Growing up in India, the most cherished moments for Vikram Vij were after dinner. As the plates were scraped clean of the nurturing feast lovingly prepared by his mother and grandmother, his grandfather would scoop him onto his lap, and, drink in hand, tell the future.
When you grow up, Vikram, you should have a restaurant, he would declare with a smile. You can cook the food and I will be the bartender! It must have sunk in, because his grandson would go on to do just that.
Vij left India to study cooking in Austria, before making his way to Vancouver. Here, as a passionate young chef working for John Bishop, he decided that Indian cooking deserved the same attention and understanding as French and Italian food.
Vij has dedicated his career to bringing an awareness of the diverse culture and cuisine of India to the West ever since. Today, as Vij tells the story of his grandfathers wishes, he blushes. A tear comes to his eye.
I loved my grandfather so much. It is for him that I named this restaurant, in his honour. So many people think Ive named this restaurant for myself, but Vij was my grandfathers family name, too.
Family is paramount to Vikram Vij. More than anything else, it gives him the strength and inspiration to manage all the projects he is so passionate about.
People often ask me how Im able to do everything I do, and I think that if Obama, at 48, can run a whole country, than I, at 47, can surely run a small organization, he laughs.
Amidst the bustle of owning two very popular restaurants in Vancouver (Vijs and Rangoli), writing cookbooks, overseeing a food truck, and spearheading innovative food-related projects here in Vancouver and around North America, he still finds time to pick up his teenage girls from school and spend the afternoon with them.
In the evening, with his wife, Meeru, they meet around the dinner table and catch up over a home cooked meal.
We hardly ever cook Indian food at home, he says. Its so important to broaden your horizons. There are seven days in a week and seven different chances to explore different cuisines.
It has been studied that eating a well-balanced meal together as a family builds stronger relationships, and improves personal health and well-being. But when that meal is cooked together, the results are not only deeper, but more tasty and nutritious. In fact, childrens cooking programs have proved, for example, that children who cook kale, eat kale.
Although Vij and his generation were lucky enough to grow up with simple meals made from whole ingredients, prepared by family and shared around the same table, many young people today go without that something Vij wants to change.
I think the next big food trend will be people cooking at home, he says. I can see people having dinner parties where everyone meets in the kitchen and cooks the meal together. Cooking together, rather than just the food, will be the focus.
A web show, Cook Live With Vikram Vij, will be broadcast on June 6 from Vijs Kitchen at UBC a teaching and learning space dedicated to studying food, nutrition, and healthy eating. The culinary lab, originally built in 1982, was in desperate need of an extensive makeover, so Vij donated $250,000 and the space re-opened in January.
Viewers can access the webcast from Vijs.ca and a shopping list will be available before hand, published here in WE Vancouver, so you can prepare.
While cooking, Vij will answer questions and comments through tweets using the hashtag #VijCookLive a rare opportunity to cook along with a world-renowned chef.
When learning to cook, its one step at a time. Make an effort to cook more by starting small. For instance, if you like Thai curry, dice up vegetables to add to an already prepared sauce. Next time, try to make the sauce yourself. It takes time to understand the nuances and the flavours, he advises.
And while his restaurants continue to have lineups, the buzz and planning has begun for the new, larger Vijs, at the corner of Cambie and 15th. Bricault Designs (who designed the interior of Vijs Rangoli and the Vijs At Home frozen food bags) is envisioning a concept that, Vij says, is modern and welcoming what he hopes will be one of the most beautiful buildings in Vancouver.
As for the current Vijs location, it will continue to operate normally. When the new restaurant opens, the current Vijs location will close, but it will stay in the Vijs family and will become a new entity at a future date.
Construction begins June 1.
