An Indian-born chef Asma Khan, who is well known as the owner and chef of an acclaimed Indian restaurant Darjeeling Express is set to become the first British chef to feature on Netflix’s “Chef’s Table.”
For the past few decades, both in her native land, Rajasthan and in her home, the United Kingdom, Khan has been the subject of amazing reviews just a year since inaugural of the restaurant.
Khan is known for her all-woman squad and her signature dishes inspired by the country’s great royal kitchens in the north – Rajput dishes and Bengali recipes originating in Calcutta.
To a great surprise, Khan did not begin her journey in the UK as a chef.
According to Eater.com, Khan moved to Cambridge in 1991 to be with her husband, and she then enrolled in the esteemed university named after the city in order to pursue a law degree. After her husband moved to London with a job at SOAS, Khan continued her degree there, eventually finishing with a Ph.D., in which she specialized in British Constitutional law and worked on church and state. Then, in her 40s, Khan took a different turn in life, transitioning from law to becoming a world-acclaimed restaurateur.
Khan learned to cook from her aunt, Rukhsana Hamidi, after moving to Britain. Unfortunately, Hamidi died a year later. Then, in 1992, Khan returned to India to further acquire knowledge of cooking, this time with the help of two new teachers: her mother and the family cook Haji Saheb, a woman who was certain that Khan was going to be the best cook in the world.
Khan, who was taught by women, at present runs a restaurant staffed chiefly by women, a focus she says has been a driving force in all that she does.
According to the site, Khan did not enter into the restaurant industry just because of a love for food. “It isn’t about the money, the accolades, it is a platform for me to talk about politics and race,” she explained. As a renowned chef, Khan challenges people to see her multiple identities: a Muslim, a woman of color, and a business person.
-Sowmya Sangam
