Contents
ALSO BY VIKRAM VIJ
Vijs Indian: Our Stories, Spices and Cherished Recipes
Vijs at HomeRelax, Honey:
The Warmth & Ease of Indian Cooking
Vijs: Elegant & Inspired Indian Cuisine
PENGUIN
an imprint of Penguin Canada, a division of Penguin Random House Canada Limited
Canada USA UK Ireland Australia New Zealand India South Africa China
First published 2017
Copyright 2017 by Vikram Vij
All rights reserved. Without limiting the rights under copyright reserved above, no part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in or introduced into a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means (electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise), without the prior written permission of both the copyright owner and the above publisher of this book.
www.penguinrandomhouse.ca
LIBRARY AND ARCHIVES CANADA CATALOGUING IN PUBLICATION
Vij, Vikram, author
Vijs: a chefs one-way ticket to Canada with Indian spices in his suitcase / Vikram Vij.
ISBN 9780670069507 (hardback)
ISBN 9780143194217 (electronic)
1. Vij, Vikram. 2. CooksCanadaBiography.
3. BusinessmenCanadaBiography. I. Title.
TX649.V56A3 2017 641.5092 C2016-904748-2
Cover and interior design by Colin Jaworski
Cover image by Aaron Aubrey
Photo on page by Tracey Kusiewicz | Foodie Photography
Photos on pages by Aaron Aubrey
Photo on page courtesy of the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation
v4.1
a
Strength does not come from physical capacity. It comes from an indomitable will.
MAHATMA GANDHIJI
CONTENTS
My culinary journey begins
Why I left Bombay to become a chef
How culinary school beat me, hardened me, bettered me
How I earned a plane ticket to Canada
How I opened a restaurant, met a girl, and married in ninety days
How I found success in Vancouver embracing my cast-off Indian roots
The philosophy behind our food
Our first expansion
Why frozen foods are the future
My time in the Den
Our marriage crumbled, but our love survives
My solo venture in Surrey
Meerus solo venture in Seattle
How my pledge to launch five businesses by fifty nearly bankrupted us
The new business model powering Vijs
VIJISMS
If youre going to fail, then fail loudly.
Cooking should be like sexslightly different each time.
Use the animals from the guts to the nuts.
Use your hands to eat.
You dont make love with a knife and fork.
PREFACE
I am a sword. I am an alloy of India, of Austria, of Canada.
My culinary journey began in India, cooking with my aunts, and my mother, and my grandparents. I was forged in India. I was beaten and hardened by Austria. And sharpened and shaped by Canada.
When I opened my first restaurant, my father said to me: Just give them butter chicken and tikka masala. White people cant tell the difference between one curry and another.
His advice, boiled down, was, Serve it cheap. Label it ethnic. He saw no reason to shake up the model. Why change whats already working?
But I wasnt opening an Indian restaurant to make money. My mission was to bring awareness to the cooking and culture I had left behind. I wanted Indian cuisine to be given the same respect and love as French, as Italian. My goal, always, has been to elevate Indias cooking and culture.
And this? Well, this is the story of how I did it.