‘Biriyani represents our country at its best’

CHENNAI: It was exactly about ten years ago, that Vahchef Sanjay Thumma gets a call from a despairing woman whose mother was at the end of the rope. Confined to her bed, she would spend her evenings watching the chef's culinary videos.

“It was on one of my trips to New York, where I ended up meeting her. She got out of bed after three months. I was deeply touched by the gesture, which made me realise the impact food has on people globally,” Sanjay narrates.

With his only motive of inspiring others to cook through his Youtube channel, VahrehVah, he is also amongst the most searched chefs in Asia.

Vahchef Sanjay, who will be one of the judges on the upcoming season of MasterChef Telugu, talks to us about his take on the present culinary industry of India, along with details regarding the upcoming season, which has been highly antiquated by ardent fans of the MasterChef franchise.

Being a foodie and a chef, describe your affiliation with food that you have tasted and served in all these years?

Well, food means different things to different people. There is a saying in Telugu which goes ‘Koti vidyalu kuti korake’. It means…’There are thousands of arts of earning money, and every art finally leads to eating good food’. I would say that food is an experience. Food never comes as just food. It comes with a story. When a chef serves you food, he even tells you why he has made a dish, and what influenced him.

Why do you think healthy eating has become predominant lately?

When I tell you that I want to inspire people to eat healthy, it is because I want to see Indians consuming the right kind of food. The city of Hyderabad is called the capital of diabetes in the world.

In recent times, I have been focusing a lot on farming. I now end up asking myself- Is that food going to make people really healthy? Unfortunately, in today's kind of farming, we are losing many of the essential nutrients needed for the body. In my next phase of journey, I aim to teach people how to eat nutritious food.

What is your take on the present culinary industry of India? Where do you think it stands in the global arena?

The culinary education in India is one of the top notch in the world. Unfortunately, what is happening is because of modernisation, and the introduction of technology, everybody now has an exposure to global cuisine. With the help of YouTube, anybody can cook food that is staple to Scandinavia or Italy. However, they lack basic knowledge.

Having said that, today, our cuisine is over-the-top. As we Indian’s travel globally, we always love our food that we eat back home. When I was in Chicago about 25 years ago, we barely had outlets, which served Indian cuisine. But today, there are nearly 1,000 Indian restaurants in each of the cities in the US. Because of this kind of exposure, our Indian cuisine has evolved internationally. Our spinach and corn pakoda is very popular in other countries because that's where we get a lot of those corn and spinach. However, now it's popular all over. Especially after the pandemic, people abroad have started realising that Indian food with the various spices we use also helps to build immunity.

What dish do you think can represent our country at its best?

I would say it has to be our biriyani which has an amalgam of all the right flavours to represent our diverse county, which is quite flavourful in itself.

Can you tell us a little about the upcoming season MasterChef Telugu? What kind of challenges and opportunities will the show open up for the contestants?

MasterChef is all about bringing the passion of the home cooks out to the world. It is their journey that is the key.

Can a chaat be made into a dessert? Or can a drink be made into a dish? We have previously deconstructed and presented dishes in different ways. This time, certain challenges thrown on the contestants are unique which have never been done on any other MasterChef shows.

Delve into the world of regional cuisine with MasterChef Telugu, on Sony LIV from April 22.