The Hongcouver | Vancouver community gardens yield a bumper crop of ‘thieving Chinese’ stereotypes

It’s springtime in Vancouver, and the urban agrarians are out in force, tilling the community gardens that have become a trademark of the city and helped make it an epicentre of the locavore food movement.

Kale, organic garlic and heritage tomatoes are sprouting in gardens scattered in parks and public lots across the region. The tasty young offerings have brought out the pests, too: Cabbage moths, aphids and, if a recent report is to be believed, the Common Chinese Garden Pilferer.

The Richmond News last week devoted a feature to the subject of theft from community gardens by members of Richmond’s majority Asian community, “particularly older generation new immigrants from China”. Such gardens are generally unfenced and open for the admiration of all - but their crops are not for public consumption.

There are 75 community gardens scattered across the city of Vancouver, with a further eight in the satellite city of Richmond. Richmond’s gardens are all managed by the Richmond Food Security Society, which allocates lots in exchange for a small rental fee. Gardeners are required to maintain and farm their own plot, as well as spend 15 hours a year on the general activities required to keep the scheme up and running.

Despite the workload, there is no shortage of would-be urban farmers, with a waitlist of 150 people for Richmond’s 300 or so lots.