PEAKLIFE

It has been a tough, yet rewarding ride for celeb chef Rakhee Vaswani as she steers her baby, India’s first, international cooking school Palate Culinary Studio & Academy, to flavorful heights

Culinary wizardry comes naturally to Rakhee Vaswani. A celeb chef (of cook show Rewind with Rakhee fame on Living Foodz), an author (Picky Eaters), entrepreneur and teacher (owns Palate Culinary Studio & Academy), gourmet gospel consultant and passionate foodie: Rakhee has been an insurmountable force in the kitchen.

“It has been a tough, challenging ride,” she smiles with candor, doffing her chef’s cap in her Bandra based culinary studio. The Confederation of Tourism & Hospitality has made Palate Culinary Studio the first centre in India to provide a UK-Certified Culinary Diploma Course. Another laurel for the home-grown chef is being certified by Le Cordon Bleu and Gordon Ramsay’s Tante Marie in London. The lip-curling fragrance of her iconic chocolate brownies wafts in, melting resolves with amazing ease. She has devised a menu of 99 classes, spanning a delicious spin in Indian, Lebanese, Japanese Chinese, Mexican…cuisines, in SugarCraft and more. “The ride has been a rewarding one though, as I have invested my blood and sweat to expand from a small scale garage to a state-of-the-art culinary academy.”

Her pivotal challenge came when she resumed work after a break. “It was a 10-year gap, as the guilt pangs of a working mom were beginning to kill me, honestly. Even though Aneeshaa and Akhil were with nani and dadi, I felt they needed me around; to drop off and pick up from birthday parties, spend time with them…After conducting my classes, I had no energy left. So my kids were getting neglected. I slowed down and then as they grew older, I began to build my career again,” shares Rakhee, attributing her success to steady family support and a strong team at work.

Prod her to share a pearl of wisdom and she retorts instantly “If you have a dream, pursue it, work towards it to make it happen. Consistency is the key. Trust me, everything is possible.”

(As told to Shilpi Madan)