FW: Vikas Khanna's table of grace

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LIB/020/01.04.2016

 

 

 

Vikas Khanna’s table of grace

Through ‘Kitchens of Gratitude’, a documentary releasing on May 14 at Cannes International Film Festival, and a one-of-its-kind culinary museum in India, the Michelin starred chef wants to prove how food can be an important tool to bring peace in this chaotic world

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Published: 21:08 March 31, 2016

Michelin starred chef Vikas Khanna is in Dubai until Sunday, introducing new dishes at his flagship restaurant Junoon at the Shangri-La Dubai.

The MasterChef India judge who has received the culinary honour consecutively for five years since the opening of Junoon New York in 2010, is enroute to Manipal in India to create history — literally — by opening a one-of-its-kind culinary museum in the Karnataka city.

“Places like this [gesturing to the restaurant] is a business and one day will shut down. I don’t want to be a businessman or remembered as one,” Khanna told tabloid! on Wednesday.

“When you talk of culture, it’s a continuation, a repetition. We are doing it, our daughters are going to do it, and their kids are going to do it. This museum is culture. It will be a super modern building but designed in such a way that as you enter, you will feel you are in ruins”.

The $4-million project will have its ground breaking ceremony on April 7 and will be a living museum, where Khanna will keep adding to the several thousand piece collection he has already created. 

He arrived an hour late to our meeting at Junoon — apologising profusely for the delay — with his hands full with huge ladles, a heavy wooden platter, a metal box used to store rotis [unleavened Indian flat bread], rolling pins and an unusual object which looked like a door stopper or the end of a big table’s or bed’s leg. It was neither, he explained, it was used for even distribution of rice seeds during sowing.

Empty apartment

“My apartment in New York is now empty,” he said, laughing. “I only had utensils in my house. One corner held some 250 belans [rolling pins], all of different styles. It’s sad that ancient cooking vessels have been sold by Indian households at the price of their weight. It’s such a waste of art and craft. I’ve pleaded with people half way across the world not to sell them and I would pay them what they ask. I’ve just bought this bunch from a collector in the UAE. I don’t want such legacy to get lost on the streets. I’ve also found this 600-year-old huge thaal [platter] that was used to serve food during iftar. This platter has aayats [verses] from the Quran engraved on it in exquisite calligraphy. The owner refuses to sell and says he will take it to his grave but I will convince him to give it to me. This will hang at the entrance of the museum. What better message for eating together?

Speaking of eating together, tabloid! not only savoured the new dishes on the menu but got an exclusive sneak peek into Khanna’s 16kg gilded tome on Indian festivals, Utsav, which was unveiled by Bollywood actress Sonam Kapoor at the Cannes International Film Festival last May.

“We have introduced some interesting dishes, one of them is a dahi bhalla [deep fried balls made from soaked lentils] filled with jal jeera [a spicy Indian aperitif] that gives a burst of flavour when you eat it. In New York we do it every three months as we [Rajesh Bhardwaj, founder of Junoon, and I] are based there. And now we’ve completed one fiscal year here. We are evolving every single day, and what better place to see but in the kitchen. We had communal kitchens and now we have best-selling books on cooking for one person”.

Adding to the restaurant favourites, such as fried egg-plant chaat, are the delectable Peshawari khumb [crimini mushroom stuffed with gruyere], bhatti paneer tikka [oven cooked cottage cheese tikka], malai soya chaap [creamy soya kebabs] and broccoli matar ki shammi [broccoli and peas kebab], just as melt-in-the-mouth as the galouti kebabs made from red kidney beans. Be careful not to overdo these (as we did) as you would find it difficult to indulge in the main course which includes a creamy Junoon black lentils [black lentils slowly cooked overnight] and dum ke champen [sous vide lamb chops, flavoured with star anise and charred onions]. We scooped these with flaky lachcha parathas and soft butter naans as Khanna told us about his documentary Kitchens of Gratitude, releasing at Cannes International Film Festival on May 14, and which he has reportedly directed.

Food for world peace

“I’m not the director,” he brushes off the reports. “Yes a lot of my thoughts have gone into it. I haven’t directed it, it just happened on its own. It’s such as simple story yet complex. The idea originated when I was lecturing at Harvard University. Somebody pointed out that I always talk of the kitchen as the centre point of every religion and world peace. I believe any child who is fed food made with love and affection will have a better possibility of doing extremely well in life. The kitchen is the most alive place in the house. But I’m not talking of modern kitchens in New York homes, which are used for show and only for making coffee in the morning. I’m talking in general aspect of the word. This was the basis of Kitchens Of Gratitude. We have spoken to authorities on all religions — Hinduism, Islam, Buddhism, Judaism, Jainism, Sikhism… We’ve understood their perspective of what ‘the table of grace’ is. The ‘table of grace’ is where everyone is welcome and everyone is equal and everyone shares their ceremonies, traditions and customs. And all of them say the same thing.

“You have Dalai Lama talking of world peace through food. One of Prophet Mohammad’s [PBUH] most important teachings were you cannot eat your fill if your neighbour is hungry, Professor Asani, head of Islamic studies at Harvard University, told us. When iftar happens, there is almost every country in the world breaking fast every minute. This is the largest festival of food. This is the most inclusive story of food. And the most humbling thing to see is the sharing of food at iftar time, the offering of food to those who do not have any. We had faced some dissension when we showed the film to our friends in France. But I cannot understand that part [of religion]. I feel why should a religion followed by one-fourth of the planet’s population be defined by the ugly activities of a mere handful? Most of my kitchens are run by Muslims. They are the first to bring the food for everyone at the staff table, serving others before themselves. That’s culture”.

 Utsav, the flip side

Khanna’s culinary epic, on the surface is all about celebration but he explains that there’s another side to the book. Not only the pictures and food in it hold immense significance in the Indian culture, the word “utsav” when read in reverse — “vastu” — refers to direction. Utsav was the direction he focused on for 12 years, putting everything else apart from cooking on hold.

“I have this ability to read words in reverse and find meanings in them. Utsav is my only book with a Hindi title. Utsav means festivities, harmony, consciousness, togetherness. When you read it backwards it reads Vastu or Vastu Shastra, the study of directions — the direction we need to follow to find peace and happiness. It is an important concept in Hindu culture, especially while building a home, which brings in harmony, goodness and good people. India’s festivals are our way of welcoming in this goodness, guests in to our homes and our country.

“The cover photo reminds me of a Rumi poem where he says it’s only under the ruins that one can hope to find treasures. We chose this from over 200 pictures and there are several symbols here. You may be the first person to see my bare feet. A scar is the beauty that defines a character,” said Khanna referring to a childhood physical disability which had a huge effect on his mental and emotional wellbeing. “Then you have the reflection of the Taj — a symbol of love, and probably the most recognised icon of India. Look at the bright sunlight falling like a blessing, the woman’s shy smile, the broken boat — these all symbolise something. And like any art, this photo and all others in the book are open to interpretation”.

 Truly Indian

Last September Khanna prepared a special meal for Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi in New York and was taken in by Modi’s Make in India campaign.

“This is very close to me right now. I even flew in to Mumbai from New York for just two and a half hours for a cooking demonstration in February. America is not only the biggest tourist market, it’s probably the only country where Indians have received such opportunity to excel. Who would have thought a woman would come from Madras and become the CEO of Pepsi! The heads of establishments such as Microsoft, Google, are all Indian origin. I was at Facebook Headquarters before I came to Dubai to celebrate Holi. That’s Make in India. Several Indians in top positions were there. These are people running the planet, they are changing the dynamics of our economy. If they can cry like babies to see Utsav, there’s no doubt their hearts still beat for India. ‘My mother used to wear a sari just like that’; ‘I remember eating rice cooked in sugarcane juice at home as a child’; ‘I remember my friends doing these rituals but I was never part of it because I was busy studying or looking for work. I missed out on life. But thank you for capturing them on these pages so that it can remain on my table top’. These are just few phrases they came to me with. Make in India for me is a revolution that Modiji has brought about. It makes people realise the intrinsic pride as Indians. Utsav is totally created in India. People told me you can’t print it in India because gilding is done best in UK. And yes definitely there’s a difference. But my heart wouldn’t agree. Everything about the book is Indian and I felt it would not be right to print it elsewhere”.

Khanna’s encounter with Modi however wasn’t all pleasant though. The signing of a copy of an Indian flag by Modi dragged Khanna into controversy too.

“I’ve buried the incident but I’ve not healed yet. I don’t want to scratch it again,” he requested not to get into it. “It’s an extremely sensitive issue. Most of all to me yes, but also for the people involved and Indians in general”.

Web Link: http://gulfnews.com/leisure/food/vikas-khanna-s-table-of-grace-1.1701947

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Jyothi Mallya

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WGSHA

Manipal University

Ph :9448724074