The soup was in his blood.

Ravi Kanagarajah survived by making soup through civil war and refugee flight across two continents before becoming an acclaimed chef and restaurateur here in Toronto.

He started out as a boy making soup in his mother’s restaurant in Kilinochchi, Sri Lanka, before fleeing to Germany after the family business was bombed in 1987. He later came to Toronto, where he worked his way up from sous chef at Mildred Pierce to owning his own restaurants, called RaviSoups, at three locations around the city.

More from thestar.com:

But after living through all that, and earning a reputation as Toronto’s “soup master” and “soup king,” Kanagarajah died suddenly of a stroke last Friday. He was only 42.

“He was an extremely hard worker and very open minded. His passion is everyone who is working at the restaurant. Everyone must be well treated,” said his brother and co-worker Suresh Kanagarajah.

Unlike some well-known chefs, Ravi didn’t jealously guard his recipes. Instead he shared them with anyone who asked, even publishing a few in the Star .

His soups ranged from the traditional lentil curry soups of his homeland to newer fusion dishes like his red curry and corn chowder.

And he offered up his soup for good causes, taking part in last year’s Soupstock to protest against the mega-quarry in Melancthon, north of Toronto.

Ravi’s restaurant grew from a single small location in the club district (322 Adelaide St. W.) to three establishments (1128 Queen St. W. and 2535 Dundas St. W.), and he would eventually train and employ 16 cousins to cook and serve. All of them adopted his strict work ethic.

“We came from a very low background, in Sri Lanka. We ran our family restaurant there. “The food industry is in our blood,” said Suresh, tearing up.

The restaurants were closed, as per usual, over the long weekend, but opened for business Monday.

Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading...

“Right now, it’s really hard, but Ravi desired this,” Suresh said. “That’s why we opened today. It’s really hard for me today, but we opened anyway.”

Kanagarajah is survived by his mother, wife, five brothers, 25 cousins and four children.

Read more about: