It’s obvious the celebrated Michelin-starred chef Atul Kochhar does not know his roast poussin from his lamb rump. For starters, how could an apparently savvy, accomplished and trained chef not tell the difference between Muslim and Islam when he castigated Bollywood actor Priyanka Chopra? In the tweet to Chopra, Kochhar taunted her saying, “It’s sad to see that you have not respected the sentiments of Hindus who have been terrorised by Islam over 2000 years. Shame on you.” It was in reference to an episode of Chopra’s US television series, Quantico, where she busts a Hindu terror cell set out to implicate Pakistan.
In one broad sweep, Kochhar has demonised both Islam and Indian Muslims while blaming the country’s history of foreign Muslim rule, with absolutely no concern for accuracy or veracity of facts and history. If Kochhar had cared to know, it was not Islamic terrorism but invasion and conquest by diverse Muslim rulers who came to India, with their own cultures, ethnicity, identity, exceptionalities; beginning with Mahmud Ghazni, Qutubuddins and the Delhi Sultanate to the Mughals.
Islam is a religion, a book of scriptures; Muslims are people, divergent and dissimilar, spread all over India and the world (for the half-wit Kochhar, there are Moplahs from Kerala and Kashmiri Muslims, amongst other ethnic Muslims). Kochhar plays the Islamaphobia game by fusing Islam, Muslim invaders and Indian Muslims as one; then ignoring that regional Indian Muslims are as diverse as Hindus in the country — how they practice their religion, the food they eat, their ideas about gender equality, from education to jobs; in fact, Muslims and Hindus of the same region mostly follow similar trends. But it does not suit the Hindutva doctrine to acknowledge the medley and distinctiveness of this pluralistic country.
Naturally, defenders of Hindutva soon jumped to fog the issue. First, they leapt to defend the Kochhar tweet as an affront to free speech — quite rich coming from a group that accuses and denounces anyone, from students to Dalits, human rights activists and pressure groups, who resists their ideological takeover as anti-national, traitors, tukde-tukde gang etc. So, similarities were drawn between liberals and Islamists, one kills and maims, they screamed, the other provides intellectual cover in “propah” English, they sneered. Libs endorse Islamic societies for they do not put pressure on Islamic countries to accept liberal values, they added. Kochhar paid for speaking his mind in a world gripped by those intolerant of the other, they sniggered. And if Durga can be called a prostitute and Hindu goddesses be painted naked, why does criticising Islam amount to bigotry and hating Muslims; they hollered. Really?
Should Indian Libs be screaming outside the borders of Islamic countries demanding freedom? Or should they be fighting for those principles, here? Isn’t it all about artistic freedom anyway, from drawing Hindu goddesses and writing fictional Hindutva terror plots in Quantico, what free speech campaigners are talking about? Also, Kochhar is not gripped by intolerance abroad but by strict cyber laws in the Emirates, where online comments spreading sectarian hate is a criminal offence.
Then came history lessons with taunts: “When we say ‘Hitler killed Jews’ is that bigotry? Likewise, if I say Hindus and Sikhs were persecuted under Islamic rule, then that’s bigotry?” “Where does history end and bigotry begin?” Is Hitler the same as the Prophet and Islam? Or “Hindus are so tolerant that Ambedkar could become the father of Indian constitution even after burning Hindu scriptures (but) they are so intolerant they had to sack a Hindu chef because they could not bear the truth he spoke.” Duh? Does this need any explanation to see the absurdity in the comparisons?
What if Kochhar had followed his true calling as a celebrated chef, exploring food and cultures, diving into a world of culinary traditions and flavours, of multiple ethnicities and cross-cultural power of food and history? Imagine, if Kochhar did not look at a Mutton Pasanda or Tandoori Quail as a historical grievance of “Islamic” rule, but as a collateral boon of historical circumstance, like Hindustani classical music or Mughal art?
For the aggrieved Kochhar, here is a quick history lesson: Of course, Muslim invaders came in with their marauding armies, conquering and vanquishing various kingdoms and establishing rule over a large part of the country for over 500 years, just like Hindu rulers did to each other. But like all established dynasties, Muslim conquerors also brought with them their culture of food, dress, art and architecture, melding and fusing with local traditions and cultures, to synthesise and create one of the most alluring, syncretic culture of the time.
Funny, while Kochhar has liberally used Turkish and Mughal influences that dominate north Indian cuisine to win two Michelin stars and create a brand for his restaurants from London to Dubai, he doesn’t think twice before barbequing an already demonised religion and people. Instead of wailing about the “terrorisation of Islam over Hindus for over 2,000 years” he should have relished the Ni’matnama or Book of Delights that details ingredients and recipes written by the Sultan of Mandu. They include meat and fruits, aphrodisiacs, aromatic pastes and powders, and essences from flowers and screwpine.
Moroccan travel writer Ibn Batuta’s recordings of the banquets in the court of Sultan Mohammed Bin Tughlaq would read like a Kochhar menu of today: “Sharbats of Rose Water, Barley Drinks, Round Breads (rotis) followed with Roast Meat, and Sambusak (samosas) filled Meat and Dry fruits; and Chicken served on a Bed of Rice. Finally, desserts like Halwa and Almond Pudding…”
As for Mughal cuisine, Kochhar would have marvelled at the 101 recipes of Alwan-e-Namat, from the kitchen of Emperor Jehangir; or the kitchens of his successor Shah Jehan, where it was the Hakim (royal physician) who made the royal menu of medicinally-beneficial ingredients, quite similar to Ayurvedic principles for a healthy diet. It is said that gold and silver pellets were fed to chickens, goats and sheep, so that their medicinal properties would be passed into the food.
Perhaps, it’s time to call out the pretentiousness and phoniness of celebrity chefs who dish out overpriced food and fawning fame, with dollops of ignorance and stupidity. It’s this that has got the goat of the sane public.
You kill it? We grill it!
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