Sitting Down with Saransh Goila

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Saransh Goila made his first Indian dish for his family when he was just 12 years old. Fifteen years later, at the age of 27, he is now one of India’s youngest celebrity chefs and food television hosts. Winning a spot on Food Food Maha Challenge, a reality show hosted by Sanjeev Kapoor and Madhuri Dixit, Saransh beat out 15 other contestants to achieve the title of India Ka Super Chef. Today, Saransh is based in New Delhi and dabbles as a food consultant, actor, author, and host of Roti Rasta aur India, India’s biggest food travelogue show on the FoodFood channel.

When did you know you wanted to pursue a career in food? What inspired you to do this?

I’ve been cooking since I was 12 years old. But the first time I really thought of food as a career option was in the 12th grade when I was studying to be an engineer and failing miserably at it. I had always thought of the kitchen as an outlet for my creative instincts and found pride and joy in cooking new dishes. I also often watched food TV shows and dreamt of sharing my cooking ability with others. My grandfather, who was an exceptional cook himself, one day suggested to me that I wasn’t born to be a scientist or an engineer. He saw me as a passionate, creative guy who loves cooking and eating and he believed I should consider food as a career option. Based on that, I began applying to catering colleges alongside engineering colleges and to my good fortune, I passed all the required exams for the prestigious catering schools. There was no looking back after that and I followed my passion to pursue cooking as a full-time career.

Was it your dream to be on TV? How does being on TV differ from what you imagined?

I used to be in awe of Chef Sanjeev Kapoor and watched him host a fabulous cooking show back in the day. It’s funny how a television can fill you with amazing dreams and I remember dreaming of being on TV and teaching millions how to cook just like Chef Kapoor did. Being on TV though is very different from what I thought it would be.

It’s a difficult job to communicate your love for food to a camera and not a live person. You have to treat the camera like a kid who’s difficult to teach, or like a girl who you want to impress. It requires a skill beyond cooking, a skill full of imagination and expression. Despite this, it’s definitely what I was born to do and is the place I love being more than anywhere else in the world.

What does being such a young television show host represent to you?

To me, it represents a lot of challenge, faith and responsibility. Chefs are trusted the most when they’ve had at least a decade of experience under their belt…and a big belly. I don’t have either. So my journey demonstrates that there is a wind of change in India and the younger generation is willing to embrace a new way of doing things.

I consider it my duty to be a part of the process that is driving and shaping Indian cuisine, and while being popular is nice, it is actually making a change or adding value to my cuisine that I wish to represent.

How do you see yourself? If you had to rank the following descriptions of you, what order would you put them in – chef, television host, actor?

That’s a tough one. I wish there was an option for “Chefactor” because I can’t separate the too. I always joke that, “My first love was acting but I’m married to food.” TV host would be last on the list.

Who are your role models in the industry?

May people have inspired me over the years and I give my best regards to all the gurus I’ve had. Chef Sanjeev Kapoor is someone without whom I wouldn’t be where I am today. He has a vision to make Indian food global and he’s given a great opportunity to up-and-coming chefs like me. Chef Manjit Singh Gill told me when I was starting out to follow my heart and said, “Keep your heart clean, cook food that you love and everything else will follow”. There is a reason he is legendary. Chef Vineet Bhatia is someone I still haven’t met but many of my creations are inspired by his style of cooking. Lastly Jamie Oliver is inspiring as someone whose career I’ve studied closely because he started at a similar age to me and achieved so much in such little time.

Do you have any free time? What do you like to do when you’re not working?

I make sure that I get some free time because I can’t possibly live without watching films. I’m a serial movie buff. So much so that I’m compiling a list of 5000 movies I’ve seen so far. Apart from that, I love going for long runs and spending time on making awesome music playlists.

What is your favorite dish to cook when you’re at home?

Butter Paneer! My family is vegetarian, so they crave and demand my Butter Chicken but in a veggie format. So a dish that brings a huge smile to everyone’s face has to be my favorite too!

What are your favorite ingredients to cook with?

It’s a never-ending list, but to name a few:

• Garlic – I don’t cook dishes without it. I don’t. I won’t.
• Cinnamon – It’s a strong spice with a lot of character…tricky to use but brilliant!
• Ghee (Clarified butter) – I don’t like vegetable oil. What ghee can do to a dish is incomparable.
• Basil – Still not very common amongst Indians but I swear by it wherever I add tomatoes.
• Coconut – fresh, tender or dried. I love pairing it with various combos.

What do you hope to accomplish in the next 5 years?

I never believed in a 5 year plan until recently. So now I do have some clarity on what’s in store for me in the next five years. Here’s a few that I’d love to focus on:

• Host an international food travelogue, one of the first kind by an Indian chef.
• Have an international restaurant chain of the extremely popular “butter chicken” that I’m known for. This is almost in the pipeline.
• Write a series of food and travel books.
• Be a part of a food-based feature film.
• Make Indian food simpler to cook.
• Cook Indian food at the Oscars.