Suvir Saran, highly applauded Michelin star chef, opens out his larder and heart to Anandita De… and serves her some delightful nuggets on a platter!
Other than Suvir Saran being a Michelin Star Chef (the first for Indian cuisine and the only one given in North America to a non-French, non-Italian restaurant), Suvir is Chairman of Asian Culinary Studies for the Culinary Institute of America (CIA). He has also judged innumerable food shows, written four bestsellers, and has converted his passion for nutritious, home-cooked desi food into an enormous, global cult following on and off digital platforms.
Beyond these credentials, however, is a man who proudly wears his heart on his sleeve, is a trained classical Indian singer, a great conversationalist with the best sense of humour, yet he possesses tremendous compassion with a much higher humanitarian calling and is ever ready to extend his helping hand to those in need.
Excerpts from the interview…
At what age did you discover that you were exceptionally gifted in the kitchen?
I first began cooking and showing passion for it at age six or so. My father was posted with the Indian Revenue Service in Nagpur. It was here that my mother and father made a decision to manage the household without help. We kids were taught to share in those responsibilities which were age appropriate, and in doing so, help our parents, and also find tutelage for a lifetime on how to step up and tackle things head-on when need be. I remember once when mom was running late from her classes and I was so worried that the guests coming home for dinner might not have food, that I chopped and arranged a wholesome and attractive salad plate. That I was only six, going on seven, was the footnote!
When you earned your Michelin star, what did that moment mean to you – for a chef who didn’t go to a formal culinary school, but who still managed to earn this huge honour?
When my chef-partner at Devi, Chef Hemant Mathur, and I received the news that Devi was one of 18 restaurants being awarded a Michelin star when the guidebook first came to Manhattan, we were elated beyond belief! What made us happy was that the Michelin inspectors understood and valued what we were cooking and sharing. Our cuisine was a modern take on everyday Indian fare – plated with finesse, cooked with utmost care, with the finest ingredients, and made fresh daily, quite like the cooking in Indian homes. That this cuisine, very blatantly different from anything ever served before in an Indian restaurant, was getting honored with the highest of honors, was something we didn’t take lightly. We also were keenly aware that our getting this accolade meant it was the celebration of every Indian cook across the many different regions. They were getting the star, and it was to them that we channelled our gratitude.
I can never forget that moment, and even today, I wish more chefs would pay attention to our story, the story of Devi in Manhattan. It is the story of making an idea, a departure from norm, become mainstream and find lucrative success. Indian food needs many more such stories and successes. This change – from preparing run-of-the-mill terrible recipes that were concocted in post-Independence times to serve the needs of a young nation – will be the change that could make Indian food finally get its day in the court of public opinion globally. Till then, we are only a tired and next-best cuisine.
You’ve penned four books. Yet your book Instamatic seems to be the most distinctive. Could you highlight why it separates itself so much from the other three?
Indian Home Cooking, American Masala, and Masala Farm are cookbooks that bring delicious flavors to the table. Instamatic is a book of musings and photographs taken and written on an iPhone. I discovered that when I am hurting the most, that’s when I find myself in the most creative zone ever. I started taking photographs more maniacally than I ever had before. The images connected me to the world I was part of – and one which I once again had to learn to live in. They are the thoughts and images I wrestled with as I came back to health and the world of the living after suffering concussions that were misdiagnosed as mini-strokes. Inflicted with blindness for 11 months and the loss of speech and motor skills, I found peace of mind in clicking photos to connect me with my surroundings. Instamatic is a book that feeds the soul, leading to questioning that might give people growth and discovery.
You are the chairman of the Asian Culinary Studies for the Culinary Institute of America, and the only chef on the Nutrition Advisory Board to Brigham and Women’s Hospital at Harvard Medical School. What do these very high profile titles mean to you?
My chairing Asian Culinary Studies at the CIA brought me a wonderful platform from which to both gain and share knowledge. That has now morphed into my teaching thought-leadership retreats that bring delicious flavors and sustainable recipes to chefs and industry leaders. My work with the Nutrition Advisory Board has given me ready access to Kathy McManus, the head of the nutrition program at the hospital, and through that relationship, I have obtained a thorough understanding of the intersection of food and nutrition. I have experienced what few chefs could boast of, and the blessing of knowing that I am changing lives, many for the better, and in doing so, also leaving a legacy of respect and admiration for Indian cuisine.
For someone like yourself who has had a very serious health scare journey, you seem to be very optimistic in life – what are your mantras to stay happy and at peace?
My mom always reminds me that accepting life as it unfurls, with its ebbs and flows, is a lifelong journey of acceptance of the most basic truth: we are but a little blimp in the larger world that life is living and carrying forward. The sooner we accept our impotency in changing most circumstances that confound us, the sooner we can begin living lives with happier outcomes. In our accepting things for what they are, we find freedom to live and grow. In turning our minds from a fight or flight mode to one of accept and embrace, we declutter our minds, and in that instant, we become one with self, in sync with the world, and freer than free from uselessness cluttering our minds. We start living in peace, feeling at home in and with our mind, body and soul.
For someone like yourself who is very active on social media (506K followers on IG and 10.5K followers on Twitter), how important is it to be digitally connected and relevant in today’s modern culinary world?
Social media is, sadly, the only game in town. The consumer today has the attention span of a fly, and so social media is what they go to for any and all affirmation and discovery. Long-form journalism, restaurant reviews in newspapers, guidebooks in print… these are all of the past. Food has to be instagramable and insta-ready. The devil is in the details, and the details that matter today are how insta-friendly the dish looks, and how fun its story is for the social media community. Gone are the days when authenticity, culture, tradition and storytelling with great depth were the driving forces. Today, we live in a world that is juiced up by happenings of any one moment, a trending song, a trending celebrity, and the choices they make at any given moment. If a restaurant and chef want traction, they need to learn that game, adapt swiftly to the world of digital connectivity, focus on the here and now, and drive the engine of their success with social media being the most important focus.
Since you lived in NYC and built a successful culinary career there, what are some of the similarities you found between America and India?
India today reminds me of what the US was in 1993 – a nation in flux. The challenge of being a chef with the audacity to think differently in the late 1990s in Manhattan is now coming into play in India. It makes me feel in some ways as if the clock hasn’t moved forward at all. But the world’s oldest and most populous democracies share that hunger for freedom and for deliciously comforting flavors, even as they both have people often fooled into choosing things that are bad for them, and as they live life consumed by the marketing ploys of corporations out to make money. Both nations have little invested in scratching beneath the surface to see if what they are being sold, has solid legs to stand on. This brash way of living is something the nations share.
You have run two very successful restaurants – The House of Celeste (New Delhi) and Devi. Which one was more challenging yet exciting for you to run?
The House of Celeste was a challenge because India in the culinary realm is where NYC was in 1993. When I arrived in NYC as a 20-year-old, I saw Manhattan in a churn where it was coming of age and growing into the city it has become. New Delhi and India are in a churn, one rather dramatic and challenging to say the least, and where we go will certainly be a place of better tomorrow, but getting there isn’t a road easy in any sense of that word. Especially around food, we have gotten lost in fads, trends and marketing madness. We have lost our connect to our own food, identity and culture. We are being used and abused by multinationals that are preying on our growing pains, and taking advantage of our teenage reactions.
Indian diners aren’t ready yet to give Indian home cooking a chance, as in their minds it is nothing fancy or worthy of their custom. Slowly but surely that mindset is being changed. Not fast enough for my liking. But cooking progressive Indian cuisine is a tough challenge in the Indian market, one that I am happy to tackle. I have never been shy about battling for what is correct and belongs to our collective future. The battle is an enthralling one for me, and it also reminds me of my early years in NYC. Of course, I am almost 50, and I would have enjoyed not having to prove myself at this age, but perhaps this will keep me young and relevant. And so, I am excited that I am doing pioneering cooking today that tomorrow will become mainstay. That I have Vardaan Marwah as my mentee and the man who heads my company’s kitchen, gives me hope that together we will bridge the gap between what was and what shall be. And hopefully take people on a culinary journey that will bring delicious satiety and much joy.
Other than teaching young budding chefs culinary knowledge, how important is it for you to teach them about benefits of having good mental health to deal with the stress of the kitchen?
Having good culinary skills makes a person a great cook. When one creates intuitively healthful and deeply delicious menus and recipes with heartfelt passion, mindfully sustainable innovation, and thoughtfully seasonal and local procurement, it is then that a cook becomes a chef. For a chef to remain relevant and fulfilled, engaged in their craft, inspired and an inspiration to others, they need to see a light inside themselves and in others, a flame that can stand the vicissitudes of time and the protean nature of success in the food industry. It is imperative that they understand the importance of being whole as a person and in sync with and in ownership of their personal journeys. I ensure these tenets are shared and palpably communicated in everything I say, emphasize and celebrate when teaching my mentees. The stresses of our industry are huge and the distractions, huger still. Teaching my mentees about being human, having a big heart and generous soul, is something I feel is most important. Only when generous to self, can a human be gracious and hospitable to customers.
