Tall, impeccably turned out, and always a touch more philosophical than you expect from a man with a knife roll, Chef Ranveer Brar has become something of a modern culinary mystic. A spice-slicked polymath who moves with equal ease between the heat of the kitchen and the cold lights of the studio. It would be lazy to call him simply a chef, because the word no longer fits. ‘Chef’ in the Brar lexicon is part cook, part entrepreneur, part therapist, part showman. The man looks like he's composing poetry, but speaks as if each syllable is being plated with tweezers. Brar didn't so much leave the confines of the kitchen as he expanded it - stretching it into television, literature, cinema, and the algorithms of social media, until all of it became his mise en scene.
To listen to him speak about food is to undertsand that we are not just talking about flavour. We are talking identity. Culture. Power. Love. Nihari, for instance, isn't just a dish but a quite hymn to his first teacher, Munir Ustad, and a lifelong meditation on patience. His version of Indian cuisine is not the peacocked, tourist-board-flyer version but something deeper. A living, breathing palimpsest of a subcontinent's soul, from Kasmir to Kanyakumari. And yet, there's no trace of sanctimony. Brar doesn't scoff at the camera. He seduces it. The art of performance, he insists, is not a betrayal of culinary integrity. It's another brushstroke on the canvas. His is not a career, but a constellation - cloud kitchens, thalis, TV shows, philosophical musings on the Silk Route, and a small but telling role as an actor.
In a world, where Michelin star still glints with colonial overtones and chefs are often expected to either cook or perform, but rarely both. Brar remains a quiet revolution. A man who treats food not just as sustenance, but as storytelling.
Edited excerpts:
1. You’ve proven time and again that a chef isn’t just confined to the kitchen. Was this a conscious decision or something that evolved naturally over time?
I feel it’s all about honouring one’s calling and how you deal with the opportunities coming in. For me personally, it was a conscious choice as much as going with the flow, to reach out to more people with my cooking and help them connect with food and not just dishes. So, I took to experimenting with whatever medium presented itself and intrigued me.
2. Some might say that chefs today are becoming more of entertainers than purists. What’s your take - does the showmanship take away from the soul of cooking, or does it add another dimension?
I feel it depends on how one views entertainment. I often say that chefs are artists in their own right, and their kitchen is their canvas to create. For the artist to then present their creation through their medium of choice is then an additional dimension that elevates that creation while amplifying the reach.
3. If you could redefine the term ‘chef’ for the modern era, what would your definition be?
I think I’d define it as – Anybody who can turn food into a business, generate great taste, employment and make business sense out of it. It could be a Cloud Kitchen model, or restaurant or schools even. So to sum up, a chef in the modern era is someone with the ability to cook, impact lives and make a business out of it.
4. Does the Michelin star hold as much importance to you as it does to many chefs worldwide? Why or why not?
Personally, I feel anything that elevates chefs is a good platform. The fact I especially love about the Michelin Star is that while they rate restaurants, they always give the stars to the chefs. I have a lot of respect for it, but I also feel that there are a lot of markets where Michelin is not there, but that have some really fantastic restaurants. And sometimes, the inaccessibility to Michelin shouldn’t be seen as a lack of quality.
5. Do you think Indian food, as rich and complex as it is, is truly understood by the Michelin rating system, or do you think it still judges food through a Western lens?
I think the world, as a whole, is understanding Indian food more holistically now, including Michelin. The Michelin inspectors are well travelled and well-trained to see through good or average or even pretentious food. I just feel India is too big a market to map.
6. You often talk about food as a storyteller. What’s one dish that best narrates the story of your own journey?
Undoubtedly the Nihari. It’s a dish I learnt from my first culinary teacher, Munir Ustad. And when I say learnt, I mean, just observed and made mental notes. Because Ustad never taught me steps, or the actual recipe or ingredient measures. As a result, what I picked up was priceless – Patience, to let food be, to understand a dish beyond a written recipe, to connect with what you cook and eat; these pretty much sum up my life journey too.
7. If you had to cook a meal that summed up the essence of India on a plate, what would be on that plate and why?
I think I would use ingredients that are natively Indian. For me, my plate would probably be a Kashkan thali, i.e, Kashmir to Kanyakumari, consisting of elements representing the best of the length and breadth of the country.
8. You travel extensively - what’s the one culinary philosophy or technique you’ve picked up from another culture that has influenced your cooking the most?
There are many, difficult to list just a few. For instance, a lot of cuisines in our country celebrate simplicity and more with less, a philosophy I embrace and encourage myself. Another cuisine that fascinated me during my travels is the Turkish cuisine. I’ve always been intrigued by the Silk Route, and its influence on Turkish cuisine makes for a great read and culinary experience.
9. You’ve been a TV host, an author, an actor - what role among these surprised you the most in terms of how it challenged you?
I wouldn’t say Challenge, but new experience and learning definitely. I’ve always been fond of writing, I still do blogs on my food and travel experiences. So books were & are a natural avenue. The opportunity to host a TV Show was unexpected, but when it took off, it opened a whole new world of a virtual audience that I had to connect with. Being an actor was yet another dimension for me as a creator, it has surely helped me express myself better as a person. So yes, each role has helped shape who I am today in its own way.
10. If young chefs today want to follow in your footsteps, what’s the one lesson they should hold on to?
Stick to basics and get your fundamental learnings right. Once you have fortified that angle, you can rarely go wrong.