Editor’s note: The following is one of the letters from students in teacher Jennifer Mansour’s class at Learning Expeditions.
The population of Squamish is starting to grow exponentially. The by-product of that is more users of restaurants, though not everyone here is a family. Many citizens are 30 and under and if they want to go out for a quick dinner, they may be out of luck.
The problem I see is there is no food culture.
In Vancouver, there is a nice balance of chain restaurants and quick serve casual restaurants. Quick-serve casual can be food trucks or small restaurants that do not serve processed food. Rather, they make their food with fresh and fewer ingredients.
Many people want to move to Squamish but the thought of restaurants that don’t serve quality food with fewer artificial ingredients is a real deal-breaker for them. I think if we had more quick serve, casual restaurants it would help people change their view of the Squamish food culture.
For instance, my relatives moved up here five years ago and after just a year they moved back to Vancouver for the following reason, “The food culture is just not there yet.” For me personally, it is not a deal breaker because I wouldn’t call myself a foodie. Though I think it would improve the community as well as boost the economy.
Some would say that most people who live in Squamish permanently are families and don’t need a food culture. The population of Squamish is 19,512 and the largest percentage of those citizens are between the ages of 25 and 39.
There are 4,840 families in Squamish, so I did some math. The average family in Canada has 3.7 family members and if I assume that it is the same here in Squamish we have 17,908 citizens that are part of a family. This leaves 1,604 citizens who are ether in a relationship or single who are living here permanently. However, during the ski, biking, rock climbing and Quest University season there a large influx of citizens under 30 who rent houses and don’t want to go to chain or fast food restaurants.
They would rather eat healthier, less processed food.
Due to these statistics, I feel that it is a genuine issue.
