Anywhere in the world, there is royal food, and there is commoner food. Essentially, eat at the restaurant or eat on the street. But Indian food evolved in three spaces. Home kitchens were a big space for food evolution, and we have never given them enough credit.
I grew up in Lucknow, which is famous for its street food and kebabs. It was the street food and Lucknowi kebabs that inspired me. The culture of the varieties of food that I tasted as a child inspired me to be a cook.
You have to respect the culture you are cooking in, yes, but you have to respect the palate you are cooking for, too, and you have to adjust to that palate.
With fame comes the responsibility of what you say. If the country is watching you, there ought to be substance, something worthwhile to speak about.
Being a Punjabi, it is very hard to say this, but Punjabi food is very overrated.
Cooking is an expression that crosses boundaries.
I believe that 'Food is a giver.' It gives you nutrition, health, and at times can give you recognition, like it did in my case, and you got to treat it with that kind of respect.
Apparently, in the olden days, nawabs would get bored with their cooks very quickly and throw them out. All of them set up shop in a place called Bawarchi Tola. That's how royal food came to the streets. I started hanging around there. That's when I realised food is a lot more than just cooking on Sundays.
When I was growing up, Chef Charlie Trotter inspired me a lot.
Men are more mechanical when we cook. Women are more attached. They cook it with feelings. From personal experience. The feeling a female chef puts in the food places her way ahead of men chefs.
I won't say there's disrespect for the Indian home cook, but I was never exposed to that. Even in a semi-urban Indian family, you will find a maid. And once you meet these people, you realise they cook purely out of passion or love for the family.
My learning from my travels is that taste is objective. If a thing is tasty, it's universally tasty. Or, just not.
Restrictiveness is not synonymous with food.
My life lesson is just to be patient and everything will fall in place. Most of what's happened in my life is not to do with me but good people and the way things happened. So I feel it's no use stressing over anything. Let things simply happen.
There are few relationships that give as unconditionally as food. I have opened and shut down restaurants and slept on the streets, but I have always bounced back because my belief in the relationship has been strong.
Food should flirt with the palette. If the food doesn't flirt with your palette, then it's not fun enough.
I don't believe I dislike any ingredient.
The food and culture of any place go hand in hand.
We are reaching a stage where the source of food has become markets and supermarkets. On a sub-conscious level, we are becoming unaware of the original source, which is land.
If not a chef, I would have been a painter maybe. I have interest in painting, and I do it well.
