As a political science graduate from Delhi University, this twenty-six-year old chef from Iqbalabad from south Kashmir’s district Anantnag broke stereotypes and won hearts Mexico to mainland.
In order to discover his interest in culinary arts during his college days, Abrar Wani, is now establishing himself with prominent international brands to change story on the table. He is pursuing a career that few young boys in Kashmir dream about, and fewer actually pursue. He is a professional chef, with formal education and training in culinary arts, and has worked extensively in leading restaurants and hotels internationally.
Wani has graduated with a diploma in International Mexican cuisine from Corbuse Mexico and later joined Academy of Pastry and Culinary Arts Bangalore.
“During my college days, when I would cook quite often for my friends and acquaintances. I was encouraged by a lot of people to take it as a fulltime profession. As I started exploring different cuisines and learnt about different spices and ingredients, I was amazed by the diversity of the culinary world. This is when I began to think of a possible career in gastronomical studies and practices.
“The stereotypes that our society has attached with this profession makes it undesired to a lot of people. But I, with the constant reassurance from my well-wishers, chose to move beyond such strictures. In this regard, it has been a blessing to get ample support from my family who have been a great source of encouragement for a profession that remains highly unconventional at the best.”
Wani says he is still learning his ways into this profession and in less span of time I have felt that it is his responsibility to make my people back home aware about this profession. “My experience in working with the different ingredients, food cultures, diversities and the native authentic cuisines have absolutely been a delightful experience so far,” he says. “In my opinion, a skilled and talented chef can add a lot new to the existing culinary practises. A chef is not someone who can cook but the one who has a good understanding about what he is cooking and has a good knowledge of the ingredients he is using, good hygiene standards, passionate about work, and above all the presentation—which remains pivotal to the profession.’
Wani says that he feels blessed to be a part of this industry and at the same time I believe there is a lot which is still unexplored.
“Our culture is very unique in many ways, especially our famous Kashmiri Wazwan. Since I have had the experience of the best world cuisines and not to sound biased, I think Kashmiri Wazwan is my most favourite among all. It is because of the richness of Kashmiri spices which adds flavour to it.” “Although, it is very disheartening to see that our own cuisine is losing its hold and popularity because the process of cooking wazwan is left solely at the behest of traditional cooks called Waaza, with barely any interventions being made by the young and trained chefs who could learn the practise and help it sustain and thrive at a global level.” He hopes all those people who want to get into this profession follow it passionately by overcoming any obstruction in their way.
