‘My favourite food is local cuisine’

BENGALURU: How do you feel about the food scene here?
Bengaluru was always ahead of its time. The food and beverage sector across India, especially related to alcohol, has become a killer business in the last two-three years with the pub culture here. The city was also the first to recognise the need to serve food fast. Darshinis would serve high quality food with low price in an organised manner. They broke the barrier of scepticism that existed in other cities. This is an idea which is still being understood by other cities. In terms of importance on regional food, Bengaluru leads the way. Here, people move with the times and still respect tradition. Nilgiris was one of the first supermarkets in the country with a modern setup that stocked regional ingredients.

What’s your favourite cuisine?
Local cuisine. By that, I mean I eat the traditional delicacies of the places I visit. If I am in Karnataka, I want cuisine that is home-style.

Your favourite memory associated with Bengaluru?
A friend of mine in Mumbai once asked me go over to taste something from Bengaluru. It was green chilli chicken, which I had with my family. It’s addictive. Surprisingly, it was from Fish Land, which is famous for seafood. It tasted out of the world. As I came from the airport, I requested my driver to fetch some green chilli chicken from Fish Land. He remained puzzled.

You’ve launched CrickEat series on YouTube. What is the thought process behind such videos?
There are three religions of entertainment – films, cricket and food. So, we combined cricket and food and nudged people towards videos. It includes the place where the matches are being played. If I simply prepare Afghani food, it’s one thing. But it’s different when the same dishes are played when Afghanistan has played well. There are good chances of people looking at local food.

You often speak about autism. Do you feel strongly about the cause?
Many years, ago, I was asked to support a forum for autism. They wanted to raise funds and awareness through the Mumbai marathon and I participated. Before that, I never tried to run 200 metres. After taking part, I realised I was much fitter and the run gave me more than what I gave them. Since then, I have been associated with the forum. I don’t want to dilute my focus but keep doing more for autism and Akshaya Patra. A large part of my energy and time goes into this cause.

What are your future plans?
My Food Food TV channel will soon become free-to-air. I feel we should share knowledge and information without barriers. We are also launching our own range of food products soon.