Time Magazine's 2024 list of the 100 most influential people in the world has been revealed and includes Indians and people of Indian descent. Among them is the famous Indian-born British chef Asma Khan, known for her restaurant Darjeeling Express in London's Soho district.
Ms. Khan specializes in Bengali and Indian Rajput cuisine and has received widespread recognition for her delicious food and innovative approach to cooking.
Who is Asma Khan?
- Asma Khan belongs to the royal family. The chef's father is a Muslim Rajput, descended from a warrior tribe, and her mother is a Muslim Bengali.
- In 2017, she opened up about her upbringing in a short documentary produced with the BBC. “A firstborn girl is sad; a second girl is a disaster. “I don't think there was much joy when I was born because I was a second daughter,” she said. Ready for arranged marriages, Ms Khan broke norms by playing cricket on the streets of Kolkata and organizing pick-up games with slum children.
- Ms Khan married and moved to London in 1991. She couldn't cook and couldn't even boil an egg. She later learned to cook in Britain and honed her cooking skills in her family's kitchen during her travels to India.
- She was the first woman in her family to attend college. She obtained a law degree and later completed a doctorate in British constitutional law at King's College London.
- Asma Khan's restaurant, Darjeeling Express, is an all-women's kitchen. She made history as the first British chef to be featured on Netflix's Chef's Table and used her platform to advocate for racial equality and women's representation in kitchens. She was also a guest on Top Chef.