This Michellin-star chef celebrates the everyday comforts of India

Fashion is only fashionable when it transcends the trend, and becomes a celebration of something that can stand the test of time. It is this quality of a garment or costume, an accessory or style that makes it thrilling and perennial at once, and deems it fashionable beyond the fleeting sheen of momentary gimmicks that hearten for a bit and then die—both from existence and memory. When we choose to wear or eat something again and again, when we find great deep comfort and soul-stirring satisfaction in indulging in something, it is then that we know we have hit a jackpot and are on track for making the mindful choices that shape our lives into something sustainably fashionable and deliciously healthy. 

India—the cradle of civilisation in more ways than one, the home of Ayurveda, the land of countless deeply delectable vegetarian and vegan recipes—is slipping into a coma of senseless and mind-and-body-numbing grub that is most carelessly fashioned after the worst food practices of the world. Cucina Povera, the food cooked out of poverty, is revered by the Italians, and the world is obsessed by its soulful brilliance, but our ghar ka khaana and its peerless khazanaa (the home cooking of India and its unmatched wealth of edible jewels) are being forgotten. Indians chase fads and trends from all across the globe, but allow to go to waste the unsung hero dishes from its millions of homes that connect its billion-plus population to their motherland, and the history and legacy of its wondrous past. As a population, we once ate most wholesome, seasonal, and regional food—it was this fact that kept us poor and rich at once. India’s forkways and folkways, unlike unhealthy trends and fads, have withstood the test of time and practice, of civilisational challenges, pandemics, and gross public health outcomes.

My Indian restaurant in Manhattan, Devi, the first in North America to earn a Michelin star when the French guidebook arrived on those shores, owed its success and fame to the everyday cooking of Indians, and not to any fusion concoctions. My chef-partner Hemant Mathur and I dared to serve the sabzis, chutneys, pickles, chaats, curries, breads, and rice preparations that were until then mostly relegated to the tables of Indian homes. This made critic and customer alike find Devi a rather unexectedly fashionable and trailblazing gourmand discovery, and a haven for finding gourmet satiety. Each meal celebrated the everyday dishes of people connected with a mindful approach to cooking. One critic noted that this was food so old, it seemed fresh. Gael Greene, most popular food critic of the Big Apple, found the menu akin to a train ride taken across the regions of India with Hemant and me cherry-picking favourite dishes and giving the diner a thrilling tour of a nation. 

A nation as old as India ought to be forever bursting with wondrous preparations that excite the collective taste buds of its populace without having the unhealthy food that people generally crave. Authenticity is a connection between times past and a sustainable journey into the future, with mindful indulgences being savoured in the here and now. When I look at the future of Indian cuisine and the diaspora, I find myself looking at our progressive chefs and recipes as being our saviours—smart guardians of our rich past and the custodians of a future that will protect us against our own selves. 

For this column, it is my promise that I shall eat eagerly, share with honesty, and traverse near and far to bring you exciting recipes. I will show you what’s hot and desirous in the world of hospitality, food, and beverage. There is much to keep us living, eating, and sharing together with honest hunger, thankful for today, and healthier for tomorrow.

All images: Courtesy Suvir Saran and the brands

This piece originally appeared in the October-November print edition of Harper's Bazaar India

Also read: After 14 years, SoBo’s The Table has a new menu serving delicious modernism on a platter

Also read: Gen-Z and Millennials of Bazaar India tried the newest food spots in the city, and here’s how it went