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.

Nancy Oke is a research volunteer at the Royal BC Museum. While studying artifacts related to food packaging, she came up with the idea for this book.

Nancy Oke's profile page

Dr. Robert Griffin served as history curator at the Royal BC Museum for more than 30 years and wrote many articles on the forest and mining industries. Since his retirement he has co-authored two books for the Royal BC Museum: Feeding the Family: 100 Years of Food and Drink in Victoria (with Nancy Oke; RBCM 2011) and Stewards of the People’s Forests: A Short History of the British Columbia Forest Service (with Lorne Hammond; RBCM 2014).

Robert Griffin's profile page