THE MICHELIN STAR INDIAN WOMAN CHEF

TAKING INDIAN FOOD FORWARD

Garima Arora is a female chef whose passion, innovation and entrepreneurial spirit serve to inspire the next generation of chefs. Born in Hyderabad and raised in Mumbai. Garima happily accepts that the very basics of cooking that she has learned are not just from her mother but also from the neighbours during her stay in Mumbai, as she believes that the Indian households hold thebest spices and tricks in their kitchen though she studied in Paris and currently heads a Michelin Star restaurant in Bangkok.

In 2019, she was awarded Asia’s Best Female Chef for the Year by the World’s 50 Best Restaurants, and in the same year, Gaa, her restaurant, made its debut on the World’s 50 Best Restaurants. She received the prestigious Best Female Chef title and also was awarded anMichelin Star for her restaurant GAA in Bangkok. She is the only Indian female chef with a Michelin Star.

Garima Arora graduated from Le Cordon Bleu Paris institute in 2010. She then went to Copenhagen to work at Noma restaurant, before being named sous-chef at Goggan restaurantnin Bangkok. She opened Gaa in 2017 in Bangkok. She says: “Gaa has attracted open minded diners who are looking for a new dining experience. We really enjoy introducing and opening someone up to the exciting world of Indian cooking. That moment you see their face lit up with excitement when they try something new for the very first time always feels special. I think it is completely up to us chefs to offer the real cuisines of India to broaden people’s understanding and perception of what Indian cooking can be which extends way beyond curries and naan’’. She started Here, which is a modern Indian breakfast canteen and wine bar with popular Indian dishes made with her own twist. Food Forward India (FFI) is her new initiative to bring Indian cuisine in the spotlight. She wants to shatter the stereotypes of Indian cuisine.

“Home in every sense of the word has always been a thread that runs through everything that we do at the restaurants. It is clear to me that every single thing has to bring it back home in a way that showcases the true versatility and beauty of Indian cooking. At Gaa and HERE, we do that through our cooking, at Food Forward India this will be done through documentation’’, she explains, “People asked me if I would do a four-hands dinner in India, a pop up or a new restaurant. I just thought instead of that, I would like to bring attention to a cause that I believe in strongly. I think it would be a better way of making something in India. I wanted to create something that would live on beyond my name and restaurants and that’s how FFI came about. I always use the term the “cuisines of India” rather than Indian food. Most memorable food moment has to be when I went with the FFI team on our Telangana trip where we had fresh toddy right off the tree and millet-based dishes prepared by the Millet Sisters’’.

She says FFI aims to discover foods and customs of rural, tribal and the less explored parts of India. “All of it excites me because there is a whole world and wealth of knowledge out there that has yet to be tapped into. We met a Yemini community on our trip to Telangana and Hyderabad where we learned that their food does not use a lot of spices and chili, but they focus on extracting the maximum flavor out of a sole ingredient. As a chef, it is such a thrill to stumble upon and try something new’’, she enthuses.

She believes the government and food industry in India can do much to promote regional cuisines. ” Food is such an integral part of our culture. There’s no doubt in my mind that it should be a part of every ministry, from human resources, tourism and education to child and
women welfare. It just hasn’t been given the official status of importance and this needs to change but these changes can only happen when we involve the government and the right policy makers’’, she says, adding, “knowledge is everything. I personally believe that Indian cooking can provide cooks with a foundation that is no less, if not more, valuable than that of French techniques. I do hope the future generations of cooks use them to their advantage.’’, says Garima.