“Some say you are what you eat but in India, our food is who we are,” says Amitabh Bachchan in the opening episode of a recent documentary “The Journey of India.” Without any doubt, our sweetest memories right from our mother’s cooking to plucking fruit from a neighbour’s garden or maybe a stranger sharing snacks on the train, are of food. India and its rich food just cannot be separated from each other. India is like a melting pot that is always full, indeed.
“India has embraced cultures through their cuisines,” believes Michelin-starred chef Vikas Khanna who hosted the first episode of “The Journey of India” on Discovery and Discovery’s network of channels in India. The very first episode of this documentary i.e. “The Land of Flavours” is hosted by chef Vikas who talks about the nuances of Indian food while talking about its impact on the cuisine on every corner of the globe. Talking about the diversity of Indian food in the documentary, Khanna says that his mother tongue is the language of Indian cuisine. The chef strongly believes that people barely know a part of Indian food as “whenever they travel, they explore new things and new favourites.”
In the latest documentary, chef Khanna talks about ingredients, diversification, travels, and rituals with an aim of bringing together different aspects of Indian food and the history associated with it. What stands out about Indian food is that it is “full of paradoxes,” he said. He started with the Udupi cuisine which has its roots in the temple of bhojnalayas. He portrays how beautifully these outlets make you feel satisfied. He talked about the true power of Indian spices and how they vary from one region to another. Khanna believes that food is the “form of art” that has the power to bring people together which is true. The chef takes the audience to several gastronomic destinations in India and shows what Indian cuisine actually is. The first episode features chef Thomas, chef Alex Sanchez, chef Sanjeev Kapoor, chef Manish Mehrotra and others. Watch the trailer here.
Let us tell you that “The Journey of India” is a six-part series that talks about the theme of India's development as a nation over the 75 years of its independence. The documentary covers themes like food, religion, filmmaking, and conservation while featuring many celebrities.