Gail Johnson for Stir writes, “for Vancouver Restaurateur and recipe developer Meeru Dhalwala, co-owner of Vij’s Restaurant, the pandemic has led to a lot of worry—worry about the revered dining spot surviving the economic fallout and about the ripple effect on her staff. She’s also been thinking of how hard these days of isolation must be for newcomers.
Dhalwala knows what it’s like to feel like you don’t quite belong. Even though she has lived here for more than two decades, she still has people ask her where she’s from. Born in India, Dhalwala moved to Washington, D.C. as a child and came to Vancouver at age 30. Her mother and father were from Lahore, the capital of Pakistan’s Punjab province; both were refugees in the 1947 War of Partition.”