Vikas Khanna is an award winning,
Michelin Starred Indian chef, restaurateur, food writer, filmmaker, humanitarian and the host of the TV Show MasterChef India. He is based in New York City.
Vikas Khanna was raised in Amritsar, India where he grew up surrounded by large family feasts, the seasonal produce fresh from the fields of Punjab, and of course, his Grandmother's traditional home cooking. It was at his grandmother's side that he began to learn the intricacies of Indian cuisine.
He started his own banquet and catering business, Lawrence Gardens, at the age of 17.
During his graduation from the prestigious Welcomgroup Graduate School of Hotel Administration, Vikas went on to train under renowned chefs of Taj Group of Hotels, Oberois, Leela Group, and many more.
He has studied at the Culinary Institute of America, Cornell University and New York University and the prestigeous Le Cordon Bleu, Paris.
He has worked with some of the most honored chefs in the world in New York. He has received glowing reviews from the press, his gastronomic peers, and also recognition from the James Beard Foundation.
He has authored several books, including "The Spice Story of India" and "Modern Indian Cooking". His next book, "Flavors First", published in 2011 by Lake Isle Press.
He is the founder of Cooking for Life and SAKIV Organizations which hosts gastronomic events around the world in support of different relief efforts and awareness issues.
The documentary series Holy Kitchens will be releasing in September 2010; based on his journey to discover the spiritual foods that give us shared identity. The first part of the seies is based on Sikhism (True Business)
Vikas was awarded a Michelin Star for his restaurant Junoon byMichelin Guide.
In 2011, Vikas was honored with the Rising Star Chef Award by Star Chefs for his role in shaping the future of American Cuisine.
On March 29, 2011, Vikas received a raving review from Sam Sifton in The New York Times.
Vikas was also voted "New York's Hottest Chef" in a poll conducted by Eater.
On July 29, 2011, Vikas hosted dinner for the Hindu American Seva Charities Conference held at the White House organized by Anju Bhargava, who is a member of President Barack Obama's Advisory Council on Faith Based and Neighborhood Partnership.
Vikas was featured in the Top Sexy and Successful list of Anokhi Magazine in their 5th Anniversary Issue. Metro New York featured Khanna as Hottest Chef Around.
Khanna has received several awards, including the "Access to Freedom Award" in 2005 from SATH, previously awarded to George W. Bush and HRH Prince Charles, and The Shining Star Award from Just One Break, Inc. previously received by Christopher Reeve and Ray Charles.
He has also received a proclamation from the Council of the City of New York for his outstanding contribution to the city, and was chosen New Yorker of the Week by NY1.
In September 2007, Vikas Khanna was featured as the consultant chef on the Gordon Ramsay TV show Kitchen Nightmares on Fox. On October 13, 2009, Khanna appeared as a judge and Indian-cuisine specialist on the two-part season finale of Hell's Kitchen.
On June 23, 2010, Khanna appeared on Throwdown! with Bobby Flay as a judge. Vikas Khanna was guest chef in the episode "The India Show" on The Martha Stewart Show telecast on March 4, 2011.
In 2011, Vikas will host the TV Show MasterChef India, an Indian competitive cooking game show based on the original British version of MasterChef, to be telecast on Star Plus.
CHANDIGARH: Food is said to be a great unifier, and a documentary film appears to second this. According to Holy Kitchens production— an initiative of an Indian-American Chef Vikas Khanna, who is rolling out a series of films to tie together the metaphysical meaning of food in religion with the real world experience of sharing food in a spiritual context — Golden Temple has the busiest kitchen in the world.
Khanna is an award winning chef, author TV personality and restaurateur based in New YorkCity.
The first in the series is a documentary 'True Business', which takes its inspiration from first Sikh master Guru Nanak's message of Sacha Sauda, from where the concept of 'langar' or common kitchen originated.
As the story, Guru Nanak's father had given him Rs 20 to start a business but was surprised to see his son distributing food to the poor, bought with the money meant to start an enterprise. On being asked that why did he do this, Guru Nanak is supposed to have replied that this was ''Sacha Sauda, True Business''.
"Food is the single most joining factor for all humans," says 38-year-old Khanna, who belongs to Amritsar, where Golden Temple is located.
Filmed in the Harmandir Sahib, the documentary captures images of how shared food elevates human consciousness cutting across all caste, religion, class barriers.
The movie, according to Khanna is composed of three parts, starting with tracing the evolution of the langar tradition. "One of the gurus famously said, ''Even enemies need to be fed. I have been raised in Amritsar and I have seen this unification happen in front of my eyes day in and day out," says Khanna. He claims that each time he returns home, his first meal is at the Golden Temple.
According to the chef, Holy Kitchen aims to make people aware of this commonality of the world's religious traditions and to illuminate the differences in a way that will engender mutual tolerance and respect.
The other documentaries in the pipeline are Karma to Nirvana (Hinduism) to be premiered next year in November; The moon of Eid (Islam); The wheel of Dharma (Buddhism); The Lord's Supper (Christianity); Celebrating Nowruz (Zoroastrianism); Feats of unleavened bread (Judaism).
While, True Business was telecast at the Sikh International Film Festival held in New York, in October, it will be screened in Columbia University on Monday followed by Harvard, Cornell, Princeton, Oxford and many other universities.
In fact, the 39 year-old owner of 12-million dollar New York restaurant, Junoon, holds the concept of seva in high regard, seeing it as one that can spread love, peace and health. Which probably explains why the dinner he is throwing at the White House on July 29 as part of a fund-raising activity is called Seva Dinner.
You will be hosting a dinner at the White House next month. Why are you calling it the Seva Dinner?
I have an obsession with the word seva. It signifies humility. I am organising an essay competition for students in the White House, which will be followed by dinner for 200 people that I will cook with my team. US President Barack Obama and his family are expected to be part of the dinner. I decided to call the event Seva Dinner, as a way to thank the country where I now live. We will open the event with videos of powerful leaders and their notions of seva, including Sri Sri Ravi Shankar, Mata Amritanandmayi, Dr Deepak Chopra, and Bill Clinton.
What do you plan to feed the students and probably, the Obamas?
I am going to cook vegetarian food.
I will cook dishes that I would have cooked for my hero, Mahatma Gandhi, if he was alive. I will be using goat cheese. There is an entire course on goat cheese. There will also be Gujarati food and some Punjabi dishes.
Your film series Holy Kitchens is quite popular in the United States. What prompted you to create a film that combines faith and food?
The concept took birth years ago.
I landed in America in December 2000, and 9/11 happened a year later. There was a lot of discrimination against Sikhs. Talking about religion is not healthy because people associate it with fanaticism. However, everybody loves to talk about food. In my films, I talk about food of a certain religion and through that talk, about the people who belong to that religion.
Tell us a bit about True Business, that was released at the Sikh International Film Festival in 2010. Has the movie managed to convey your thoughts?
It is a 37-minute film, and by the end of it you will know everything you need to know about Sikhism. We talk about the langar and how it laid the foundation of Sikhism. The system is like a democracy. There is no caste system since anybody can go and eat. Within four days of the first film's release, I got a call from Bill Clinton's office saying, 'this is genius'.
You have cooked with some illustrious chefs, including Gordon Ramsay. What is your favourite food?
When I was studying at Le Cordon Bleu in France, we would have the world's best chef cooking for us but after every two days, I would get this mad craving for dal. Once, I had mentioned in an interview that dal is my favourite dish. After that, every dinner I attended, I was fed dal.