Its not for nothing that the word chef is derived from the French word for boss. Today,young men and women are pouring out of catering schools armed with degrees and spatulas,each determined to be the big cheese. In a nation where people are passionate about their food,chefs are rapidly attaining rockstar status. This year,for the first time,the Union Ministry of Tourism felicitated three chefs for being the best in the business. We speak to the award winners about how to cook up a storm. The Artist Sabyasachi Gorai When you spot him in the kitchen,hes as likely to be brandishing a paintbrush as a ladle. During his career,his method of approaching an empty plate has been similar to an artist approaching a blank canvas. His dishes are as visual as they are delectable,a style which has become something of a trademark. As a child,Sabyasachi Gorai,39,figured he would go in to the arts like his family. I thought Id become a tabla player or take up one of the performing arts. My only reservation was that artists are usually hungry. says Gorai. And while a bit of hunger and deprivation has produced some of the worlds greatest art,the young boy from West Bengal preferred some meat on his bones. Cooking happened almost as a fluke. While I was waiting to hear from art schools,I got through to a catering college. This was the early 90s and standing in the lobby of a luxury hotel in a suit seemed very glamorous. Also,I was pretty sure people in hotels didnt really work much. My first internship shattered that misconception forever, laughs the man now universally known as chef Saby. It was during this internship at the British Airways flight catering kitchen in Kolkata that Gorai realised he didnt want to be the man in the suit. He had,along the way,found a medium to express his artistic yearnings. We had to work in every department in the hotel,but it was the kitchen that appealed the most to me. That was because I realised that cooks have access to so much food. The storage rooms in kitchens were like Ali Babas cave,and I enjoyed myself as only a Bengali boy can,around unlimited amounts of food. Then the head chef caught me red-handed and mouth full. I was terribly scared but he just looked at me and said,If you havent put on 10 kilos by the end,you havent done your training right. The realisation of what he wanted to do was just the first step in what was to be a long,tumultuous but happy journey. Gorai has travelled,cooked and eaten in different parts of the world,and used his experience to create several out-of-the-box concept dining spaces in Mumbai and Delhi. Together with restaurateur AD Singh,they have come up with the Mediterranean Olive (Delhi and Mumbai),the quirky Off Beat Café (Mumbai) and the Japanese Ai in Delhi. Gorais food philosophy is simple. He says,Charlie Trotter (a UK-based chef) was my idol in my younger days and he said cooking for someone is one of the greatest gifts you can give them. I think its true. Its as selfless a profession as being a doctor or a soldier. You put your heart and soul on the plate to make someone happy. Thats the same reason he doesnt play favourites when it comes to guests. My mission is to make every plate my best plate. And to do that,you cannot pay more attention to a dish because a VIP has ordered it. For me,every guest is a VIP because hes trusting me to feed him. Theres no way I can compromise on that trust. he says. The Iron Lady Veena Arora Spice Route is probably one of the most visually stunning restaurants in the country. Upon entering,you can be forgiven for thinking youre in an ancient Thai temple,replete with carved pillars,ornate lamps throwing out muted light and murals depicting Thai myths splashed across the walls. However,this temple is dedicated to the sustenance of the body rather than the spirit,and Veena Arora makes for an unusual,albeit perfect priestess to guide your musings,er,munching. Born and brought up in Phatthalung,in southern Thailand,Aroras family were the only Indians in the Thai town. They adopted the local cuisine with gusto and Arora grew up smelling galangal,kafir lime leaves,lemon grass and bird eye chilli. We grew up eating my mothers Thai food and of course,there were little degustations. Did you know morning glory (a type of water spinach,and not the Oasis song,) makes great pakoras? Theyre called naali ka patta over here,because they grow next to ditches. But just chop them up,coat them with semolina and fry them and they make a great snack, she says. This fascination with culinary usages isnt something cultivated in a cooking school. Interestingly,though the 55-year-old Arora grew up in and out of the kitchen,she has never attended a day of cooking school and didn't,in fact,cook professionally till she was married and started a family. I moved back to India in 1980 after my marriage. In Thailand,we used to have a small restaurant and I used to cook there,but I never envisioned a career as a chef when I came to India. I just continued to cook Thai food for my husband and subsequently my two children, she says. Ultimately,at the urgings of friends who were thrilled by her expertise,she joined the Holiday Inn,Delhi (now The Lalit) as a Thai food consultant in 1994. She worked with the hotels Silk Orchard restaurant and was sent by the company to London for two months to train at the Blue Elephant. She then moved to The Imperial in New Delhi in 1996,where she helped open Spice Route,serving there as chef de cuisine since. Under her care,Spice Route flourished and is today considered one of the premier Thai restaurants in the country. One of the factors which has contributed to the restaurants success is Aroras commitment to her guests. While she may not have been to hospitality school,shes still learned hospitalitys first lesson,The customer is always right, is an edict she follows religiously. However,she is also unrelenting in her own convictions. Her most vivid memories are of occasions when customers have tried to teach her how to cook her own food. Her retort has always been polite yet double-edged If thats how you like it,thats how Ill cook it for you. Her cooking philosophy has always been simple. If Im cooking a classic dish,I will follow the recipe and not deviate even a little bit. But when I make my own dishes and create my own recipes,I expect my boys to do the same, she says matter-of-factly. And speaking of her boys,how does it feel to be part of what was traditionally a male bastion? Earlier,it was tough being a woman in a kitchen. There were incidents of discrimination,coarse language. People used to look askance at the working hours. Today,its a lot better. Women chefs,who earlier stuck to the bakeries and garde manger,are now standing at ranges keeping up with the most macho of male chefs, she says. Of course,after 17-odd years among chefs,even my language has become a little rustic, she says,tongue-firmly-in-cheek,and adds,But neither my boys nor I use swear words. Thats one thing I cant tolerate. The Ring Master Arvind Saraswat In the countrys culinary cognoscenti circles,the name Arvind Saraswat is spoken in tones of reverence. He has managed kitchens all over the world,dishing out food to global leaders,trained successive generations of chefs,and written acclaimed cookbooks. But Saraswat,66,who has worked in the industry for 44 years,turns out to be an entirely self-effacing man,disarmingly prosaic about what led him to take up a career in the kitchens. "My father was an official in the food and agriculture ministry and he insisted I try and get into this line. So I joined and graduated from the Institute of Hotel Management,Catering Technology and Applied Nutrition at Pusa in 1968 and was absorbed by the Taj group. It was when they sent me for advanced training at the London Hilton that I got inspired and realised the scope of a chefs job, he says. Since then,its been a long journey for Saraswat,one that has taken him across Europe,the Americas as well as into the interiors of China to understand the cuisine of the region. Given his long history with the food industry,it would be difficult to associate a singular cuisine with Saraswat. As he says,I dont claim to know everything about every cuisine. Thats not humanly possible. But yes,Im comfortable with continental fare. And then having set up a lot of restaurants within the country,Im also familiar with a lot of elements of Indian cuisine. His long career has seen him set up a host of restaurants wherever he has been posted. One of the pillars of the hospitality chains culinary history,Saraswat is revered by industry insiders for his organisational and troubleshooting skills,that come from a mix of training and experience. Considering he has trained so many chefs over the past few decades,does he believe that a stint in culinary schools is essential for success in the profession? "Passion for what you do is,of course,vital for any measure of achievement. Having said that,it is also true that a system-driven approach towards culinary training creates a strong foundation for a chef,following which practical exposure gives them a chance to hone their skills, he says. Despite his vast experience,Saraswat never takes appreciation at face value. In July 93,when Saraswat was posted at the Taj at St James Court,London,a formal sit-down banquet was held by the Indian High Commission where John Major,the then Prime Minister of Britain,was the chief guest. Towards the end of the banquet,Saraswat got a message saying the Prime Minister wanted to meet and thank the chef. Thinking it a prank,Saraswat paid no heed. The message came two more times,and I ignored them. Finally,the maitre d came charging into the kitchen,shouting that the Prime Minister was still waiting. Thats when I ran into the banquet room. When I arrived all sweaty,the Prime Minister and the entire delegation stood up and applauded, he says. Nearly 20 years later,he is still bemused that Major requested him for a photograph together. This humility seems to be one of Saraswats key traits. I dont cook that much anymore,but earlier I used to love cooking for our regular guests. It would be such a nice feeling to be asked for,and then requested to cook something special, he says. Another thrill,a rather unusual one among his peers,was cooking for food critics. They have so much knowledge about whats happening in the world of food,you can learn much from them, he says. Saraswat,who has seen the Indian hospitality industry evolve,is succinctly pragmatic about what drives the future. It was the economic liberalisation policies that gave the Indian hotel industry its impetus. From the availability and usage of good quality imported ingredients to the building of efficient supply chain systems to the modernisation of equipment,everything started happening when our markets opened up. Chefs and customers alike were exposed to contemporary dining practices around the world and became aware of food health and hygiene concerns. Now,the new forms of media,from digital platforms to food magazines,are doing the job. The celebrity chef culture suddenly crept into the country and people stopped thinking of us as merely bawarchis.
