Will travel for food

The chef sounds puzzled. “Is there any other reason to travel but food,” asks Gary Mehigan, one of the judges on MasterChef Australia , the hugely popular television reality cooking challenge show.

Mehigan (51) is in India for a multicultural festival organised by the Australian High Commission. Food, naturally, is an essential part of it. The chef is a festival ambassador, along with author John Zubrzycki and musician Raghav Sachar.

Mehigan first came to India in 2012 for the Australian fest with fellow

MasterChef judge George Calombaris. He was here last November, too, as part of Masters of Taste on Fox Life. Ever since, he has been obsessed with his “food discovery” — the green chickpea or hara chana .

“We grow a lot of them, especially in South Australia, but they’re always available in a dried form. No one knows that it can be had fresh! I met [Mumbai chef] Thomas Zacharias on the sets of the TV show. He suggested that I make hummus out of it, and I did. A lot of Israelis and others who make hummus all the time were taken aback when I posted about it online,” he tells BL

ink .

Another ingredient that has wowed the chef is the curry leaf. After his first visit to India, he took back home a plant, which now grows in his garden. “I love south Indian flavours, particularly because I love coconut cream, lemon-lime and curry leaf,” says the chef, who runs The Boathouse restaurant in Melbourne.

Mehigan believes that people are now becoming aware of the nuances of food from India. “In Australia, I feel, many are beginning to understand Indian food, with people originally from India living there… I think the world is slowly awakening to the idea of the diversity in Indian food,” he adds.

Migration is an important element in culinary changes, and Mehigan’s favourite pastime is to trace the evolution of recipes across the world. He mentions the work of Indian chef Atul Kochhar, who has been studying food from different countries and regions — such as Malaysia, the Caribbean, Tanzania, UK and South Africa — where Indians have migrated to across the ages.

“Food is a unifier across borders. As one reads more about the politics and origin of Indian cuisine, one can map the great waves of migration into the country. I want to remind people who are very traditional and don’t want recipes to change that recipes have always evolved. You have to tell them — actually these (dishes) aren’t Indian; they have, say, Persian roots. It wasn’t till last year that I discovered the biryani’s Persian connection, as it was brought by the Parsis. Originally, it didn’t have rice in it. It was just raan and bread.”

Ask him where he likes to travel the most for food, and pat comes the answer: France. Also on the list are Vietnam and India. “I’m a lover of bread, whether it is born out of a sourdough starter and is crusty, like French bread, or fermented rice batter like dosa or idli or appam. One of my favourite breakfasts during this visit was kulcha with chhole ,” he says.

The South of France is among his favourite spots: “Luberon is beautiful, with its sultry summers, and Provence is special”. He enjoys travelling to Italy, too.

“I love Lucca in Tuscany, where you can get wild mushrooms and wild boar. Autumn is the harvesting season for grapes, which are delicious. San Gimignano, Volterra and Florence are absolutely gorgeous. At the end of summer, Tuscany is known for its tomatoes and persimmons,” he gushes.

The Australian chef says his three go-to cuisines are Indian, Vietnamese and French. “I love how much crunch Vietnamese cuisine has, and everything is just so fresh and healthy. Banh Xeo, a yellow turmeric crepe with mung bean, pork, shrimp and lots of herbs, is a favourite,” he says.

He loves Mumbai — for its “exciting chefs” as well as “great food”. He mentions in particular samosa chat, bhel puri, pani puri, Goan sausages and desserts such as jalebi , malpua , laddoo and ras malai.

What then is India’s death dish? On the MasterChef show, it is the risotto that has stumped — and eliminated — many a good cook. “Is it the butter chicken? I don’t know. Everyone has their own ideas on what it is,” he replies.

Indians, he maintains, are the most argumentative when it comes to politics and food. “If I post a photo of a lachha paratha [layered bread] on Instagram, there will be someone who has to say: It’s not called this where I come from, but something else.”

Like all food lovers, Mehigan has to put in extra effort to stay fit. “I have been boxing for years now. I box twice a week,” he says. He exercises four hours every day. And that keeps him going — places, that is.