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He has been recognised by his peers. National and international awards, accolades and recognitions have come to him in plenty. He is Chef Y B Mathur.
Popularly known across the nation’s hospitality industry by the first initials of his name ‘YB’, Chef Mathur was in Trivandrum recently and Yentha.com had an opportunity to meet the man and interview him.
During his illustrious career, Chef Mathur has been named Executive Chef of the Year, Golden Hat Chef of the Year and has won an award for Best Sea food cuisine, a gold medal for his Garde Manger displays and a silver medal for his Nouvelle cuisine.
Mathur has been chef to former Prime Ministers Rajiv Gandhi and Indira Gandhi and fondly recollects that Mrs. Gandhi was particularly fond of the Strawberry Cheese cake that he used to make especially for her.
Being recognised as one of the Ten Best Indian Chefs by Jet Airways in the Tenth Anniversary Special issue of their magazine Jet Wings, Chef Mathur who retired from the services of ITC Hotels as Senior Executive Chef, runs his own culinary consultancy and tourism advisory services, and has many high ranking clients.
Chef Mathur started his career in the hotel industry as a Kitchen Management Trainee in 1972 with ITDC, after graduation from IHM Pusa.
"In the early seventies, the Kovalam beach resort was the only hotel of importance at the beach end of Trivandrum. It was tough to get the ingredients for the dishes we prepared and very often, I had to go to Trivandrum city and beyond to source supplies. We bought vegetables and fruits from the Chalai market in Trivandrum, meat from Meat Products of India factory at Koothattukulam, (which is 50 kms from Kochi city) and fish and crabs from Neendakara," says Chef Mathur who was responsible for actualising the food production department of Kovalam Beach Resort.
“It was often impossible to buy fish from the fishermen at the Kovalam beach,” he says, and adds that he would yearn for the fish the fishermen pulled in early in the morning on the beach, but they would not sell." Back then, tourism in Kerala had not found its niche in positioning and vigour. “Kerala was as beautiful as it is now,”says Chef Mathur who had spent over two years in Kerala then.
According to him, Kerala’s cuisine is multi-dimensional, exhibiting itself as Moplah, Syrian Christian, Vegetarian or Seafood cuisines. He ranks the cuisines of Kerala as the best in the Indian sub-continent. He says “Kerala is truly God’s Own Country, and the cuisine of Kerala is truly ‘Swarga Bhojanam’ – heavenly cuisine.”
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About being a chef, Y B Mathur states that he was ‘fated to be a chef’.
He started his adventure in cuisine at the age of four and a half
years. His maternal grandfather was a very renowned chef in his own
right. “First of all being a chef involves a lot of hard work, just like
it is for an artist to bring out a new creation. But the artist will
never know the strain or the time elapsed in a particular creation due
to his total involvement. A chef is in a similar position. Being a
chef is not just about preparing food, decoration and presentation of a
menu item. It requires total understanding of the economics of food
production in addition.”
As someone who spent part of his early career in Trivandrum over three
decades ago, Chef Mathur holds mixed views about the latest ‘fast food’
culture which has become the current trend among the city’s food loving
population.
“Fast food culture is essentially a good culture going by the progress
the city has made. But it could be good only if proper care is given to
hygiene and HACCP standards, quality of food and skills training of
cooks. There should be a body to control and audit the quality of food,
food ingredients, personal hygiene of the staff and the general hygiene
of the place. As long as the right focus is placed on safeguarding the
health of customers, fast food or quick service culture is the right
direction to move forward to.”
To a query if he has any regrets in his life or career, the response
from Chef Mathur was: “I have done exceedingly well in terms of my
professional career and am very well-settled financially. However the
tough life of a chef has taken a toll on my family life. I was never
able to balance family and work, and it was always work which took
precedence over family. I am not happy about it – in fact, I shall
regret my ‘workaholic’ status for all my life. Much as I wanted to – I
did not seen my daughter grow up. That is perhaps my only regret in
life.”
At the end of the interview, the final question to Chef Mathur was:
“What do you attribute your professional success to?” To which Chef
Mathur responded with a smile, “To military discipline in my life and
career and the zeal to do a service to the country. That pushes me to
continue being creative and also to serve Generation Next. I don’t
remember ever being ‘lazy’ in my life. I am never late for
appointments. I keep physically fit.”
Yentha.com requested Chef Mathur to start a cuisine section for the
Yentha website, and provide interesting recipes often, to which he
agreed whole heartedly.
So look forward to more from Chef Y B Mathur on this website.
Chef Mathur’s website: www.culinarybusinessconsultants.com
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