Sanjeev Kapoor is an Indian celebrity chef, television presenter, and entrepreneur. He began his career in the hospitality industry in 1984 after completing the Diploma in Hotel Management from the Institute of Hotel Management Catering & Nutrition, Pusa, New Delhi. Kapoor is married to Alyona Kapoor, who is also a part of his business, Turmeric Vision Pvt. Ltd. (TVPL).
Chettinadu cuisine (Setti Nadu in tamil) is the cuisine of a community called the Nattukotai Chettiars, or Nagarathars, from the Chettinad region in Sivaganga district of Tamil Nadu state in India. Chettinad cuisine is perhaps the most renowned fare in the Tamil Nadu repertoire. It uses a variety of spices and the dishes are made with fresh ground masalas. Chettiars also use a variety of sun-dried meats and salted vegetables, reflecting the dry environment of the region. Most of the dishes are eaten with rice and rice based accompaniments such as dosas, appams, idiyappams, adais and idlis. The Chettiars, through their mercantile contacts with Burma, learnt to prepare a type of rice pudding made with sticky red rice. The chefs of manapatti village near Singampunari are experts in cooking Chettinad cuisine. They always used to cook in bulk orders for marriage functions, political functions, etc. though manapatti cooking is portrayed as madurai cuisine because it is located near to madurai district, it comes under chettinad cuisine only and it also comes under the chettinad region of sivagangai district. The entire village people is famous in the art of cooking.
Sanjay Thumma popularly known as Vah-Chef, is an Indian celebrity chef, entrepreneur, restaurateur and television personality. He is the founder of the cooking website, vahrehvah.com. He is especially popular among the Indie-expatriate communities in mainland India. He became known for his online recipe channel on YouTube, which he started in 2007, with over 750 million views. He is one of the three judges in the first season of MasterChef India – Telugu.
Tarla Dalal was an Indian food writer, chef, cookbook author and host of cooking shows. Her first cook book, The Pleasures of Vegetarian Cooking, was published in 1974. Since then, she wrote over 100 books and sold more than 10 million copies. She also ran the largest Indian food web site, and published a bi-monthly magazine, Cooking & More. Her cooking shows included The Tarla Dalal Show and Cook It Up With Tarla Dalal. Her recipes were published in about 25 magazines and tried in an estimated 120 million Indian homes.
Manjunath Mural is the executive chef of The Song of India restaurant in Singapore and has won several awards as a chef and for The Song of India. Mural's specialty is modern Indian cuisine.
Hugh Acheson is a Canadian-born chef and restaurateur. He has owned four restaurants in Georgia, and serves as a judge on the reality cooking competition show Top Chef, and as an Iron Chef on Iron Chef Canada.
Manish Mehrotra is one of the India's highly esteemed chef, widely recognized as one of the most dynamic figures in modern Indian cuisine globally. Serving as the Culinary Director of Indian Accent Restaurants located in Delhi, Mumbai, and New York, as well as at Comorin in Gurugram, Mehrotra has garnered acclaim for his innovative approach to Indian gastronomy.
Ranveer Singh Brar is an Indian celebrity chef, Masterchef India judge, author, restaurateur and actor. He is well known as the host of popular Television food shows, actor and as a judge in MasterChef India, alongside fellow chefs Sanjeev Kapoor, Vikas Khanna, Vineet Bhatia, Garima Arora and Pooja Dhingra After graduating from the top hospitality institute in Lucknow, Brar stepped into a successful culinary career, now spanning more than nearly three decades.
Kitchen Super Star is a 2013-2015 Indian-Tamil language Cooking reality show that aired on Vijay TV from 2013 to 7 February 2015 on every Saturday at 8:00PM (IST). The Show is hosted by Tamil Film Actor Suresh and Chefs Dr. Dhamu and Venkatesh Bhat are the judges of this show.
Harpal Singh Sokhi is an Indian celebrity chef and restaurateur. He began his career in 1987 at The Oberoi in Bhubaneswar, becoming an executive chef six years later. Over the following years, he worked at several luxury hotel chains in India. He is best known for using the catchphrase "Namak Shamak".
Mallika Badrinath is an Indian food writer, chef, cookbook author and host of cooking shows.
Dr. Damodharan Kothandaraman, professionally known as Chef Damu, is an Indian celebrity chef. He has hosted numerous cooking shows and reality cooking competitions in various Tamil language television channels, most notably serving as a judge on Cooku with Comali which was telecast on Star Vijay. In 2010, he received a Guinness World Record for the longest cooking marathon by an individual. He became the first Indian chef to receive a Ph.D in Hotel Management and Catering Technology. His doctorate was awarded by the University of Madras in 2004. He has made a few appearances in Tamil films. He has played a significant role in popularizing South Indian cuisine both domestically and internationally, leaving behind a lasting legacy in the culinary world.
Suresh Pillai is an Indian-born British chef and restaurateur. He worked as chef de partie, sous-chef, and chef de cuisine at various restaurants in London for 14 years, including Veeraswamy and Gymkhana. He holds British citizenship. In 2017, he contested in the British reality TV show MasterChef: The Professionals on BBC Two. He returned to India to become the corporate chef and culinary director of The Raviz. He also started his own restaurant chain branded Restaurant Chef Pillai.
Cooku with Comali, also known by the acronym CWC, is an Indian Tamil-language comedy-based cooking competition show aired on Star Vijay and streams on Disney+ Hotstar where the contestants are paired each week with comedians (comalis) who are amateur cooks. The first season premiered on 16 November 2019 and ended on 23 February 2020. The second season premiered on 14 November 2020 and ended on 14 April 2021. The third season premiered on 22 January 2022 and ended on 24 July 2022. The fourth season premiered on 28 January 2023 and ended on 30 July 2023. The contestants along with their comalis are challenged every week and are judged by Chef Damu and Chef Venkatesh Bhat until season 4.
MasterChef India – Tamil is an Indian Tamil-language competitive cooking reality show based on MasterChef Australia and is part of MasterChef India. The series features amateur and home chefs competing to win the title of 'MasterChef'. The current line-up of judges consists Koushik Shankar, Rakesh Raghunathan, and Shreeya Adka.
Cooku with Comali 3 is the third season of the Tamil reality cooking TV show Cooku with Comali, that was launched on 22 January 2022. This season is hosted by Rakshan, and judged by Chef Damodharan and Chef Venkatesh Bhat.
Cooku with Comali 4 is the fourth season of the Tamil-language reality cooking TV show Cooku with Comali, that launched on 28 January 2023 on Star Vijay. Over four years, Cooku with Comali has rolled out three seasons and Rakshan has officially once again been appointed as the host for the fourth time. Chef Damodharan and Chef Venkatesh Bhat as the Judges. Actor Suresh appeared as a guest judge in lieu of Chef Venkatesh Bhatt's absence. Manimegalai has re-joined as the co-host. Mime Gopi won the title on 30 July 2023.
Cooku with Comali 5 is the fifth season of the Tamil reality cooking TV show Cooku with Comali. It premiered on Star Vijay on April 17, 2024, and air on every Saturday and Sunday at 21:30.
Top Cooku Dupe Cooku is an Indian Tamil-language comedy-based cooking competition show, produced by Media Masons. The series premiered on 19 May 2024 on Sun TV and digitally on Sun NXT. The show is produced and judged by Chef Venkatesh Bhat, along with Judge Chef Rammohan supported by Binny Krishnakumar and hosted by Rakesh.
