Meet the Japanese chef making vegan sushi and omakase in Vancouver’s Chinatown

The vision was to expose the untapped potential of vegetables, mushrooms and other plant-based dishes, she says. “Vegetables have so many hidden talents.”

Gulkison sources mostly locally grown vegetables and caters not only to vegans and people allergic to gluten and nuts, but also certain Buddhists who do not eat pungent vegetables such as garlic, spring onions and onions, as they are believed to disturb the mind and excite the senses.

“I thought about how to create vegetables well,” says the 42-year-old chef who adopted a vegan lifestyle more than a year ago. “I have [culinary] skills, but not the skills to cut fish, or make sushi, like sushi chefs all over Vancouver. So maybe I can win [over diners] by using only vegetables.”

Cofu Chinatown opened in 2025, but it is not Gulkison’s first vegan venture. Cofu Pressed Sushi, located on Vancouver’s Granville Island, launched in 2021.