Exclusive Interview: "Many Prominent Chefs Steal Content", Says Chef Varun Inamdar

International Top Chef Varun Inamdar, 35, has started his career 18 years back. His web show Varun's Getaway with Rajshri Entertainment is one of the Top 3 in the world and has been rated "The Best Food Show 2018" on the Internet. His pav bhaji recipe has been watched over 15 million times.

Varun Inamdar is top three chef in the world after Jamie Oliver and Gordon Ramsay. He has served US President Barack Obama, Russian Prime Minister Vladmir Putin, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi to name a few.

But it was not an easy task for Varun Inamdar to grow in the food industry, he worked as a dishwasher in a restaurant during his struggling days and today owns a hospitality company.

Now he plans to start his own channel which will go by the name Indian Food Central. In an interview with STARBIZ correspondent Imran Fazal, Varun Inamdar spoke in detail about the cooking industry and its reach to the digital audience.

Your live cooking show was much appreciated by the audience. Your take on it. 

I have done live food show for 45 days on YouTube. I am the only chef who has done this kind of activity. I used to teach my audience every 5 pm in the evening and it was a live cooking show. I gave them details of ingredients a day before and we used to be live every day during the festive season.

This went on till next 45 days and we got a huge response. This initiative was started by Big Bazar and more than 50,000 viewers participated on YouTube while others sat inside the store premises to learn cooking.

It becomes really very difficult to handle the chat section at that time. It becomes difficult to answer questions from the audience about the method of cooking then. It was a very difficult challenge as live cooking is a serious business.

We have witnessed that the audience is hungry for content and people are moving towards digital platforms. What do you think about it?

I believe that we should provide content which the audience wants. Good quality content should be given instead of showing videos of recipes which are difficult.

I have always worked towards this approach. I have given recipes which can be made easily at home rather than wasting their time in local and supermarkets.

For our channel, we will be having different chefs who will indulge in live cooking and teaching methods. I hope the audience will support me throughout the way they have done earlier.

How will you explain your online fan base? Do they communicate with you on social media platforms? 

Today I am glad to inform that unlike earlier only female audience was glued to recipes but today youth and especially male audience are prominently indulging into cooking. I receive fan mails across the globe which includes my male audience. This means that today the idea of cooking is related to female has been abolished. Today, male audience is also cooking their meals and are learning household chores.

Many YouTube channels have come up which showcases food recipe content. Any advice to them? 

Be true to your profession and do not try to be fake. Do not be bookish while cooking and instead learn wisely. Various things across the internet are wrong and going by the content available on the internet will not help the person who wants to enter into this industry. In my opinion, people should learn from the right people instead of going through the content available online. I have seen many prominent chefs indulging into stealing recipes and then they recreate the same recipe which is very wrong.

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