"I represent India IN New York"

CHEF VIKAS KHANNA is a man of many flavours and interests, all of which he pursues with great passion.

-  Primrose Monteiro-D'Souza

As a child, Vikas Khanna used to be a masala chor. He introduces Ceremony Of Aromas with an endearing anecdote about how he was often accused of being a thief of spices - and with good reason. Chef Vikas's life has been a search for spice, and a celebration of it. His 39th book might be an ode to 19 spices, but his fascination with them has sustained through his life as a chef. For him, India is about her spices, and her spices imbue his life. The acclaimed restaurateur - he has been associated with the Michelin-starred Junoon in New York City, Kinara and Ellora in Dubai - is also known for his cookbooks and food-related publications, and for his films, his documentaries, his philanthropy and his stints as a much-loved judge on MasterChef India. The one attribute that stands out to everyone who meets him is his humility. He thinks of himself as just a hardworking chef. "I don't consider myself talented or visionary; I think of myself as hardworking," he avers in this interview. "And I can do an extreme level of hustling to make a project happen!" And one theme runs through all his projects his ambassadorship of our country in everything he does.

Edited excerpts from an interview:

About how Ceremony Of Aromas came to be...

I was researching spices and their flavours in the context of climate change, studying each one's life cycle from the flower, to pollination, to becoming a seed, to growing up into the spice we know. I found each of the spices fascinating, I had amazing images, and I was inspired to celebrate them in a book.

About the unusual format of the book...