When we met Sanjeev Kapoor at Akshaya Patra’s headquarters in Bengaluru, he had just finished a meeting with the advisory board, which he chairs. The setting felt fitting. While the chef remains one of India’s most recognisable culinary figures, his interests today stretch far beyond the kitchen, often intersecting with conversations around sustainability, food systems, education and social impact. Over the course of our conversation, it became clear that curiosity continues to be one of his defining traits. thoughtful, candid and often unexpectedly philosophical — he offers a glimpse into the ideas that continue to shape his work today.
You’ve already become a reference point for so many people. Do you ever feel trapped by your own legacy or are you still trying to explore new sides of yourself?
It’s important to keep working with all sincerity. when you are trying to do that, it’s a natural process of life. Evolution is something that happens constantly. even if we make no effort, we are evolving. with a little effort, you evolve more. I try to put in that effort. I wake up every day excited because there’s so much to do and so much to learn. Each day brings something new. You have your daily goals, your monthly goals, your quarterly goals and your yearly goals. There is always something to work towards.
Your recipes once shaped how India tasted. Today, algorithms shape what India watches and AI can generate customised recipes based on whatever is left in your fridge. What are your views on these modern ways of cooking and how are they shaping cooking habits today?
This is bound to happen. It may seem new for some time, but it has always been the case that cooking and recipe creation are games of permutation and combination. Depending on how many variables there are and as new ingredients come in, new recipes and new ways of cooking emerge. whether you are doing it or a machine is doing it, the scope for experimentation continues to expand. When the internet came in, more opportunities and combinations became possible. At the same time, all these options can confuse people. They might say, ‘There are 10,000 ways of making butter chicken. Which one is right?’ everyone eventually finds what excites them, what they enjoy and what they are comfortable with. everything can coexist.
If you had not become a chef, what do you think you would have been?
I don’t really work with a Plan B. I’m not the kind of person who thinks, ‘if this doesn’t happen, then I’ll do that.’ my question is always: why won’t it happen? If I’m thinking about it, then it will happen. I’m a strong-headed person. I make things happen. that said, when I was young, I didn’t know I would become a chef. I didn’t even know what a chef was. In our vocabulary at that time, there wasn’t really an awareness that this was a profession. So, if I had chosen another path, I probably would have been an architect. I love creation.
We often speak about balance and avoiding restrictions. Yet today people are highly aware of nutrition, protein intake and ingredients they want to avoid, such as sugar or maida. Do you think all this knowledge has taken away some of the joy of eating?
People who are aware often start enjoying something else. If you live a life of deprivation, then you’re going to be unhappy. But life doesn’t work like that. when you take something out, something else comes in. A vacuum is not created. there are more possibilities, not fewer. If one path closes, there are a hundred others available. You can either focus on the place you couldn’t go or appreciate the many places you can. It’s a mindset. People who make conscious choices are usually evolved enough to understand that.
Lastly, what are you currently working on? What’s next for you?
I wake up every day excited about life. Today, for example, we were discussing Akshaya Patra and how an organisation that feeds 2.6 million children every day can reach 10 million. On the content side, I think about how we can create more meaningful work. In 2016, when I started working with millets, very few people knew about them outside certain regions. today, awareness is widespread. These are the kinds of things I think about. I make small efforts wherever I can and use whatever influence I have to drive change.
For more updates, join/follow our WhatsApp, Telegram and YouTube channels.