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what do we do when "normal" has changed? some entrench in memory, some look for what path lie open, some of us create our own paths.
Wendessen Weldegiorgis was laid off from the automotive industry during the 2008 financial meltdown. when he sat down to think about what to do next, he realized his future could come from his past.
“I had time to reflect,” says Weldgioris. “I learned about machines, and I knew how things worked. Something came up in my mind and I thought about injera. Injera is always made by hand, so I came up with the injera machine.”
Invention made, Weldgioris started baking injeras on an industrial scale from a Highland Road strip mall, at the back of an Ethiopian grocery he opened. Today, 200 to 300 loaves are cooked daily for local and nearby Ethiopian and Eritrean communities. Within a few years, he offered takeout Ethiopian food. Seeing its popularity, and a recently vacated neighbouring storefront, he seized the opportunity to open Muya Restaurant.
Life-altering change is not new to Weldgioris. The Kitchener restaurateur’s story begins in Ethiopia, then moves to Greece and Canada, and back to Ethiopia and Canada. Rather than return to Montréal, where he lived for a decade, a friend suggested Waterloo Region. He settled here, earned his machinist’s diploma, and found work before the recession. Entering the food world isn’t so big a leap: he’s the son of restaurateurs.
Muya wasn’t the first Ethiopian restaurant to set up locally but, when it opened, it was often the entry point for many discovering the cuisine’s distinct long-cooked flavours.
“When we started, we had to explain everything. The people were curious and wanted to know how it’s made,” says Weldgioris. “It’s totally different from what many are used to (or expect). It’s not very, very spicy. But the flavour and taste? It’s from the way we cook.”
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