Australian Celebrity Chef Gary Mehigan says each time he visits, he fall more in love with India, its people, food and culture
Mona
Gary Mehigan, the Australian Celebrity Chef and TV host, came calling to City Beautiful over the weekend, and amongst the popular dahi mutton and butter chicken, he was won over by the rather new, rather humble malai soya chaap!
Having travelled over the length and breadth of the country—filming Onam in Kerala, pandaal-hopping in Kolkata and attending the Hornbill Festival in Nagaland, he shares, “I have seen India more than many Indians. And each time I come here, I fall more in love with the people, food and culture.”
Having just filmed Holi in Mathura and Vrindavan, he goes beyond the touristy labels of ‘crazy’, ‘colourful’ and ‘fun’. “For me it was devotion that stood out. People there celebrate Holi for 40 days, all for the love of Lord Krishna.”
Living it up
One of the originals on the MasterChef Australia, Mehigan believes that the show helped him understand what passion can do to the people. “I learnt on my MasterChef journey that people are enormously talented,” he says.
A successful restaurateur before, Mehigan is now enjoying being on the move. “Owning a restaurant is binding. At 57, now I can go around the world experiencing incredible food and cultures,” he beams. Like other spheres, Covid changed the food scenario too. Mehigan says, “Covid reignited the trend of home-cooking and professional interest in food. People from different walks of life were cooking with passion. My own friend, who is a real estate agent, surprised me with his cooking skills.”
The Chef is coming up with Gary and friends’ Indian food stories next. “In Vaibhav (Bahl) and Neha (Malik), I have found passionate food partners. Also my travels have made me meet chefs here, so I am looking forward to bringing theirs and my stories together,” says the Chef, who held a Conosh Classified Masterclass and a seven-course dinner in the city!
Food for thought
The trick to eating healthy is to plan ahead. “The easiest things to eat are often the worst things to eat. If you do not think ahead, you go to the kitchen and eat whatever you can lay hands on — white bread sandwich or noodles. On the contrary, if you plan and find fresh ingredients or semi-prepared meals, you will eat way healthier,” says the chef, who makes big dinners and saves extra portions, labelled and frozen, for his daughter, who is a nurse and works odd hours, to eat healthy.
