'I want to connect culture, people, food in one sentence': Restauranteur and food writer Asma Khan

Asma Khan, the author of Asma’s Indian Kitchen, brings life into a conversation with every word – she sits down and speaks to you as though she has known you forever. One can only imagine being a customer in her restaurant Darjeeling Express in Soho, London, and being immediately embraced by the arms of the warmest host – stories from her restaurant confirm the way she spurs her guests to eat more and eat better! Hearing about her easy intimacy with food, one might think she always had a deep familiarity with the kitchen – but actually the dream of cooking came to her late, after her childhood and early years in Calcutta, after her wedding, after moving to England, and, in many ways, after a PhD in Constitutional Law.

In her conversation with Scroll at the 2024 Jaipur Literature Festival, Asma Khan recalled her childhood and her journey to becoming a restaurateur, elaborated on her ethos of hospitality, and the subtle and thoughtful ways in which she’s built her practice, on the relationship she has to food – and through it – to the world, and offered her thoughts on many food- and industry-related matters. The unflinching verve and conviction in every response cement the image...

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