Stirring it up just right!

An elated crowd (some on tiptoes to catch a glimpse of the happenings, others just smiling aimlessly) is all we could make sense of on entering Foodhall, Palladium, on Thursday, May 7. Among the joyful chaos, we saw an exhilarated and charming Vikas Khanna (VK) making his way into the hearts he’s not yet captured, one stir at a time.

The occasion: launch of Khanna’s latest literary addition titled Shaken & Stirred—a collection of non-alcoholic recipes from sherbets to teas and mocktails. The event that should have taken just about two hours exceeded its time, all thanks to a selfie-clicking crowd that was overjoyed to see Khanna whip up some concoctions from his book, live. We watched Khanna interact with his fans and sign copies of the book for them; talk about his first self-published 63-pager, his success story, exclaiming, “Agar safar shuru nahi karoge toh pahuchoge kaha pe,” and making people believe that “A great artist can be born of anyone.” Post event and ahead of him heading to the Cannes Film Festival to release his 21st book Utsav, a 1200-pager priced at a mind-boggling Rs. 8 lakh, we caught up with the chef for a candid chat. Excerpts...

dna: The event was nothing less than madness...And you loved it, right?
VK: Loved it... I respect it. When did you ever see this happening to a chef, not just in India but worldwide? It is a fantastic opportunity. I call it an opportunity because I feel even one step of success is an opportunity to do something much greater.

dna: That’s inspirational...
VK: I feel it’s only on receiving such support from the country that can one write some literature about it. I was happy living the American dream; and once you taste success in the first-world country, there’s less of a chance that you’d do something else. In my case, it was a stroke of destiny. I was mainstream in the US, but  destiny brought me to Indian homes. And that’s the only reason why I could write something so pure. 

dna: How different is Shaken & Stirred? 
VK: This book focuses on drinks; and I’ve never done something like this before. In Junoon (NY-based restaurant), we have a space called Patiala Lounge, which is where I experiment and come up with these creations. I am a teetotaller. Everyone tells me, I am possibly the only Michelin Star chef, who is Punjabi and lives in the US but doesn’t touch alcohol, and that’s a strange combination. I never get stressed enough to drink, so people think there’s something wrong with me. (laughs) I’ve realised that what you do in terms of literature is redefine the culture in so many ways. And that’s what I’ve tried to do through this book. My next book is on 101 Food Poems. I’ve scheduled working on books right till 2019. 

dna: Was the title inspired by the James Bond catchphrase ‘Shaken, not Stirred’...
VK: I first named the book Thirst; but everyone thought it had a negative connotation. So post a few combinations, we came up with Shaken & Stirred and it worked.  

dna: You were part of People’s magazine 2011 list of ‘Sexiest Man Alive’. You were even voted NY’s hottest chef by the Eater blog…
VK: Eater has banned me; they emailed saying that they’ll never have me on that list again. (laughs). Apparently, every time they put me on that list, I got 98 per cent votes and the other American chefs got just 2 per cent. Initially, people there were like, “Now we have to look at curry people?” Later, they started supporting me. I was also on the cover of Manhattan (America’s premium magazine) with a few other chefs. And suddenly everyone was like, “God, that Indian chef is so exotic looking.” In fact, people queued up at my restaurant only to catch a glimpse of me. I overheard two guys saying, “He’s not at all good-looking.” And I turned to them saying, “That’s exactly my tension too!” They just find it endearing; they think I wear no masks and I’m almost in denial of my success. I think one needs to be in denial…otherwise the books, the literature created by you will lose their meaning.