The jewel in the crown for India has perhaps always been its cuisine. It has been the cultural, religious and casteless bridge for people of the subcontinent. And narrowing this great divide like a cultural sponge is Thomas Zacharias, executive chef and co-owner of the Bombay Canteen, India's No.2 restaurant 2017 (as voted by Condé Nast Traveler).
Zacharias' love affair with Indian cuisine is rather unconventional.
"I grew up in Kerala cooking with my grandmother. Seeing how happy she made people with her food was very inspirational for me. Obviously I love to eat but my primary goal was to eventually become that person who could bring joy to people's lives with food," says the young chef with a cheeky grin.
Having finished a hotel management degree in Manipal, Karnataka, Zacharias went on to hone his skills at the CIA (Culinary Institute of America) in New York.
Bhutte Ka Kees, or Indore inspired corn fritters, red chilli chutney and moras bhaji salad. Photos courtesy of The Bombay Canteen
"Culinary education is mostly rooted in French and European cuisine so you automatically are in the mindset that that is the pinnacle of cuisine and that is the kind of food you need to follow. So, after I graduated I worked at the three Michelin-starred Le Bernadin in Manhattan, which was an incredible experience. It was a very busy restaurant doing 200-250 covers a day, while most other Michelin-starred restaurants do 60-80. That level of pace and intensity trained me."
He returned to India, and joined Olive in Mumbai, where he cooked European food. Still insatiated with his knowledge of the cuisine, Zacharias embarked on a four-month sabbatical through France, Italy and Spain, eating his way around.
"That was my way of connecting with the food I was cooking. I got a unique food experience in every town I visited. I met a few locals who told me they hadn't travelled in their countries as much as I had. It then struck me that I hadn't done the same in India. I almost felt ashamed."
However, it was while dining at Osteria Francescana, a three Michelin-star restaurant in Modena, Italy, and the world's No.2, that Zacharias had an epiphany.
"Massimo Bottura [chef and patron] started talking about how he was doing what his grandmother did and was trying to showcase regional Modena cuisine, having grown up there. And that's when it struck me: why was I, as an Indian, spending so much time in Europe researching its food when I had done nothing to explore my own cuisine?
"So I started thinking deeper about Indian food. I returned to India and couldn't stop thinking about it. I quit Olive three months later and around the same time the Bombay Canteen was looking for an executive chef. I was inspired by their [co-owners chef Floyd Cardoza, Yash Bhanage and Sameer Seth] philosophy and when I went to the local market looking for produce to cook for them, I started looking at vegetables I had overlooked before. Needless to say, I got hired and soon became a partner."
The Bombay Canteen's philosophy is simple: fresh, local, sustainable and seasonal.
Red Snapper Ceviche; kokum sol kadhi, black rice and murmura. Photos courtesy of The Bombay Canteen
"Our goal in a way is to get Indians excited about Indian food. One of the ways is first and foremost to make the food delicious. Everything else -- the philosophy of regional and local Indian, and the spin we put on the food -- is all secondary to the fact that we need to make sure the food is tasty and crave-worthy. You should leave the restaurant thinking of the dishes that you would like to eat again."
This kind of philosophy ensures that even people without any context for the food appreciate it, like someone from Delhi who eats a dish from Maharashtra and still finds it delicious.
"We are to be experimental with food so our red snapper ceviche is a popular dish even though Indians are not known to eat raw fish." However, this did not come easy for chef Zacharias.
"There were a lot of purists telling us our food wasn't Indian and this is not how it's done, etc. One of our popular dishes is tacos, for which we use 'teplas' and pulled pork, and a lot of the Gujaratis questioned our decision to use meat on the 'teplas'. People are curious about their own cuisine. Yes, we change form, but we try and stay true to the origins and integrity of the dish. It's more a mindset rather than a flavour and people who can look beyond that mindset can appreciate it. The others we try to push over the edge and turn over to our side. It's been a process and I think over time more people have warmed to that.
"In the first few months we were left with mixed opinions about our food because most did not understand it. The common response was 'we can cook this at home'. This has changed overtime and it is heartwarming to see. Now people yearn for our seasonal menu changes and to see what we will do next with our recipes," adds Zacharias.
The one dish that made him pursue cooking was his grandmother's -- Amini's Duck Curry -- which features prominently on the Bombay Canteen menu.
"The flavours and textures of the curry are the same as how we make it at home. This is always my first meal whenever I go home. Our food reminds different people of different experiences -- accidental nostalgia in a way. You can't force such emotions."
Perhaps the one reason for the Bombay Canteen to be inspired and change its menu frequently is Zacharias' travels to the different regions of India. More powerful, in fact, are the regional cooks he encounters, who let him into their kitchens to share their recipes.
"I travel around India connecting with locals, chefs and the people in their kitchens. Each time the trip reinstates what we were trying to do and pushes the thinking of how far we can take this restaurant because the possibilities are countless when it comes to Indian food. In terms of flavours, techniques and recipes, it's a whole world out there -- which you never see in restaurants," says Zacharias. At the Bombay Canteen, he says, they stay true to the original recipes and the style of cooking. They don't modernise too much, just make a few minor changes.
"There is no clear formula in choosing dishes I want to showcase, it's more organic. First and foremost I look for dishes and recipes you don't normally find in most parts of the country or in restaurants, unique flavours and ideas.
"It could also be a typical dish, like the Maharashtrian rice plate, which everyone has had. I try and recreate the original in the best way possible. I believe this very strongly, you cannot modernise something if you cannot make the original." At the Bombay Canteen, it's not about sourcing black rice from Tamil Nadu or salt from Goa; it's also about what's available in the fresh markets and mainly about the humble vegetables. Though the restaurant has a person sourcing ingredients for them, a local green called moras is foraged from the marshes of Navi Mumbai. It is Indian sea purslane, which is not available in the markets. Zacharias got lucky and came across a man who was selling it, as it is only eaten by the people of Gujarat during their fasting period, which makes it available for only 10 days a year.
"I'm a little geeky with all this so I have an Excel sheet with all the pointers I take when I'm on my trips. This kitchen [at the Bombay Canteen] is run meticulously. The fact that I have had no Indian kitchen experience has probably helped the most. The way Indian restaurant kitchens are run is very different from Indian home kitchens. Most Indian restaurants serve North Indian and Punjabi food. However, real Indian food tastes nothing like what one eats in a restaurant. So, I am approaching Indian food with an entirely new set of eyes."
In Mumbai it is a lot easier to get English produce than it is to get ethnic, local produce -- unless you troll the wet markets, and even then there are only one or two people selling indigenous produce. This is why Zacharias goes to the markets himself.
"I have noticed over time the fresh, local seasonal produce has been increasing rather than decreasing. There is a growing sense of preserving our nationality and not only in terms of food, but fashion, music and the arts. Indians have started realising that we have some great stuff in this country and are getting excited about it."
This is happening progressively, though. The future is indigenous produce and though organic is a heavy-handed word, sustainable is not. The Bombay Canteen uses only sustainable produce and sources seasonally. Even their delivery containers are recycled and biodegradable -- and they don't use straws.
"We try and do our part but we are not 100% sustainable or organic and we are trying to get there. It is a very busy restaurant so it is important to be sustainable, though it is a process," adds Zacharias.
"I have come to see my role and my responsibility as the storyteller for Indian cuisine in the most humble way as possible because I know we as a restaurant and me as a chef still have a long way to go. We are not there yet. I don't think we will ever get there but it is the pursuit of getting there. Just being the definitive restaurant for Indian produce and food is big enough.
"We are still learning, still evolving and still discovering new things about Indian food and ultimately, at the end of the day, all these people need to leave happy. You are only as good as your last meal, so we are constantly making sure that the diners' experience is great. The potential of what we can achieve with what we have is immense. The potential of food in a country like India is endless."
