Pioneer Food History Project

In 2014–2015, the Royal BC Museum partnered with the South Asian Studies Institute (SASI) at the University of the Fraser Valley on the Punjabi Intercultural History project. The SASI is a research centre built upon community engagement. The Royal BC Museum and SASI join in the shared goals of fostering intercultural dialogue in support of academic research, community engagement and social justice.

This 2014–2015 project represented the beginning of a new phase of museum work. We completed an oral history collection of pioneer sawmill and urban intercultural Punjabi history through the lenses of food and family.

Selected interviews from this collection are featured here in a gallery of interview highlights. This work is to be followed by the development of curriculum and public learning tools online and onsite, as well as community engagement activities and an exhibition in the future.

This collection is made possible by the support of the W. Garfield Weston Foundation.