From Indian Home Cooking to the MasterChef Kitchen: Celebrating My South Asian Heritage

Taking part in MasterChef UK was one of the most exciting and challenging experiences of my life. While the competition pushed me outside my comfort zone, it also gave me an opportunity to celebrate something that has always been at the heart of who I am, my South Asian heritage.

Growing up in India and later building my life in the UK, food has always been far more than nourishment. It has been a way of connecting with family, culture, history and identity. My culinary influences reflect the different places and communities that have shaped me. I am proud of my Maharashtrian heritage, but I was born and brought up in Andhra Pradesh, spent summers of my childhood in Tamil Nadu, and later married my husband, whose family is from Karnataka. As a result, my cooking is a celebration of multiple regional traditions, flavours and food cultures from across South India and Maharashtra.

Some of my earliest memories are of time spent in the kitchen with my mother, watching spices being ground, learning family recipes and helping prepare meals for family gatherings and festivals. Food was central to every celebration and every important milestone. Through these experiences, I learned that every dish tells a story about people, place and community.

Like many people from South Asian backgrounds living in the UK, I have found myself navigating different cultures and identities. Cooking became one of the most meaningful ways of maintaining my connection to my roots while also sharing that heritage with others.

When I stepped into the MasterChef kitchen, I wanted my food to reflect that journey. South Asian cuisine is often viewed through a limited lens, yet it is incredibly diverse, with distinct regional ingredients, techniques and traditions. I was proud to showcase flavours and dishes that reflected the richness and complexity of the food I grew up with.

What made the experience particularly rewarding was the opportunity to introduce people to cuisines and ingredients they may not have encountered before. Food creates conversations, and those conversations often become a gateway to sharing culture, history and personal stories.

The experience also inspired me to continue sharing my heritage beyond the television screen. Since appearing on MasterChef, I have been running Indian vegetarian supper clubs for the last couple of years, creating opportunities for people to experience the depth, variety and sophistication of Indian vegetarian cuisine. Too often,

Indian food is associated with a narrow range of dishes, but vegetarian cooking has been at the heart of many South Asian households for generations. Through my supper clubs, I showcase regional dishes influenced by my Maharashtrian roots and the culinary traditions of Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu and Karnataka, demonstrating how diverse, vibrant and innovative vegetarian cuisine can be.

Participating in MasterChef reinforced the importance of representation. Seeing people from different backgrounds sharing their cultures and experiences helps create a richer picture of modern Britain. South Asian communities have made significant contributions to British society, and food is one of the many ways those contributions continue to bring people together.

Looking back, MasterChef was about much more than cooking. It was an opportunity to honour my family, celebrate the regions and cultures that shaped me, and share a part of my heritage with a wider audience. Every dish I created carried influences from generations before me, blending traditions from different parts of India into a story that reflects my own journey.

For me, South Asian Heritage Month is about recognising and celebrating those stories. Whether through food, language, music, traditions or community, our heritage shapes who we are. Sharing those stories helps preserve them for future generations and builds understanding between cultures. My MasterChef journey and the supper clubs that followed are my way of doing exactly that—one plate at a time.