From ramp & TV to kitchen: Models, actors dish out yummy food

Why should a model who has raised the glam quotient on the ramp or an actress who attracted a huge fan following switch over roles to becoming a chef?
Well, they feel that donning the chef's hat in the kitchen and sharing the recipes with people help them not only diversify their skills but also make them better at dishing out tasty food for their own families.
While models and actresses are mostly seen on the ramp and the screen, the truth is that some of them take out time to enrich their passion for food too.
A case in point is well-known video jockey (VJ) Maria Goretti. Popular for her vivacious style of acting, she transitioned to being a chef and also authored an award- winning cook book, 'From My Kitchen to Yours'.

For her, dabbling into the kitchen happened "very organically and was not planned".
"It was just the need of the hour at that time. My son was two-and-a-half (years old), I needed to feed him. I didn't know what to cook because I had never been into the kitchen for many many years," Goretti told PTI.

"And once I started learning, I realised that I do enjoy cooking quite a lot and I realised that I had the urge to learn even more and that inspired the whole cooking passion in me. From then on, I've been as a student, learning and learning and learning," she says.

"I kind of realised that I love learning different kind of cuisines...I just kind of love cooking, so it opened a new chapter (for me)," says Goretti, who has done a cookery show with celebrity chef Vicky Ratnani, and also TV shows "Pressure Cooker" and "I Love Cooking".
She says her husband, Bollywood actor Arshad Warsi, is happy that she took to cooking.
"Well, Arshad is really happy that I started cooking and my mom was super happy and the kids were of course happy that they were getting yummy food to eat," she says.
Popular TV actress Gurdip Kohli Punjj, who has shown her acting prowess in shows like "Sanjivani", "Sindoor Tere Naam Ka", "Best of Luck Nikki" and "Kasamh Se", says cooking, too, has become "very very glamorous".

"Gone are the days when people didn't want to be associated with...kya main khana bana rahi hu. Now it's become an in vogue thing" with a lot of fancy foods being churned out, says Punjj, who hosted popular cookery shows like "Bachcha Party" and "All 'Bout Cooking".
She says she always used to have a lot of house parties and her husband and other people loved her food.
The channel was looking for someone who had a personality on television, of having a fan following, and a mother, and someone who could cook for 'Bachcha Party'. "So that's where I fit in the bill completely for them," she says.

"I was more than happy to be on board and be an in- house chef for them and I had a successful run. I did around 150 recipes with them on my show," she says.
"I thoroughly enjoyed, it was a lovely experience and it was a natural process for me because I used to love cooking, talking about food, talking about kids, little bit of parenting and talking about how to keep them healthy, it came very naturally to me because I myself have a daughter and a son," Punjj says.
She says a platform was given to her to show culinary skills and the makers called her up and things just worked out. "I was more than happy to be adding another feather to my hat, by doing an anchor-based show and a cooking-based show, it was not planned."

"...we are already a television personality, when we come on TV people know who we are, so if we add, we try to exhibit our extra skill," she says.
Punjj says by diversifying one adds substance to being a celebrity and that has really worked for her.
Model Aditi Govitrikar, who hosted a cookery show, "Mother's Care", says she "hasn't switched over per se" as she has always enjoyed cooking.
"I used to help my mom when she used to cook and that's how I learnt cooking and enjoyed it too. The show I hosted was because of my love for cooking," says Govitrikar, who is also a qualified doctor.

She says in modelling, especially ramp, one has show the clothes (bags, jewellery, shoes too) in the best possible manner.
"On this show the focus was on making the dish in the way that the audience would enjoy making it as much as I did," says Govitrikar, the winner of the Gladrags supermodel contest and the Mrs World contest in 2001.
She feels in shifting professions it's important to change your mindset as different professions need different mindset.
"I also experienced different kind of people in different professions. As I love meeting people, know about them, shifting professions made this possible for me," says Govitrikar who did a lot of television ads, acted in films as well as did ramp shows, music videos and reality shows.

Goretti recalls an interesting experience after taking to being a chef.
"I was in a restaurant eating food cooked by a chef whom I really admire. After the meal I went to thank the chef and say that it was an amazing meal and when I went to do that, he shook my hands and said, 'Thank you chef Maria'. I was stunned."
"A part of me realised that I have worked till here and probably people are now acknowledging my work and my food. It's something I never acknowledged and I never thought what I have become, but that chef did it for me. He made me realise that this is where I have reached," she says.

Sharing a similar experience, Punjj says, "I am not doing any more cookery shows, but now people take me very seriously, wherever I go. If I am going to a restaurant people do acknowledge, like 'give her that dish, let's take some suggestion, how I find the taste'. It appeals to me, because I never thought something like that could happen."
She is happy that while cooking on TV, she learnt how to make doughnuts and now when she makes it for her daughter, the little one relishes it.
Govitrikar also has a message for the budding chefs. "Be passionate about your creation. Use the best possible ingredients and remember- less is more.