14 l ENTREPRENEUR l JULY 2019
TRENDS & UPDATES
HAPPENINGSJiggs Kalra, Tastemaker
Par Excellence
ODE TO THE ENTREPRENEURJ
iggs Kalra
rightfully called
the “Tastemaker
of the Nation”
started his career
as a journalist with
The Illustrated Weekly of
India under the supervision
of stalwart Indian writer
Khushwant Singh, who gave
him this title. Little did he
know that in 1972 he will
write a restaurant column for
the Evening News, Mumbai,
the first of its kind in India.
After that there was no
looking back for Jaspal Inder
Singh Kalra. Jiggs Kalra has
worked as a food critic, author,
food consultant, food manager
and a restauranteur.
The column by Kalra in The
Illustrated Weekly became
hugely popular and was
followed by similar columns
like Platter Chatter and The
Weekend Review.
It was his deep love and
wide knowledge of the Indian
cuisines, culinary history,
tradition and practices that
made him a connoisseur.
The gastronomic aficionado
in Kalra discovered the long
lost culinary delicacies from
the kitchens of the erstwhile
Indian royals like the galouti
kabab, kakore kabab and
purdah biryani and brought
them to the mainstream.
He has authored 11 books
on Indian cuisines of which
Prashad (1986) is considered
a magnum opus and is taught
in culinary schools in India.
Kalra single-handedly
brought a huge cultural shift
in the way Indian food and
chefs were treated and looked
at. India’s first culinary show
Dawat (1990), which was
aired on Doordarshan, was
conceptualized and hosted byKalra.
Kalra collaborated with the
ITC Maurya Hotel in Delhi
in late 1980s to set up their
famous restaurant called Dum
Pukht. Kalra, while setting up
this restaurant, insisted on
having pictures of the head
chef, Imtiaz Qureshi on the
ads. This started the whole
culture of giving the status
of ‘artist’ and ‘star’ to the till
now neglected and unseen
‘cooks.’
Jiggy Kalra was also the
first Asian to be inductedin the illustrious society
of International Food and
Beverage Gourmet Hall of
Fame, placing Indian cuisine
on the global platform. Kalra
has served Indian cuisine to
international personalities
like late Princess Diana,
Prince Charles, Bill Clinton
and Pervez Mussharaf, among
others. In 1997, the Indian
government had appointed
him as an adviser to the India
Trade Promotion Organization.
Kalra has also brought
innovation to the traditional
Indian cuisines, leading to
a constant evolvement and
neoteric treatment to the
food culture in the region.
One of the many such fusions
introduced by Kalra is the
popular tandoori salmon tikka.
Kalra was also a mentor and
culinary director of Massive
Restaurants - a chain of award
winning concept restaurants
like Masala Library by Jiggs
Kalra, Made in Punjab and
Farzi Café, among others. His
restaurants are available in
Delhi, Mumbai and Dubai.
Kalra, in an interview once
said, “This is what I was made
for and it was the Lord’s will;
I’m only executing it.”IT’S PERSONAL Jeff Bezos, Chief
Executive Officer
of Amazon, shares
his father, Mike
Bezos’ journey on
living the ‘American
dream’ inspite of the
challenges he faced
in his early life.
In 1962, Mike Bezos was
just 16 years old when he
boarded a flight in Cubafor Miami, US, speaking
only Spanish and
knowing little English.
He only brought three
shirts, three pants, three
underwear and a pair of
shoes to US.
Jeff Bezos says, “I
have a hard time even
imagining that, but his
parents sent him here
because under Fidel
Castro, they felt likethey had to, to protect
him,” His mom imagined
America must be super
cold, so she made him
something special for
his journey. It was a
hand-stitched coat that
her mother created from
cleaning rags,” Mike
came wearing that coat
to US and he still has
kept it safe.
Jeff Bezzos celebratedhis father’s journey on
May 16 at opening of
the Statue of Liberty’s
new museum in New
York City. Mike Bezos,
who raised the future
Amazon founder, is not
the biological father of
Jeff Bezos. “I had lived
the American Dream
30 years ago, it is really
just out of this world,”
remembers Mike Bezos.GLIMPSE