CT: Recently, you organized the dinner for the Nine Rivers Gala at the Rubin Museum here in NYC, during which biochemist turned Buddhist monk Matthieu Ricard – often called “the happiest man in the world” – was honored. What is your own credo regarding the elusive feeling of Happiness?

VK: Happiness for me is sharing. The satisfied smile on the faces of the people whom I have the privilege of feeding.

CT: What was the single most life-changing event in your life?

VK: When after an eye injury, I realized the undeniable power of vision.

CT: Apart from being a chef extraordinaire, you are also well known for your humanitarian work and enlightened outlook on life. With Save the Children, you have created SAKIV, an organization through which you put together tastings for the visually impaired. You also run New York Chefs Cooking for Life and the list goes on and on. How did your work with humanitarian causes come about? And how do you find the time for it all?

VK: As a child, I had leg alignment and feet correction operations and was unable to even run till the age of 13. Having been through it myself gave me a sense of empathy for those who had similarly suffered. I always did find it impossible to simply stand by and do nothing in times when people elsewhere were going through trying times, whether it was during the Tsunami or the hurricanes which caused so much damage and pain to people around me. This is as much a part of my work as is my cooking professionally. As I, my food has always been the central element in my fight for causes around the world that have been closest to my heart.

CT: What part of your professional life do you find most satisfying?

VK: Food gives me ability to expand beyond the conventional, to reach out to issues; it removes any sense of helplessness that can set in when boundaries are set up defining what and where we can and cannot go. I am just happy that I get the support of communities around the world which share similar vision and goals.

CT: As someone born during one of the Indo-Pakistani Wars, who would you invite – it can be persons living or dead – to an imaginary dinner where the solution to world peace would be discussed?

VK: Mahatma Gandhi and Martin Luther King – two icons of peace.

CT: Your life and your culinary enterprises bridge comfortably across two very diverse cultures. Can you talk about some of the differences you have found in food preparation in such disparate countries such as India and the US?

VK: Food preparation in India and the US is similar, only India is more manpower intensive and less dependent on machines.

CT: What is your typical daily routine?

VK: My day starts at 7.30 with a morning jog in Central Park, before my shuttle between kitchens all day long. I am usually still going well after midnight.

CT: Do you have any regrets or some stone that has been left unturned?

VK: My biggest regret is having left my family behind when I moved to the US.

CT: If you were putting together your ideal meal, what dishes would it consist of? And who would be there to share it with you?

VK: My favorite meal is yellow lentils, whole wheat breads, chickpea curry and sautéed potatoes, which I would love to have with my family.

CT: If you were stuck on a deserted island, what five ingredients would you want to have there with you?

VK: Potatoes, eggs, rice, soybeans, salt.

CT: What is your biggest extravagance, the one thing you cannot live without?

VK: Fine Japanese knives.

CT: Who represents elegance to you, and why?

VK: Barack Obama: he is focused, ambitious and progressive.

CT: And what is in the works for you, your next project?

VK: An extensive cookbook about the culture and cuisine of the Himalayas.

Photos courtesy of Shiva Chiluveru

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