For long now, a pietistical aura was attached to restaurants that boasted of having bagged the coveted Michelin star. And sadly, India never had any Michelin star chefs. Does this mean that our home-grown kitchen experts can’t match up with the culinary skills of their international peers? The answer is an emphatic no. The reason is straightforward.
The coveted Michelin stars are awarded to the restaurant and not the chef. And this rating is offered to establishments in countries where the Michelin guide is present, and India does not factor in that list of nations.
At the same time, there is a need to showcase the culinary prowess of Indian chefs, who have been making waves within the country and outside its boundaries. This is the cue for Culinary Culture’s FoodSuperstars to make its grand entry.
Talking about this initiative, Raaj Sanghvi, CEO of Culinary Culture, said, “FoodSuperstars is inherently different from the Michelin guide. For starters, the Michelin guide is not a ranking system; it’s a star rating system that awards 1/2/3 stars to exceptional restaurants. While the Michelin guide focuses on restaurants, FoodSuperstars shifts the focus to chefs, who we believe are the real heroes of our industry and rarely get the recognition they deserve.”
CHANGE AGENTS
To make the system as democratic as possible, FoodSuperstars does not discriminate against chefs by factors like age, seniority, location or the hospitality group they belong to. Instead, the only eligibility for selection is that chefs should be cooking in a restaurant, hotel or delivery kitchen in India during the period under consideration. This could include a large hotel chain or a small stand-alone venture in India’s metro or smaller cities.
Talking about making Food SuperStars an inclusive ranking, Raaj added, “We will also give out six special awards each year in philanthropy, sustainability and activism. We hope this will inspire other chefs to move beyond cooking and use their platforms for positive changes.”
Since Food SuperStars will be an annual property, the ranking of chefs is likely to change year on year, to recognise and celebrate a wider tranche of
Indian chefs. Moreover, there could be a shakedown in this list annually. Some chefs in the current year’s list might not be eligible for the next year if they stop cooking at a hotel, restaurant or delivery kitchen in India or move overseas.
Raaj is super excited about this initiative, which he is confident will be highly beneficial for Indian chefs. He called FoodSuperstars the first and only platform in India dedicated to this community. Each year, it will bring leading chefs from the country together at an annual event that will rotate around Indian cities.
“We aim to foster a community of India’s top chefs who support and celebrate each other’s success. Along with this, we plan to facilitate culinary exchanges through collaborations between the chefs where they travel, explore new cuisines and cook together,” he claimed.
Elaborating on the collaborations that FoodSuperstars will involve chefs in, he stated how the company has teamed up with designer Raghavendra Rathore for the first edition. He has created bespoke scarves for each of the 30 participating chefs, which were presented to them as a surprise. These chefs, which include Manish Melhotra, Prateek Sandhu, Himanshu Saini, and Ritu Dalmia, proudly wore it during the launch ceremony.
Each chef associated with FoodSuperstars is given a trophy and a plaque with their name on it. Interestingly, it does not mention the name of the establishment or restaurant where they work. So, if they decide to move to a new restaurant or start their venture, they can display it, since this proclaims their proficiency, which is not limited to their association with any Food and Beverage establishment.
Manish Malhotra, the genius behind Indian Accent in Delhi and NYC, summed up the initiative best. “Cooking is a good thing, but how far you can share your knowledge with others is even more important,” he said while explaining an initiative like the FoodSuperstars was a long time coming in India.
Here are the Top 30 Indian chefs awarded by Food Superstars on March 19 in New Delhi:
1 Manish Melhotra
2 Regi Mathew
3 Himanshu Saini
4 Prateek Sadhu
5 Saurabh Udinia
6 Ritu Dalmia
7 Manu Chandra
8 Nooresha Kably
9 Naren Thimmaiah
10 Hussain Shazad
11 Ajit Bangera
12 Thomas Zacharias
13 Gulam Qureshi
14 Purushotham Naidu
15 Julia Carmen Desa
16 Vikramjit Roy
17 Satbir Bakshi
18 Rohit Sangwan
19 Doma Wang
20 Avinash Martins
21 Jaydeep Patil
22 Vinesh Johny
23 Himanshu Taneja
24 Chalapathi Rao
25 Anahita Dhondy
26 Simran Singh Thapar
27 Joel Basumatari
28 Vishal Shetty
29 Rahul Gomes Pereira
30 Vanshika Bhatia
