Our regular reader and friend Rusi Sorabji sent us this write up about A young Parsi Lady Chef at the UN week 2018
Last week of September, World leaders, Queens, Presidents, Vice Presidents, Prime Ministers and the like, were dashing to be at the week long, United Nations 2018 General Assembly Meeting in New York, but unknown to the Zoroastrian community in India or elsewhere, a young Parsi lady was also headed there.
Unlike the others, this young Parsi lady from the National Capital Region was invited to the UN week in connection with the Social Good Summit program # 2030NOW.
The Summit is produced in partnership with United Nations Foundation besides others.
In our fast changing world, the Social Good Summit focuses on where we are headed. It is held annually during the United Nations General Assembly week. The Summit unites a lively community of global citizens and progressive thought leaders around a common theme: #2030NOW. A dynamic exploration of the world we want to live in by 2030, the Social Good Summit focus on how we can unlock technology’s potential to make the world a better place.
I was introduced to this young lady-chef, one cold winter January evening in 2014, that was a few days or maybe a week since she had been employed at the first of the newly opened SodaBottleOpenerWala restaurant at the DLF Cyber City Mall in Gurgaon.
On my second visit, a year later, my sister’s family and I enjoyed five different delicious Parsi sounding dishes and Lagan-nu-custard. We came out of the SBOW amazed at the culinary proficiency of someone so young.
Two years later 2017, she is proclaimed “Delhi’s Best Chef” in his article by Vir Sanghvi. He further adds, “ Anahita Dhondy has dragged Parsi cuisine out of the Museum and into the 21st Century.” The success and rapid spread of SodaBottleOpenerWala all over India and the Far East further demonstrates.
Earlier this year Chef Anahita Dhondy was invited to participate, demonstrate and speak about Parsi cooking at 3 food festivals and events in London, Paris and Stockholm.
Today 5 years later, this young lady, Anahita Dhondy, is a Chef–Partner at the SodaBottleWala Restaurant, in the DLF Cyber Hub, Gurgaon, National Capital Region. A place where amazing, the lay people have no clue who the Parsis are, nonetheless many of them know what the Parsi food is and tastes like.
Rusi.Sorabji
The UN week Events
23rd Sept.- Social Good summit
For interesting further details please go to: https://mashable.com/sgs/
24th Sept. – Sustainable seafood dinner at Freemans restaurant where Chef Anahita cooked with many chefs in New York and from all over the world. can (read more about the technology at https://fishcoin.co/)
25th Sept. – Chef Anahita Dhondy was a speaker at the Transforming Food Systems to Drive Impact on SDG2 (Sustainable Development Goals 2 which is Zero Hunger) Session, where the programme looked at a NextGen focus, bringing together innovative leaders into the conversation, such as a chef, farmer, a climate scientist, to showcase new voices in the SDG2 space and stretch the fabric of SDG2.
26th Sept – Visited a St. John Bread and Life, a community centre and food pantry in Brooklyn which serves 3000 people meals every day. https://www.breadandlife.org/
27th & 28th Sept. – Our Chef had the honour to be speaking at the UN HQ at the Ministerial breakfast on the implementations the decade of Family farming by @ifadnews @fao #costarica. She remarked, “it was amazing to speak about the work we do with regional Indian food (Parsi food) at @sbowindia and being a part of the chefs community @youngchefsassociation discussing #millets and the focus on how chefs are connectors to farmers and consumers in India.”
Saturday 29th Sept – Global Citizen Festival.
As a concerned Global Citizen aimed at feeding the ever growing population in the year 2030 and beyond, Chef Anahita cooked a dish made with Millets.
To read more about millets and sustainability please do read: https://www.telegraphindia.com/culture/celebrity-nbsp-chef-anahita-dhondy-rsquo-s-nbsp-focus-is-on-sustainability-and-zero-waste-in-the-kitchen/cid/1665188
