Slice of Life: ‘Cooking is not therapeutic unless I’m doing it for leisure’

I knew I wanted to be a chef even as young as a Class 11 student. My mother was a brilliant cook. Our family had a tradition of going out for dinner to a new restaurant every Sunday. So I was always exposed to different kinds of food. I am extremely fond of Italian cuisine. Especially the way Italian grandmothers cook — they focus on good ingredients and rustic techniques. That’s a similarity across cultures — rustic techniques and without compromising the quality of produce. When it comes to cooking for leisure, I cook Italian. Otherwise, I do not niche myself to any cuisine for commercial purposes. I specialise in fusion cooking. It’s quite easy to fuse two cuisines together if you follow the way the grandmothers cook — because you can add a few ingredients here and there to create a blend of flavour. Cooking is not therapeutic unless I’m cooking for leisure. When doing it as a business, I realised, I love the hustle and bustle of the kitchen. I love how hot it is, how tired I’m at the end of the day. I didn’t know about this aspect of commercial cooking until I started doing it, and I’m lucky I love it. It might be a cliche, but chefs have it really hard. Working hours are long, the work is exhausting, and conditions are very tense —you need to get the food perfect. Whenever I meet someone new, I always gauge how they treat service staff. I’ve been on both sides, so I always notice because I feel it says a lot about their character. If I see someone who treats staff unreasonably, I always call them out on it.