Chicken burger named after Canada’s 1st Sikh Defence Minister!

"National Deliciousness indeed! Tried my namesake burger at #Vancouver’s @TheCannibalCafe and was not disappointed," Mr. Sajjan tweeted after eating the burger.

March 06, 2016 02:15 pm | Updated 02:15 pm IST - Toronto

Canada's Defence Minister Harjit Sajjan in this file photo.

Canada's Defence Minister Harjit Sajjan in this file photo.

Canada’s first Sikh Defence Minister Harjit Sajjan now has a chicken burger named after him and it is called ‘The Minister of National Deliciousness’

45-year-old Sajjan, who was in November named Canada’s Minister of National Defence in Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s 30-member Liberal cabinet, stopped by a downtown Vancouver eatery to sample the burger named in his honour.

“National Deliciousness indeed! Tried my namesake burger at #Vancouver’s @TheCannibalCafe and was not disappointed,” Mr. Sajjan tweeted after eating the burger.

Mr. Sajjan, who represents the Vancouver—South, was in town last week for the Liberal government’s first ministers meeting, but made time to visit ‘The Cannibal Cafe’ and try out his namesake burger ‘The Minister of National Deliciousness’

“I approve,” Mr. Sajjan said after taking the first bite.

“It’s got pakoras on it. Who would’ve thought to put it into a burger? Now that — that makes sense,” he was quoted as saying by CTV News.

The chicken burger also features a tandoori-spiced patty doused in butter chicken sauce and pressed yogurt with mint, cilantro and cucumbers.

It was introduced as February’s ‘Burger of the Month’ but the eatery’s owner said it was so popular they added it to the regular menu.

Mr. Sajjan, who called the experience “very humbling”, also shook hands with the chef behind the burger, Zai Kitagawa, and signed off on a chalkboard featuring a drawing of him in sunglasses.

Mr. Kitagawa told reporters on Wednesday that he started thinking about the burger shortly after the Minister’s appointment.

“If there’s a man that a Canadian can be proud of, it’s definitely Mr. Sajjan,” he said.

Mr. Sajjan is a combat veteran and has served in Bosnia and had three deployments to Kandahar, Afghanistan. He was born in India and moved to Canada with his family when he was five-years-old.

Since his appointment as Defence Minister, Sajjan has faced two incidents of apparent racism.

Soon after his appointment in November, he faced racist remarks by a soldier on social media, prompting the Canadian Armed Forces to launch a probe.

Last month, Mr. Sajjan was heckled in Parliament with an opposition member shouting that MPs needed an “English-to- English” translation as he spoke, an act dubbed as “racist”.

0 / 0
Sign in to unlock member-only benefits!
  • Access 10 free stories every month
  • Save stories to read later
  • Access to comment on every story
  • Sign-up/manage your newsletter subscriptions with a single click
  • Get notified by email for early access to discounts & offers on our products
Sign in

Comments

Comments have to be in English, and in full sentences. They cannot be abusive or personal. Please abide by our community guidelines for posting your comments.

We have migrated to a new commenting platform. If you are already a registered user of The Hindu and logged in, you may continue to engage with our articles. If you do not have an account please register and login to post comments. Users can access their older comments by logging into their accounts on Vuukle.