visit Glory Juice Co. for selections like carrot, pineapple, orange, lemon, and turmeric juice, or stop by The Juice Truck for their Green Smoothie with kale, spinach, avocado, banana, coconut water, lime, ginger, and medjool dates.
Photo credit: A Taste of Nature
If you’re looking to eat more locally, consider shopping at one of the Vancouver Farmers Markets. Currently, Riley Park is open Saturdays from 10am to 2pm, while Hastings Park is open Sundays from 10am to 2pm. Or, take a tour with A Taste of Nature, led by naturalist and wild food expert Heather Pelletier. The tour combines a nature walk through Stanley Park and beach area, as well as tastings of local food and drink, such as foraged wild mushrooms with sea asparagus on Yukon sourdough, and spruce tip tea.
Where To Get Active—Both Outdoors and Indoors
Couple cycling in Stanley Park; Destination Vancouver/Rishad Daroowala
Vancouver has an abundance of options for getting active outdoors. Stanley Park and its surroundings, for example, can be appreciated and explored in a multitude of ways, including forest bathing, walking, and running along the park trails. While the portion of the seawall that wends around Stanley Park is great for walking, running, or cycling, there are also other sections, like the path along False Creek, that offer equally spectacular views as you get active. Other scenic spots for walking or jogging include Pacific Spirit Regional Park and the city’s various beaches, including Kitsilano Beach and Jericho/Spanish Banks. Parks, like Queen Elizabeth Park and Trout Lake, are pretty spots for strolling (or walking briskly) while getting some fresh air and views.
And, if you wish to get in your walking through a round of golf, Vancouver has numerous public courses, including Northlands in North Vancouver, McCleery, Fraserview, and Langara. There are also two pitch and putt courses in Vancouver: one in Stanley Park and another in Queen Elizabeth Park.
Otherwise, there is no shortage of companies that can help you with your workout and stretching goals for the New Year. In addition to gyms at community centres and popular chains such as Fitness World and Club 16 Trevor Linden Fitness, Vancouver increasingly features luxury gyms, such Equinox and the newly opened Altea Active. The former contains a wealth of facilities, including a boxing studio, a pilates studio, heated yoga classes, and saunas. Meanwhile, Altea Active features a range of fitness classes, such as yoga, boxing, and antigravity classes, in addition to wellness amenities such as dry saunas, a meditation lounge, and steam cabins.
In addition, there are plenty of fitness facilities that specialize in a particular sport. For instance, DCS (Diaz Combat Sports) is an expert in martial arts, like jiujitsu and kickboxing, and Rumble focuses on boxing. There are numerous yoga studios in the city, such as the very popular YYOGA and Open Door Yoga, the latter primarily offering hatha classes. Ballet BC has also just recently launched their Granville Island MOVE studio, whose schedule includes a variety of drop-in classes, such as ballet and various types of yoga.
And if you’ve always wanted to try a climbing gym and you’re going to make it happen in 2024, Vancouver has several, including numerous locations of The Hive and The Aviary at UBC.
Where to Take Up a New Hobby
Photo Credit: Community Clay
This New Year has lots of promise for finding a new hobby to be passionate about. Vancouver’s many community centres are full of classes to take, including painting, interior design, and ukulele. Emily Carr University of Art and Design also many really interesting continuing studies courses, ranging from photography to game development.
After watching pottery videos on social media, you may be inspired to give the wheel or handbuilding a try. Pottery studios in the city offer courses, specific technique classes, drop-in sessions, as well as membership opportunities, depending on how committed you want to be with your new hobby. For example, Community Clay has a New Year Wheel Throwing Course scheduled at various times, ceramic handbuilding courses, beginner workshops, as well as themed workshops, such as ones on lidded jars, bowls, plates, and glaze technology.
Finally, for those wanting to up their game in the kitchen, the city has many cooking schools where talented chefs will inspire you to make fresh pasta and perfect your precision knife cuts. The Northwest Culinary Academy has become well-known for their multi-class enthusiast courses, which include Cooking Fundamentals, Pastry Fundamentals, and Best of France. As well, they teach one-night classes, like sushi-making and how to make Korean fried chicken. Two other cooking schools in town are The Dirty Apron, which has fun couples classes, plus options like “Tasty and Kind: Delicious-Satisfying-Plant-Based,” and the Pacific Institute of Culinary Arts, which teaches cooking classes such as “Flour + Water: A Pasta Master Class” and “Korean Cuisine – Flavours of Busan.”
