The Hindu Lit Fest 2024: Sashi Cheliah, Manu Chandra, Thomas Zacharias discuss the new era of culinary creativity

Discover the evolving role of chefs and their impact on the culinary world at the Hindu Lit FestFor Life.

What goes on behind the scenes? Whether you are ordering off a menu at a luxury restaurant, throwing a party or deciding on what to cook for dinner at the local market, what you eat and what you cook is influenced by professional kitchens and chefs. At this year’s Lit Fest, we get a chance to meet some of the most influential chefs in the country.

Chefs Sashi Cheliah, Manu Chandra and Thomas Zacharias play a fascinating variety of roles. These talented chefs not only aced running some of the country’s most popular restaurants but have also diversified imaginatively, creating new culinary spaces and products.

At this year’s Lit Fest, they will be discussing how the role of a chef has evolved over the years, especially post pandemic as diners get more adventurous, and the business gets increasingly competitive.

You probably already know Sashi, if you watch MasterChef Australia. The Singapore-born, Adeleide police officer-turned-chef-turned restaurateur, was a crowd favourite at MasterChef Australia, and ended up winning season 10 in 2018, after which he launched a pop up kitchen in Melbourne.

“While MasterChef is a good platform to show your talent, it doesn’t mean people will accept you in the kitchen. Chefs slog for years and years to get where they are,” he says, explaining how he worked hard to launch his first restaurant, Gaja, in Adelaide. Five years after MasterChef, he is the author of Kampong Boy, and also runs Pandan Club, a popular restaurant focussing on Peranakan food, in Chennai.

Discussing how people expect more when they eat out now, Sashi says, “Diners are looking for an experience. They want to try new flavours. They love stories behind the food.” He emphasises how important it is for chefs to push themselves beyond their comfort zones. “We need to keep pushing our boundaries,” he says, adding that with the proliferation of social media, that’s become easier, “People can express themselves and try new things at a much quicker rate.” 

Chef, restaurateur and entreprenuer Manu Chandra left a fleet of successful restaurants in 2021, post pandemic, including Bengaluru’s Olive, Toast & Tonic, Monkey Bar and Fatty Bao to launch Single Thread Caterers. The company, run under Manu Chandra Ventures (MCV), went on to land high profile gigs, including cooking at the 2022 Cannes Film Festival, redefining the idea of catering, making it bespoke, thoughtful and luxurious. He then opened Lupa, a sprawling, extravagant Italian restaurant set in the heart of Bengaluru, on MG Road.