Celebrity chef SANJEEV KAPOOR talks to PRAKRITI ROY about his latest travel and food show, and how he keeps up with the changes in the food industry
For the past two decades, Chef Sanjeev Kapoor has ruled the roost in the Indian culinary scene. And even now, he has no intention of slowing down. With his latest show Out of the World: Australia on Food Food Channel, which he started five years back, chef takes his viewers on an adventurous journey of the Australian food trail.
“It is the best show I have ever done, with a perfect mix of travel and food. Normally in shows that have both food and travel, there is no Indian perspective. With this show, you will get the food, culture and even the music from the perspective of an Indian,” the chef tells you.
The previous season of the show followed the food trail in Africa and, of course, Australia was a very different experience. But Chef maintains that a first-hand experience of exploring a place not just as a host but also as a traveller is something that he enjoys a great deal. In Australia, “the main difference is that they have such great produce of their own that can be used to create different kinds of cuisines; in a way it is like one big restaurant,” he says.
In the roughly 20 years that chef has been around, he has acquired quite a portfolio as a TV food show host. Naturally one would be inclined to believe that since he is now also a stakeholder in the channel, the success of a show is much more important now. However, chef strongly denies this: “My roles as investor and host don’t confuse me at all. When I am doing something, I always put in my 100 per cent. As a host, it doesn’t matter if it is my channel or not; I will always do my best.”
To remain fruitfully present in the culinary industry, chef swears by a few things. First, he doesn’t think that he has been around long enough, and every day is still a learning process for him. He says that it is most important to stay relevant in this industry by keeping up with new techniques and so on. After all, for knowledge-based relevance time has no meaning. Secondly, he always keeps in mind that his food should be simple and not complicated.
As the food scene is changing all over the world, a more global approach is what most countries seem to adopting. India is getting a lot of attention, and so is Indian food at international platforms. Apart from the intrigue that people have for our food, they also have a bit of fear to try out new things. Chef says that it is no different for India as well. “The new generation chefs today are changing, adapting and adopting very fast indeed. And with more and more people migrating from India, Indian food is going to different places, more widely. It is definitely gaining more acceptance,” he elaborates. He adds that it is not just a particular place any more that people want to know about – now it is about the food and culture of that place as well. “More exposure of an area leads to more exposure of food,” he opines.
Although the destination for the next season of the series has not been decided yet, chef says off the top of his head that he would probably like to do something in the Mediterranean.