Culinary Guru Hardeep Singh Kohli

Comedian, broadcaster and food-enthusiast Hardeep Singh Kohli talks to The London Word about his love for the capital, the unifying power of cooking and the inspiration behind his new book idea: A Month of Sundays.

Kohli never wanted to leave his native city of Glasgow, having grown up and studied there. But after begrudgingly moving to pursue a career in TV he completely fell for The Big Smoke.

To become properly acquainted with London it takes around seven years, he says. ‘If you can create your own personal A-Z of the city in that time, in terms of culture, friends, food and allsorts, if you can create that in your head, there is no finer place to live. It knocks spots off Manhattan, for example.

‘I live in Hackney and from there I can show you some of Africa, the Caribbean, Turkey, Vietnam, China – and that’s 20 yards from my front door, if I go a little bit further I can show you the Hasidic Jewish community. It’s all here. There’s both antiquity and modernity in this city in equal balance.

‘English is the lingua franca of the world – and so the world comes to London.  It’s an amazing city.’

Kohli is something of a food aficionado having reached the final of Celebrity Masterchef, authored travelogue and cookery book: Indian Takeaway, as well as writing for The Observer Food Monthly. His latest book idea: A Month of Sundays, will see him travel the country cooking meals for people.

‘There’s something about the food that you cook and eat on a Sunday that’s different from every other day of the week. Because it’s a Sunday you have more time with your family and friends.

‘We are working more irregular hours, I work two Sundays a month because I’m self-employed and have to go where jobs are. But I want to recapture that Sunday [feeling], which can be any day of the week.’

Kohli strongly disagrees that as a nation we have an unsophisticated attitude toward food, despite the low esteem in which our culinary abilities are sometimes held abroad. ‘We have a much better practice of food as a nation than our reputation suggest.  That’s something which has changed over the last 15 years – there’s definitely been a restaurant revolution. When I first moved to London there were a lot dodgy restaurants, now there are much fewer.

‘I was in Peckham last week enjoying a South Indian restaurant, 20 years ago all food was just ‘Indian’ – there was no distinction. Now there’s Punjabi, South Indian and Bangladeshi. There’s all this finessing of the offering. And you know what: I don’t give a fuck what any other country says about our food.  We live here, we know it’s great.’

Does he think there’s sometimes an inverse snobbery about food? ‘No. Food can’t afford to be the domain of the middle class. Look at people like Jamie, and Angela Hartnett – she’s not a posh lass, she grew up above a chip shop. Gordon Ramsay wasn’t posh.

‘The minute I start having a conversation with you about food, your class, ethnicity, gender, none of it matters. Because actually what brings us together and gives us an intensity is food.’

Hardeep Singh Kohli is currently fundraising for A Month of Sundays through publishing company Unbound, which allows authors to pitch directly to the public for backing.