Chef
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Jaspreet Singh
Penguin India
247 pages, Rs 450
“He loved good food. Good chutney. He was right-handed but held a chappati in his left; he scooped up the chutney with a torn bit of chappati. If curried lamb was served, he liked gravy more than the pieces. He ate kebabs without a piyaz.”
After 14 years away, Kirpal Singh returns to Kashmir where he once served as a military chef. He reminisces about life in the camp that stood in the shadow of the Siachen Glacier, where his mentor, Chef Kishen, introduced him to the heady spheres of food and women. Chef exults in culinary delights while presenting a portrait of war-scarred Kashmir.
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