Chef Asma Khan happened to be in Cambridge during the Bosnian War in the early ’90s. The students at the university didn’t have enough cooks amongst the volunteers at the relief operations and Asma helped equip an ambulance with samosas for the evacuated survivors of the Siege of Srebrenica. Asma, who hadn’t yet dreamt that she was going to be a chef one day, started offering samosas on the streets as well. A Middle-Eastern man handed her a 50-pound note for one samosa, saying, “There is something magical about you and your food. May Allah bless your hands. I think you will go far.”
Asma, who hadn’t yet seen a note of such a large denomination before, assumed it was Monopoly money but let it go because the man seemed delighted with her food. She realised later that it was indeed real money and was struck by how her food had triggered such deep emotion in an individual. That was the turning point for her. She couldn’t sleep that night, knowing that one day she was going to do something with food. But until then, she had a law degree to complete…
‘Life is a mind game; you can switch it on to a different level. Things keep changing. You will never be in the same place,’ Asma said
Asma Khan narrated this story for the first time in public, to the enthralled staff at Sienna Café, Hindustan Park, on April 14. “I thought to myself, what’s the worst that can happen, I can only fail…” she told her young audience. It was an inspiring morning at Sienna that day, as eager chefs, restaurateurs, and hospitality professionals gathered around to be able to steep themselves in some culinary life lessons. What they learnt was that Asma Khan was also deemed a failure once. She used to sit in the kitchen all day, waiting to receive a single order. And then one review changed her life, overnight. “If I had left the kitchen after selling no food for four consecutive days, my story would have been different. I wanted it so much, I would look longingly at kitchens in restaurants I visited. If you’re in darkness, know that eventually you will come up into the light and then grow to be a shade for other people,” said Asma.
Asma Khan autographs recipe cards for her fans at Sienna Cafe. ‘I wanted to change other people’s lives. The restaurant was a battlefield. I would not have been able to push myself so hard for only myself. There were nights I cried, there were nights things went so wrong…’ said the chef, who wanted her audience to know about the struggles which foreshadowed her success
Amongst those in attendance at Sienna Café that morning, were some of the adolescent beneficiaries of Responsible Charity. “They walked away incredibly impressed and inspired. It was important that they saw an empowered immigrant Muslim woman succeeding widely in the world,” said Hemley Gonzalez, founder of this Kolkata-based NGO.
‘It was important for them, especially the girls, to understand that the kitchen business can be a dignified, recognised and lucrative career,’ said Hemley Gonzalez of Responsible Charity. (L-R) Firdus Ali, Ayesha Parveen, Asma Khan, Hemley Gonzalez, Amri Khatoon, Sk Karim
What inspires Asma Khan?
Turns out, definitely not competitive cooking reality shows or Punjabi food. Asma is inspired by Bengal. “Kolkata is the food capital of India. There are layers to the food here, and even a Hollywood star like Paul Rudd came back three times to eat Kolkata food!” exclaimed Asma who thinks the indigenous produce in Bengal is exceptional. It is a thought which strikes a chord in Sienna, where the ethos is all about fresh, local and sustainable.
The street vendors are also one of her greatest inspirations, because their entire kitchen is consolidated into one cart and they walk for miles with a stool under their arm, wares on their head, in order to make a living. “They know their food has to be so good that you will seek them out at a particular spot next time, and that it also has to be hygienic so you won’t fall sick!” said the chef-proprietor of the restaurant Darjeeling Express, in London.
Who else is she inspired by? Mothers and grandmothers in India. “They’re the real rockstars. Learn those recipes,” she insists, proceeding to remind us that while women have traditionally had the kitchen experience, the restaurant business has been spearheaded by men.
'Ten years ago, the hospitality industry was like an exclusive all boys’ club. I wasn’t getting a lease and no one would have left their jobs to work with me. I was a coloured woman who was outside the system,' said Asma Khan.
For Team Sienna, Asma Khan has been an inspirational force to be reckoned with. “I don’t think we can find anyone more like-minded than Chef Asma Khan and whose work we can aspire to at every level, in every aspect of our business, down to how we present our food. Everything she does resonates heart and soul, and I wanted my team to experience some of that. The determination and command in her voice, the empathy and kindness of her conduct, her unabashed wit… that energy is infectious,” said Chef Auroni Mookerjee of Sienna Café.
‘You don’t have to be like everybody or run the race everyone is running. You’re in your own race and it's not a competition against anyone else. The Rabindrasangeet, ‘Ekla Cholo Re’ resonates with me for this reason,’ said Asma Khan to Team Sienna at Hindustan Park