Chef Talk

The spirituality of food

Raised in a farm region in the southern part of US, Chef Michel Nischan was handpicked by Ratan Tata from the fashionable restaurant Heartbeat of W Hotel, NY to develop the concept of international cuisine based on organic ingredients, at the Taj Land's End, Mumbai. He speaks to Neeti Mehra about the inedible part of food and its spirituality

Chef Michel Nischan Master chef

I have been spiritually curious since my early teens and studied a variety of religions. I realised that there was one thing that was common to all - almost all teachings and metaphors had to deal with food. Our existence as a spiritual being is intimately interconnected to food, water and earth.

The way we interpret it leads us to believe it differently. The stewardship of this great gift, which we have been given, is undeniable, and I believe that when we are thoughtful of how we grow and prepare our food, we become spiritual. Eating food is a direct connection with nature in the physical sense and the way you manage that connection is spiritualism. Then one doesn't want to harm the fish that are swimming in our waterways or destroy the avian population. This feeling creates laughter and joy; human emotions that tie us to our deeper spiritual self. We're destroying these very elements by the way we prepare our food.

On the beginnings…

I am a meat eater, but not a celebratory meat eater. I don't believe in eating a big steak, I actually deplore the idea; I think its over-indulgent and thoughtless. Interestingly, my family, who are farmers, gatherers and hunters, believed if you took an animal, there's no joy. When you take an animal, one should use the whole animal - every part of it. It's a part of the life cycle. Also, our animal supply is managed rather cruelly. It is these breeding systems that create problems like over-population and disease.

There is so much direct connection with spirituality of earth - a shaman takes a catfish for his meal and the first thing he does is lay it on the ground and apologise and thank it for giving him its life. Who are we to be so audacious so as to manage the earth and conduct ourselves in a way that's a tremendous expense to other species? I think for us to act with no concern at all is incredibly irresponsible.

Anybody who is remotely spiritual can easily understand the concept and realise the fact that the way we produce and manage our food can be incredibly destructive. I believe that our life and our intellect are powerful things. We have to find who we are and what our genetic heritage is, and we have to be respectful of it.