Chef Vikas Khanna’s exhausting work conquered all of the challenges on his means. Ranging from his grandmother’s kitchen, he took his love for cooking to New York, in the end incomes a Michelin Star and opening one of many metropolis’s favorite Indian eating places.
When Vikas Khanna was born in Amritsar in 1971, medical doctors informed his mom, Bindu Khanna, that his ft have been deformed and that he wouldn’t have the ability to stroll or run. Bindu wouldn’t hear a phrase of it and took him to Delhi for additional remedy. She stated, “My son is just not born to stroll, he’s born to fly.”
Certain sufficient, Vikas proved his mom proper. At present, at 52, he’s an award-winning Michelin-starred chef, restaurateur, writer, filmmaker, and a decide on MasterChef India. Past his culinary achievements, he’s additionally deeply dedicated to giving again. Through the pandemic, he championed aid efforts by way of his Feed India initiative, serving over 50 million meals throughout the nation.
His story is one among overcoming each adversity possible and by no means letting others convey him down.
As Vikas had clubfoot, he needed to put on leg braces and later, picket sneakers. This made him a goal for relentless bullying at college. “I used to be teased in class. Boys would name me ‘polio wala ladka’ (the boy with polio), and stated that I used to be cursed attributable to my braces,” he shared in a TED discuss.
Whereas he didn’t discover acceptance at college, he discovered solace and a way of belonging in his grandmother’s kitchen. After faculty, he spent his time there, studying to prepare dinner from each his grandmother and mom. He additionally discovered consolation on the Golden Temple’s langar (group kitchen) in Amritsar, the place he assisted within the kitchen.
“My grandmother informed me that you’re meant to be totally different,” he added in the identical discuss.
By the age of 13, he had realized the ropes of cooking and began serving to his mom promote chole bhature to colleges. He was the sous chef in his mom’s enterprise, ‘Lawrence Backyard’, a banquet corridor.
Tragedy struck a decade later, when the banquets have been crushed by native authorities, shattering their desires. Heartbroken, Vikas moved to New York to begin a brand new life.
In New York, he took on practically 31 odd jobs, together with washing dishes, cleansing and cooking in properties, working in delis, cafes, and eating places. He even taken care of canines and cats. He additionally labored in a number of eating places, opened a cooking faculty, and ran catering corporations.
Whereas working in a restaurant in Paris, the chef informed him, “Black arms don’t prepare dinner, they solely clear.” Khanna give up the subsequent minute and vowed to point out the chef what black arms can do! “I’ll obtain one thing in the future,” he promised.
In 2010, he returned to New York and opened a restaurant known as Junoon, incomes a Michelin Star the subsequent 12 months.
Since then, Vikas has not regarded again, taking Indian meals and tradition to the world. In 2024, he opened a restaurant ‘Bungalow’ in New York, which he calls his ‘final innings’ within the hospitality trade. Bungalow’s reservations have been offered out in simply 11 seconds!
“Folks can take every thing from you, however not your delight and happiness,” he says.
Edited by Khushi Arora
