JOIN US‘Bengaluru captures all flavours of southern India’
Chef Saransh Goila is a well-known name in the food business. He is the founder of the famous ‘Goila Butter Chicken’ restaurant in Mumbai and the author of the travelogue ‘India on my Platter’. Saransh was also a guest judge on Masterchef Australia.
He is also a campaigner for ‘India, Ready Action’, a project upheld by Samsung towards breaking stereotypes around India. As a part of the campaign, the celebrity chef was recently in the city to conduct a session on making short impactful videos.
Metrolife had a candid chat with Saransh, and here is what he had to say.
Tell us about your involvement in the campaign.
I found the campaign exciting because it was about breaking stereotypes around India. I was intrigued when they approached me for the
food category. We are pushing people to make videos of actual Indian food and share it.
You have travelled around the globe. Which is your favourite cuisine?
I am always biased towards Indian food as it is diverse. Japanese and Italian cuisines are my other favourites.
What are the misconceptions other countries have of Indian food?
When people think of Indian food, they think of curry. It is a conception that needs to be corrected. I feel the basic education for the global audience is not given, for which we are also fairly responsible because no one has taken the ownership of taking pride in our food. The idea is to let people know we also have chaats, varieties of flatbread etc. and not just curry. Also, I think it is the jargon; nobody corrects them when they say ‘naan bread’ or ‘chai tea’. But it is slowly changing now.
What are the misconceptions Indians have of the global cuisine?
When a certain cuisine is introduced in another region, slight alterations have to be made to adjust to the respective people’s palette. Indians are so adjusted to powerful, bold tastes that we forget about other kinds of flavour. For example, if we travel to China we can’t expect Indian Chinese food or Chinjabi.
I think we look at the world cuisines at our own length, but in the last decade a lot of us have travelled and explored more, and we are aware now.
A global movement is happening in India in terms of food as I see multiple cuisines coming in and doing fairly well.
What are the current food trends that you like?
The one that I relate the most to is regional cooking; people are looking back to their community.
Sustainable farming and food delivery business are also the trends that I find exciting.
Do you have a Bengaluru connect?
My first job as a chef was in Bengaluru. It is one of my favourite destinations. The place captures the flavours of southern India fairly well. Every time I am there I make sure that I get my cup of filter coffee.