Consultant chef, author, avid storyteller, podcasting pro, TEDx sensation and MasterChef consultant – Sadaf Hussain wears many hats. His magnetism in the kitchen and love for all things food have catapulted him to the top of the culinary space, where he has been wowing taste buds and winning hearts. The author of Daastan-e-Dastarkhan: Stories and Recipes from Muslim Kitchens even has a new book out, Desi Delicacies.
At a recent edition of An Author’s Afternoon, Prabha Khaitan Foundation hosted an engaging discussion with Hussain and Anjum Babukhan, Ehsaas Woman of Hyderabad, at Taj Bengal, Kolkata. Gouri Basu, Ehsaas Woman of Kolkata, welcomed and introduced them on behalf of the Foundation.
As the freewheeling conversation began, Hussain spoke of being exposed to different tastes and flavours from a young age. “I come from Ranchi and spent most of my childhood going to Calcutta or Durgapur because it was more ‘cosmo’ at the time and eating a lot of delicacies there. I was a fat kid who loved eating everything,” he said.
“When you love food and eating different kinds of food, somewhere you start taking an interest in food. You start to understand food. What is good and what is not? For example, you might eat chips and think, ‘Oh, that is so good! Can I make it too?’,” Hussain said. That was how his mother started to prepare crinkle chips at home, he recounted, thinking back to the process that sparked the impulse to attempt new recipes and cook good food.
Food and cooking had always been focal points in Hussain’s life. As teenagers, Hussain and his friends would frequent a dhaba near his house. While the group waited for their order, Hussain would observe the cook at work. While he confesses to not having a great memory for recipes, he remembers patterns very well. Back at that dhaba of his youth, while watching the cook toil over the stove, Hussain developed a sense of cooking and working in the kitchen that serves him well even today.
Over the years, he has visited old restaurants in various places, many of which have adapted to the times and modernised their menus. Such shifts leave a mark, especially for someone like Hussain, who likes to chronicle food. As he explains, “This is not overromanticising food. It is just understanding food. History repeats itself, so what we call modern today has already happened or been made.” As the session progressed, Hussain shared his perspectives on how food has evolved in India.
One of the top contenders of MasterChef India in 2016, Hussain had started a food pop-up named Bread and Butter a year earlier. At the time, he was still involved in public policy, animation and economics. Hussain’s pop-up featured live cooking with fresh ingredients for people who wanted a break from the usual restaurant setup.
Healthy eating is also a priority for the chef and food writer, and this is something he promotes through his podcasts regularly. Speaking about how food habits are shifting in India, he said, “If you see our eating patterns, the consumption of fast food is increasing. There is a lot of ready-to-eat food because we have less and less time. There’s even packaged biryani now.” Certainly, fast food is convenient, but it is not the only option. In Hussain’s view, people can make their food more interesting by swapping out unhealthy food choices with healthy ones.
“In the kitchen, stories are the secret spices. They add flavour to every dish,” Hussain said at the session. A storyteller at heart, Hussain has a talent for recounting his gastronomic adventures, kitchen mishaps and other food adventures with a heart-warming touch. “I’ve turned food fights into food memoirs,” he joked.
The food-focused discussion culminated in a Q&A session with the audience. Responding to a question, Hussain emphasised that there was no such thing as “authentic food”, and that people should be free to taste and experience food on their own terms.
As the event drew to a close, Shefali Rawat Agarwal, Ehsaas Woman of Kolkata, delivered the vote of thanks on behalf of the Foundation, and Esha Dutta, Honorary Convenor of Northeast Affairs, felicitated the author.