In early 2018, renowned chef Sanjeev Kapoor was extended an invitation to prepare a meal for Prime Minister Narendra Modi during his official visit to the United Arab Emirates. He had called it an “absolute honour and privilege to cook” for PM Modi at the invitation of His Highness Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed, the Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi. Chef Kapoor had later shared a series of photographs on Instagram, highlighting the dishes he had curated for the event. More recently, the celebrated chef reminisced about this occasion and revealed some of his observations about PM Modi’s relationship with food.
In an interview with Mashable India, he talked about how he served the Prime Minister a variety of dishes in Abu Dhabi, including vegetarian local staples from the region. The PM tasted the Emirati food and told the chef why he did so. Chef Kapoor recalled, “Sab kuch unhone try kiya… kehte hai ki matlab kisi jagha ka, kisi culture ka pata karna ho toh khana se bahut achha pata chalta hai” (He tried everything because according to him, if one wants to understand a place’s culture, one can do so well through its cuisine).
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He specifically remembered serving ful medames to PM Modi and explaining what it was. In response, the Prime Minister made an interesting comparison. The Chef narrated, “Main unko phool medames ke bare mein bata raha tha ki, ‘Sir, ye na aise hota hai.. iss mein ye thoda kata hua pyaaz, tamatar daal dete hai.’ Toh unhone kaha ki ye toh apna baaji pav hogaya!” (“I was telling him about phool medames… that it has some chopped onions, tomatoes… and he said, ‘So this is like our bhaji pav!’)”
That’s not all. Chef Sanjeev Kapoor also spoke about the balance reflected in PM Modi’s food habits. He noted, “Bohot simplicity hai unke khane mein (His food/diet is quite simple), but at the same time, he has a lot of respect for food.” Furthermore, the chef said that the Prime Minister follows a pure vegetarian diet and likes to eat simple dishes like khichdi, parathas, thepla, etc. Chef Kapoor added, “He isn’t fussy at all. He is very easygoing and believes in simplicity.”
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Before this, in a conversation with Nikhil Kamath on the latter’s podcast, Prime Minister Narendra Modi had shared insights about his food habits. He revealed, “I am not a foodie at all. Whatever is served to me in any country, I eat happily.” He also admitted that he struggles to order food in restaurants: “It is my misfortune that if you hand me a menu, I can’t choose what to eat. I don’t understand much about it.” Click here to read more.
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