Gourmet Flavours

Being a young achiever, at the age of 32 Chef Saransh Goila is the youngest celebrity chef in the list of Top 10 Chefs in India. Saransh is an acclaimed TV chef, author, entrepreneur and restaurateur. He is the founder of ‘Goila Butter Chicken’, the only brand from India that made it onto the legendary food show MasterChef Australia as Chef Saransh appeared on the show as a guest Judge.

He truly is a GlocalMillenial, who has travelled the world discovering cuisines and cultures through one of his popular digital shows, ‘Run to Eat’. His influence on social media has been a case study for many to be inspired from as he is one of the topmost content creators in the food space.

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Inspiration

“After completing my professional studies, I wanted to try something different. I wanted to be on television in order to teach cooking. After many failed attempts, I secured a spot as a contestant on Madhuri Dixit’s comeback show, Food Food Maha Challenge, which was being hosted by Chef Sanjeev Kapoor. I won the show and eventually got my own show, Roti Rasta Aur India,” says Chef Saransh.

He further adds, “I happened to make the Goila Butter Chicken recipe accidentally. I wanted to create a dish that tasted like butter chicken but didn’t have chicken, for my vegetarian parents. When my friends in Mumbai first ate it with chicken instead of paneer when I moved here, they loved it so much that they started a Twitter hashtag for it. This then became my signature dish, which I started serving through my outlets and pop-ups, and was of course seen on the TV show, MasterChef Australia.”

Signature touch

In Chef Saransh’s opinion, everyone has a distinct palette and as a chef he feels that he is able to understand the complexity of flavour better than an average man, because chefs tend to decipher cooking techniques, recognition of flavours and matching of flavour profiles to get dishes together. He thinks to be able to add a personal identity on dishes one needs to have a clear demarcation of what does he feel about Indian food and what flavours one associates with it.

“I use a lot of nostalgia in my food where I take inspiration from my growing years in Delhi. My dad is a Banya Marwadi and my mom is a Sindhi, so I use a lot of lineage which shows in my food. I do meet a lot of chefs globally whom I take inspiration from. I try to adapt to their techniques and bring it back home. While creating dishes using those techniques, I add my personal touch,” explains Chef Saransh.

Digitally flavourful

“I think it is very difficult to be relevant in the ever-changing culinary scene. It changes every three years in today’s age, and one has to be on top of his game all the time. One has to be running, adapting, learning and constantly evolving with the market. The idea is that you create something new, keep your consumers engaged and interact with them. You also see what the market wants and what excites them. It is very important in today’s day and age to use social media to do research, to see what the trends are and where it’s heading. At the same time, one approach that has really worked for me is that I am very focused and persistent. When I take an idea, I make sure I execute it fully and only then do I move on to the next thing,” shares Chef Saransh.

Additionally Chef Saransh goes on to say, “Technology and food are now blending together because everything now is becoming more automated. You can cook things with more precision and can play with textures and flavors better with the help of technology. Also, the food delivery market has become really exciting. There is ease in ordering food from outside because of technology as it supports quick delivery to people. I believe technology has dissolved boundaries across the globe enabling interaction with a lot of chefs and made sharing of knowledge convenient.”

Evolution

His journey as a chef, columnist and television personality has been extremely challenging, exciting and interesting. In this 8-year journey, Saransh has seen a whole lot of evolution in these three spaces and has also evolved as an individual. He has learnt that one can’t get stuck with his ideas and notions, but rather needs to keep evolving, learning every day and must stay persistent and focused to achieve his goals. “Once you have achieved some form of success, it only gets tougher as it has to be supported with lot of time, effort and physical hard work,” concludes Chef Saransh.