Vikas Khanna
I Was 16 when I started helping my mom and Biji (grandmother) in preparing school lunches. My mother supplied chhole-bhature to a school. A middle-class boy from a small town, I did not even know what a Michelin Star was. Still, this was a turning point for me because for the first time I realised that the passion of cooking could be translated into economics and this could become my calling. The trend of kitty parties was just starting. Those were pre-hotel and big banquet times. We started a catering service, ‘Lawrence Gardens’, providing low-cost fare at Rs 15-Rs 20 a plate for kitty parties. It became an important training ground for me.
Cooking was a refuge for me. I used to help my father in his rental video cassette shop. But I felt so lost because I couldn’t fight with people or collect the fine for delay when they would not return the cassettes the following day. So, I was happy being an assistant to my mom and Biji in running ‘Lawrence Gardens’.
One of my uncles, Babbu Chacha, who lived in Ireland, visited us. Seeing my passion for cooking, he suggested that I should pursue it as a career. He took me to Maurya Sheraton in Delhi. This was 1991. The visit completely changed my life. I had known only one type of khana till then. For me, the beauty of food at Sheraton came as a complete surprise — parfaits served in shot glasses (I called them pastries at the time). I cried as I had never seen such exquisite food or hostesses or maître d’s in my life, or understood that cooking could be of this magnitude, with such high standards and so many international cuisines on one buffet table.
This visit helped me decide in pursuing my passion professionally. I applied for the hotel management course at Welcomgroup Graduate School of Hotel Administration, Manipal. When I reached there for the final interview, I saw these polished kids from Delhi, Bombay, Bangalore and Calcutta and I, a skinny, under-confident boy, felt a little less in front of them.
More heartbreak was awaiting. The panel of interviewers asked me why I wanted to join the course. In my broken English, I could only talk about how I can make three types of chanas, about my kitty-party aunties and how much they eat and then bicker about paying. They all laughed at my answers.
In 2000, I landed in New York. Indian food was not popular; rather, it was looked down upon. It was a discouraging time for Indian chefs. But I was clear that I am going to figure out a way to open the doors to Indian cuisine
The price of being an immigrant is very difficult. One always feels guilty as most of us leave behind ageing parents and grandparents. My gravity comes from my mother. I have tried to compensate the pain and guilt of leaving her by making her proud
I have always fought the odds to give Indian food and chefs their rightful place on international platforms and triumphed. Hopefully, I have smoothened the path for the next generation to carry forward our ancient legacy
I graduated from Manipal. I didn’t do well in many subjects but absolutely aced it in cooking. I eventually landed a job at Leela Kempinski in Bombay, working in banquets, its Italian restaurant, breakfast service, etc. I remember Chef Suri there. I asked him several times that I wanted to specialise in Indian food. He told me to focus on international cooking. I was confused about why I would do that, as my heritage is Indian. That became a point of contention between me and the executive chef at Leela.
I wanted to set up a standalone air-conditioned restaurant. But it was the 1990s and standalone restaurants never did well in contrast to those in five-star hotels. I had no idea that the universe would eventually be on my side. (My restaurant in New York, ‘Junoon’, is a standalone Indian restaurant that fetched me my first Michelin Star years later.)
Disillusioned, I came back to Amritsar to work for ‘Lawrence Gardens’. But one day, it was razed down because of some legal issues about construction. I was 23 when I had started the banquets. Six years later, through sheer hard work, it had expanded into a beautiful banquet. The bulldozers didn’t just break the celling, that too at the peak of the wedding season, they broke my spirit. Heartbroken, I decided to move to the US.
Shift to new york
In 2000, I landed in New York. Indian food was not popular; rather, it was looked down upon. It was a discouraging time for Indian chefs. I would remember Chef Suri and my professors’ advice about international food then. I was working in a small deli. My colleagues also suggested I should switch to international food. But I was clear that I am going to figure out a way to open the doors to Indian cuisine. Agar hum nahin kar paye toh agli generation bhi nahin kar payegi.
The initial years were hard. From staying at homeless shelters to distributing flyers at Central Park, I did it all. I started out with some hole-in-the-wall restaurants before moving to the decent ones across Manhattan. A few years later, I was working at an Indian restaurant called ‘Salaam Bombay’ when they sponsored me for a green card. Suddenly, so many doors were opening for an Indian chef. I was being invited to international shows where I talked about Indian food. I was getting book deals, collaborations, events. I did a show with Gordon Ramsay called ‘Kitchen Nightmares’. It was 2006-2007. Things were in a high momentum for Indian food. I was working with top American and European chefs. Hollywood stars, politicians were flying me to cook from Chicago to San Francisco. I also met Barack Obama before he became the US President.
It was a unique phase for me, representing Indian food and proving everybody wrong. I was working at ‘Purnima’, a restaurant in Times Square, and had opened a cooking school in midtown Manhattan. I had already done five books by then. Then the 2008 recession hit. The American economy collapsed. I tried everything to save my business but eventually I was back to zero. At that time, I met His Holiness, the Dalai Lama. He told me that bigger things were waiting. “Go and explore,” he said.
For the next two years I travelled… Bhutan, Tibet, Nepal, Burma, Ladakh, North Pakistan. During that time, I wrote a book titled ‘Return to the Rivers’. I was in Pokhara, Nepal, when I decided to pursue my dream and promise to Biji to get a Michelin Star when I had left India earlier. From Nepal, I went directly to France. A struggle, similar to the one I faced in the US, awaited me. It was very difficult to get a job. The French would not allow Indian chefs to cook. They kept me in cleaning, delivery and store management. Language was a barrier too. They would always make me feel that I was not good enough. One day, there was a big conflict between me and the chef. I was hurt why we were considered less in cooking. Our cuisine is so sophisticated and intricate with so many different cooking traditions, styles and processes. I left France and vowed to return only when I would be called Michelin Star Chef Vikas Khanna.
Second coming
I came back to New York with a single-minded focus to achieve my dream of getting a Michelin Star. I put together a team, constantly hustling, working, finding locations, creating the perfect tasting menus. I wanted to do this on a massive scale. Around that time, I was shaken by a mass shooting at a gurdwara in Wisconsin. Coming from the land of Gurus, it crushed my soul. That is when I made the documentary series ‘Holy Kitchens’, understanding people through faith and food. One of the episodes focussed on Sikhs and the tradition of langar.
Simultaneously, I was feverishly working on my second chance. It became imperative for me to open the most lavish Indian restaurant on the planet to prove all those internationals chefs wrong who thought our cooking was less. This was not just for myself but for the next generation as well. ‘Junoon’ opened, and within 10 months, the hard work paid off and I got my first Michelin Star on October 1, 2011, and subsequently for the next six years too. But the first Star was life- altering not just for me but most importantly, for Indian food.
MasterChef journey
During the same time, I got the opportunity to host ‘MasterChef India’. It was a perfect platform to give a voice to home cooks and to take your message far and wide globally. Not many people know that Gordon Ramsay had taken me to Hollywood to be the third judge in ‘MasterChef America’. But I felt if I had do this on a global stage, I must do this from India. I came back and hosted ‘MasterChef India’, which became one of the cult shows. As a new season begins on October 16, I’m proud of doing it for 13 years and counting. Millions watch you create a dish and then come up with their own versions. I call it the evolution of Indian food.
‘MasterChef’ also gave me the chance to spend time in India — to research, develop movies, novels, cookbooks and recipes. A lot of work happens when I am in India. In my own land, I can continue the journey of our cultural representation. I wrote books like ‘Utsav’, which has only 13 copies, every copy worth Rs 40 lakh. These have been presented to the Queen of England, Presidents Barack Obama and Joe Biden, the Dalai Lama, Pope Francis, Gordon Ramsay. I feel these benchmarks are necessary and nobody should go through what I went through as an Indian chef working abroad, to prove the point that we can do it all. From literature to doing successful movies, documentaries, books, restaurants, I want to do everything I believe in. I feel there should be no boundaries on art.
Wind beneath my wings
One of the first persons who has always been there for me professionally and personally through this journey, filled with neck-breaking successes and steep downfalls, is Chef Eric Ripert, one of the most respected in America and my biggest mentor. Gordon Ramsay has been my constant source of strength and support. He is like a brother. These two have always been my inspiration.
In India, my career would not have existed without Chef Sanjeev Kapoor. He gave us permission to be ourselves in the kitchens and made us honour and respect Indian food. There are others like Chef Vineet Bhatia and Chef Garima Arora. My salute!
A lot of people ask me about my favourite project. It has to be the culinary museum I created at my college in Manipal. Many NRIs create trust funds for their colleges in America. But I wanted to support the institution that gave me my first wings.
The idea came from my home when I was searching for Biji’s old utensils. My dad said everything was gone because small families don’t need big utensils. This was 2012. I realised the same must be happening all across India. I started collecting old utensils that were a part of our heritage. Gradually, we had over 10,000 utensils, from clay to metal to wood. The $4.5m museum was my gift to my college and the younger generation.
Vision for future
I have always been telling stories about India to the world. Very few people get such a massive platform. My second flagship restaurant that opens next year in New York will house some of the most ancient symbols of Indian heritage. I do everything in the hope that my mom back home is proud that her son left for a bigger purpose.
Being an artist, living in America but born and raised in Amritsar, I have my own challenges every day. Many think that success comes by being in the right place at the right time, but it is also about seizing the right opportunity, risking everything and most importantly, springing back in the face of failure.
(As told to Renu Sud Sinha)
#New York
