It all started around seven years ago when an Amritsar-born chef decided to open a restaurant, Junoon, in New York, and suddenly Indian food started getting the much-deserved attention that it hadn’t managed to get earlier.
Chef Vikas Khanna, with his humble beginnings, rose to becoming a Michelin-starred chef, and has recently also made it to the list of top 10 chefs in the world as ranked by the Gazette Review. Unlike many of his contemporaries, Vikas has absolutely no airs about him and readily gets chatty if he hears any discussions on food. As he was recently in the city to take part in Quaker’s Feed a Child initiative, the chef revealed to us the details of the feature documentary that is being made on his life by filmmaker Andrei Severny, how constant learning is the way he keeps himself relevant to the times and much more.
As we sat down to speak to him on the sidelines of the event, Vikas begins the conversation going over a few pictures of his visit to the Mylapore Kapaleeshwar Temple in Chennai. “I don’t think I can get enough of the Chettinad food here. The flavours that the cuisine has to offer are outstanding. I’m even amazed by the food that Brahmins cook here — the three ingredient cooking — it breaks down the food to its simplest!”
After deciding to set up the Kitchen Arts Museum in Manipal, Karnataka, an ambitious project that the chef has taken up — to collect antique utensils from the country, Vikas will next be seen in a documentary titled, ‘Buried Seeds — A Chef’s Journey’, based on his life. “Filmmaker Andrei Severny has been working for the past three years on making this film about my life. After witnessing the political changes in America, the filmmaker believed that it was important for immigrants to tell their stories, making the film very relevant for the US. They have been shooting at my home, the villages where I grew up, where I studied. It’s a huge project that will show the heartbreaking honesty of immigrant life. The promo of the film will be out soon,” reveals Vikas.
The chef, who has become a familiar face on global television, with shows like MasterChef India, and has been an ambassador of Indian food for the world, having cooked for many state heads and world leaders, still believes that learning everyday about food is necessary for him. “I have to continuously keep learning, there’s so much just within India that I still haven’t explored. Each time I’m representing Indian food on a global platform, I have to be cautious to bring in elements from all of the regions,” he shares.
The cookbook author also believes that it’s an exciting time to be in the Indian food space. “A few years ago, chefs in India never had the recognition they do now. There’s a sea of change in the way chefs are being treated today, as compared to when I started off. Chefs and their food have become a form of cultural representation and a soft power of India,” he says on a concluding note.
