Starring: India's best chefs

PR or influencer hype can't compete with excellence on the plate. Food Superstars's list of India's top 60 chefs proves that culinary genius speaks for itself

- VIR SANGHVI

It's probably an exaggeration to say that chefs are now national celebrities but it is fair to say that they attract more attention than ever before.

Every time I participate in the Food Superstars's rankings announcement function I am reminded of how much public interest there now is in chefs, though not necessarily the right ones.

The Food Superstars list ranks India's Top 60 Chefs (from this year; it was 30 before) and the announcement is made at a ceremony held in different locations. (It was Kolkata this year.)

I am Chairman of the organisation that compiles the list but it does not necessarily reflect my own preferences: There is a process that involves votes from food writers and commentators from all over India and a jury whose identities are kept secret.

Over the years though, I have found that I rarely disagree with the list in general and even rankings that seem a little surprising at first tend to be prophetic.

This is important for the list's credibility because these days you can buy most restaurant and food awards and some awards refuse to even consider you unless you first pay a large entry fee. Also, there is a lot of manufactured hype surrounding restaurants and large sums of money are spent on social media campaigns. There is an unwillingness among large mainstream publications to even acknowledge a restaurant or a chef in editorial columns without being paid for it.

The Hindustan Times has long been the honourable exception letting me write what I like without allowing commercial considerations to intrude, in both the main paper and the website. When people have threatened to withdraw advertising the HT has refused to bend and in the era when it organised the Crystal food awards and published a food guide the HT always maintained its credibility.