a story about a ten-year-old girl she
was at her mother’s table and she was
icing a cake helping her out her mother
walks towards her and she looks at icing
the cake and she wonders that this girl
is doing a really good job maybe I
should give it a pat on the back and
tell her what she like to do something
more so she asks her do you want to join
me in the kitchen
and do you want to learn something new
with the little girl looks up at her
mother and she smiles you could see her
eyes gleaming wanting to learn more and
that ten-year-old girl was me and that
was the beginning of my story but before
I tell you more about myself it’s very
important to know about the FARC’s I am
a farsi born and brought up in Delhi
very rare very unique because most of
the parties are known to be in Bombay
the piracy community comes from the
religion which is known as the
rationalism and so rastan ism is one of
the oldest religions in the world which
started in Iran with our Prophet
Zarathustra and our protector our Rama’s
des these were the two things that
brought the community together and
worshiped the sacred fire we believe in
protecting our fire later when we were
in Iran
it was plundered and joined by Alexander
the Great that is when the parsy’s
wanted to protect their community their
religion and they had to fled they fled
from Persepolis to the port of San John
which is in Gujarat by ships they fled
because they were desperate they
couldn’t stay in anymore in Iran and
they were being converted into being
Muslims when they reached the port of
sunshine and folklore teaches us that
the king then Jadhav Rana he looked at
those big Iranian burly men and he said
that you know I’m not going to let you
enter your foreigners and you might ruin
my land so the folk the folklore states
that there was a priest the head priest
who got a bowl of milk and he sprinkle
some sugar over it and what he meant by
that because obviously their languages
were different what he meant by that was
like in milk when we add a little bit of
sugar you sweeten it the same way will
enter your land we will not plunder we
were not ruin but will actually make it
flourish and that’s exactly what the
piracy is did this was some 1500 years
back and that’s how the name came which
was basically Paris plus I which is
people from Persia and that’s what we
were known for and from then onwards the
journey has just been endless and we’ve
moved forward with the community we
speak a sweeter version of Gujarati
we’ve learnt the Gujarati way of wearing
a sari we’ve adopted so many customs
from in those but we’ve also integrated
it with the Iranian customs the most
important thing about cuisine is that it
comes from a place cuisine cultures
communities religion all of them are
interlinked anyone who studied sociology
anthropology in read about it would know
that cuisine and food is something that
your world at least people revolve
around over a table you’ll have
conversations there’ll be food there be
laughter there’ll be fun and the Parsee
people are known to be pulling each
other’s legs they love it also eating
chicken legs but it’s it’s literally
their comfort meal abhava peg which is a
Parsi peg like this big five finger
spread big whiskey drink and you want
chicken with that and you can see in
there’s a fire seaman really happy you
can see his eyes
so then known for their good food and
their love for alcohol they have a good
time they believe that if you were
living life live it king-size enjoy
yourself have fun and in a Parsi home
you’ll see that really funny picture but
that’s exactly how we are we make fun of
ourselves we love it and in a house you
know if my mother’s cooking something
someone from the backward from become
pull a leg drop something do something
purposely to just irritate her and
there’ll be lots of screaming and
shouting happening but that’s how it is
and that’s how they like it to be so
moving on to the number of parties in
India sadly however much fun we might
want to have but the numbers are
dwindling
there are 1 lakh 38,000 in the
which is incredibly low and one of the
tiniest communities and in India it’s
only 69 thousand so what do I have to
say for the community which is so small
in size majorly the sides in Bombay and
good shot and sadly in Delhi we’re only
300 you’re lucky that you have one of
them standing in front of you but so
it’s a very small community we’re very
proud of weight and even Gandhiji said
that you know it might be a very small
community but in contribution when
extremely great we do believe in a lot
of charity and we don’t believe in a lot
of communal gatherings moving on to food
which is the most important topic that I
want to talk to you about a little
introduction a few things eggs supremely
important for a Parsi person one meal
has to have eggs
I had a boiled egg for breakfast so I’m
not even saying no to that but it’s
something that’s known as for it it’s a
symbol of prosperity and fertility it’s
known it’s supposed to be important
because you actually take an egg you
turn it around you know you put it over
a person’s head and it’s supposed to
ward off evil and then you break if not
on the person’s head but on the side but
that’s what you do with the coconut in
Hindu ceremonies so we took on that
tradition but we added a neck to it
which makes it a lot more fun I think so
why have I got two dishes of egg of it
maybe because there’s another story with
eggs which is about leftovers my
grandmother was one of the few very few
very small group of parties were
vegetarian and in vegetarians egg was
the only sort of protein that they had
so whatever leftover vegetables they
would have the next day they would put
it into a pan and break eggs on top of
it and that’s why that’s how the same
came when in doubt break an egg on it so
they used to have things like be a job
burrito which is practically like masala
daya brain and eggs on top of it you
break it you bake it and it’s supposed
to be delicious some of you might not
like it but there are different versions
of it like you’ve got leftover sabzi
they put it into a pan they break eggs
on it they again have it as a meal
soiled before you probably put that
again in a pan
have it so eggs played a very very
important role now moving on from Iran
we left and we came to the port of
Gujarat and obviously that’s where the
Iranian suddenly saw fertile soil lots
of greenery banana cheese fish and
spices which is what India was known for
so for the Iranians when they left Iran
evades eye their means were very dry
they had rice and meats and bread which
is all very dry since they came here and
he suddenly were like put into an
experimental kitchen so for them I’m
talking 15 years 1500 years back
it was it was a time for them to sort of
reinvent their cuisine they had the
deliciousness of Iran the the kind of
things that they learnt in Iran and they
mixed it with Gujarati cuisine and
obviously they’re super selfish and
wanted to learn more and eat more so
they launched from the anglo-indians
they took from them they don’t launch
from the Maharashtrians and the Goins
and that’s when you know you would call
RC cuisine a wholesome cuisine because
it’s a mix of five cuisine and this is a
very famous dish of patronymic II
another very very mouth-watering dish
which is salli boti you can see the
potato matchsticks on top it’s a skill
to make but they want crispy they want
spicy they want salty they want
sweetness and all of these things add to
the flavor of the dish and a coup D
which is a scrambled egg
super simple again they want it to be a
lot more spicier and they like to eat it
with bread another breakfast staple more
dishes which mix with the flavors of
Iran and Gujarat
this is a dish which has apricots in it
so you’d have apricots and dry fruits
which were primarily used in Iran we’re
now taking and got because they got some
things with them and then they obviously
went back to their relatives to get more
ingredients this is a dish called a luma
monkey which was basically
apricots and chicken stew together which
is delicious
coming to this dish which is very very
important the most popular Parsi dish
which is known as ransack new regions of
gangster comes from a dish called caress
Thais behind it’s an Iranian or stew
which is made with
and meats and vegetables but obviously
when you come to India you just want to
spice it up more and that’s what we’re
famous for doing so that’s the
traditional dancer but now what we know
of it earlier it was a lot more rustic
and obviously the Parsees kind end Amin
without anything sweet so they have to
have a custard and this skill they
launched from the British arts because
they know worked very closely with the
British Isles
so they learnt a lot of skill of baking
hors d’oeuvres a French bit of cookery
souffles pies things like that
from the British arse that’s a Parsi
thali which you might find at wedding
feasts or nuptials you must not see in
something like this because we’re more
used to eating on a pasta in traditional
settings
moving on to masalas every kitchen and
every cuisine would have their base
masalas and masalas form a very
important part in Parsi homes there are
two primary masalas one is advanced
light masala and where is the sambar
masala a blend of 15 spices and mostly
made at home and cooked in so the masala
is kind of cooked in garlic and oil
moving on to a few images of traditional
parsley cooking earlier it was done in a
charcoal stove so you had charcoal
underneath and you had charcoal on top
which actually made your oven so there
was heat from the top and heat from the
bottom and it cooked at the same time it
was just not heat from the bottom and
obviously wood-fired Chile’s or stoves
which give food or more flavorful I mean
it was more flavorful and more tasty and
obviously it was slower methods of
cooking what you might see in the centre
is a picture of our gods and because we
worship fire we do a prayer before we
cook bringing and coming from all the
kitchens of the world in all the
kitchens of the parties to my story my
mother is my main inspiration she is the
head of the family and she cooks she
plans all the meals and coming back to
that 10 year old my mother was the first
person who actually saw me and said that
ok this girl is interested in cooking
and it’s just not a girly thing to do
she might want to take care of as a
profession and that’s when I
I looked at it a little bit I probably
researched about it when I was 14 15 and
I said that not too many women it’s all
male dominated am I sure that I want to
enter such a field and I took that step
very supportive parents and FARC’s
always believed in raising the ball boy
and the girl in the same way so they
actually pushed me forward and they said
you know why don’t you go ahead and do a
course in culinary arts if that’s what
you want to do so I did go to our Moraga
bod and I did study culinary art said it
very well and like my new view over her
I was also someone who wanted to be in
the chain wanted to copy the West and I
was like okay Indian food is Just Dial
travel and you know I don’t want to get
into all of that I’d rather be in the
pretty pretty bits of French pastry and
cooking in and that’s when I decided
that I wanted to go to the cordon bleu
which is in London and while working
there and learning so much about French
techniques and French methods of cooking
there was this moment of realization for
me and this day which sort of I would
say was the day that I realized that
what is it that I really want to do
French cuisine was something that it was
just a trend or was actually doing it
because I felt it but I felt that there
was a certain deal when I cooked I call
it the pork chop story so it’s a deal
when I cooked pork chops and it was
beautiful it looked absolutely perfect
and we have to take it back home so you
pack it up and you take it back to your
accommodation where you’re staying and
that was my dinner and I open it I look
at it and I’m like oh my God Jesus of
meat sauce which is sick and buttery I
want something with salad I like an
Indian craves for something was added
that so I took the pork chops washed off
everything me demeaned aloo masala put
the pork into the vindaloo masala took a
bowl once it was cooked sat down dunked
my bread into it it was so sad saying I
can’t tell you how that was the moment
when I realized that there’s so much
goodness in Indian cuisine there’s so
much so many things that we just sort of
you know it’s at the back of your head
and you just want to fall in our trend
and it was it was when your lies Asian
hit me
you know it was like okay maybe this is
not what you want to do but it’s great
you’ve learnt the techniques you spend
lakhs of rupees of your parents they’re
going to kill you so you better stick on
and you better finish your course so I
came back and that’s when we thought of
the concept of soda about local Amala
which was to revive a dying cuisine with
soda bottle opener wala obviously at the
age of 23 I was the head chef shown
absolutely into the deep end of the pool
had one year of experience had no idea
how to manage 16 men who my team mates
and I had to boss them around quite
literally they never learnt and they
would question me and there would be
sexist remarks and you’re too weak
you’re a girl can you handle it can you
handle long hours can you put in that
much effort as much a man can it’s labor
intensive there was even a question
saying that do you know Hindi I’m born
and brought up in Delhi obviously I know
Hindi so anyway very high pressure and
the first few months made me almost cry
every other day but it didn’t stop me
because that is exactly what I wanted to
do I wanted to push myself and like you
might see you want to break barriers you
want to dedicate you want lots of
passion in your work you want to you
know you want your hard work to shine
and that’s just a picture of me being a
boss with my team but now we’ve got
seventeen I mean now we’ve got seventeen
people in our team I try and get more
and more women into the team would most
of them run away a different story but
now we’ve got seven restaurants and I’m
really happy that we’re sort of making
progress in surviving or dying cuisine
plus were also breaking barriers by
having a female chef and I’m happy to
lead it for a more other way for more
women who want to get inspired and join
the field and not think that it’s only a
male-dominated industry you have women
who are handling your kitchens at home
all over the country they have the
flavour but why can’t I run professional
kitchens and I think that’s what was my
main motto and that’s why I’ve really
really stuck around with soda body in
sort of reviving the cuisine and also
putting my point across to the audience
try to make it as much as an irani cafe
so that you feel nostalgic when you
enter it’s an era which is long
there were 500 cafes now they’re only 25
and so all of this sort of comes
together and what do I want to tell you
what do I wanted you know what do I want
you to be left behind and how do I want
to inspire you certain things in my life
which I mean I’m only 26 and I mean I’ve
got a long way to go but whatever I’ve
launched them from then till now was
number one if you feel something you
want to go for it
number two you have people who back you
up and if they help you out I think
you’ll you’ll even have so you have a
bigger and a better circle of friends
family whoever might want to push you
thirdly I think it’s also something that
you have to strongly feel about and
that’s what my topic is you want to feel
that you know where are your roots are
they just are you just looking around
or are you following a trend are you
eating the West or are you actually
looking within you and saying that this
is what I really want to do and this is
what I really want to show and this is
what I really want to prove and because
of the number dying out in the community
being really small I really want to keep
this tradition alive for as many years
as I can and because of that I’m writing
a book in researching about it and
traveling to towns talking to people
spending time with 80 euros they’re like
my best friends because they have all
the time in the world and they want to
teach me and they want to talk to me
about parsley cuisine and recipes and so
I mean it’s been a journey and what I
want to leave you behind with is a quote
by rule which says maybe you’re looking
into the branches and you should look
into your roots and see where you go
thank you so much [Applause]