Machindra Kasture (born August 12, 1962) is an Indian chef based in New Delhi. He was the first chef for the President of India in the Rashtrapati Bhavan. He is the recipient of Nation Tourism award for the Best Chef of India in 2016. Kasture started working in Rashtrapati Bhavan as Executive Chef in 2007 on deputation from ITDC. As chef to a head of state, he was a member of

Le Club des Chefs des Chefs Le Club des Chefs des Chefs (C.C.C.), founded by Gilles Bragard in 1977, is an international culinary organisation. The main purposes of this official gathering are to promote the national kitchen, and act as diplomatic representatives. The chef ...

. As the member of

and as the executive chef to the President of India, he represented India, when he went to the United States where he met President Barack Obama at the White House and United Nations Secretary General

Ban Ki-moon Ban Ki-moon (; ; born 13 June 1944) is a South Korean politician and diplomat who served as the eighth secretary-general of the United Nations between 2007 and 2016. Prior to his appointment as secretary-general, Ban was his country's Minister ...

at the UN headquarters in 2013 and

Queen Elizabeth II Elizabeth II (Elizabeth Alexandra Mary; 21 April 1926 – 8 September 2022) was Queen of the United Kingdom and other Commonwealth realms from 6 February 1952 until Death and state funeral of Elizabeth II, her death in 2022. She was queen ...

at a private visit to

Buckingham Palace Buckingham Palace () is a London royal residence and the administrative headquarters of the monarch of the United Kingdom. Located in the City of Westminster, the palace is often at the centre of state occasions and royal hospitality. It ...

in London 2014. Now he has been succeeded by Chef Montu Saini.

Early life and education

Kasture was born in Pune,

Maharashtra Maharashtra (; , abbr. MH or Maha) is a states and union territories of India, state in the western India, western peninsular region of India occupying a substantial portion of the Deccan Plateau. Maharashtra is the List of states and union te ...

. He did his Bachlor of Arts degree at Pune University and his Diploma in Hotel managementat Indian Institute of Hotel Management and Catering Technology, Mumbai in 1983. He was inspired by his mother, who would often take him to vegetable and grocery shopping. Machindra Kasture is married to Hemlata Kasture who is a Marathi Newsreader in Aakashwani.

Career

He started his hospitality journey with Centaur Hotel Juhu Beach Mumbai, Flight Kitchen Mumbai, Centaur Lake View Hotel, Srinagar, Royal Caribbean Cruise Line and Hotel Ashok I.T.D.C, New Delhi, Patna, Aurangabad. In 2007, he received a call from Rashtrapati Bhavan. After passing various tests he joined the President's House as an Executive Chef. In his 8-year tenure in Rashtrapati Bhavan. He has served two president's Smt. Pratibha Patil and Sri Pranab Mukherjee. He plans and executes menus for state banquets, high teas and luncheons at which the President of India hosts his counterparts and other VIPs from India and abroad. While he specializes in dishing out cuisines from around the world; he also has its own signature dishes, which includes Pineapple Halwa, Sitafal ka Halwa, Mutton Raan, Raisina Dal (whole urad dal), Achari paneer and Anjeer Kofta. Busiest days of the year are of state banquets and various ceremonies, including the swearing-in, award functions, etc. But the real challenge, he said, are on days such August 15 and January 26, when the President organises At Home, which is attended by around 1,500 people. For eight years, Kasture has cooked for some of the highest dignitaries of the world including Pranab Mukherjee, Rahul Gandhi,

Sonia Gandhi Sonia Gandhi ('' née'' Maino; born 9 December 1946) is an Indian politician. She is the longest serving president of the Indian National Congress, a social democratic political party, which has governed India for most of its post-independ ...

, Narendra Modi, Hamid Karzai, King Juan Carlos I of Spain and Barack Obama.

Charity

As a member of

Kasture has cooked for charity as a partnership between the InterContinental New York Barclay Hotel and the

St. Francis Xavier Mission The mission of St. Francis Xavier was a seventeenth-century Jesuit mission located on the rapids of the Fox River near De Pere, Wisconsin. It was founded in 1671 by Claude Allouez to proselytize the native peoples of the western Great Lakes. In ...

in Chelsea invited the Le Club de Chefs de Chefs (the governing organization for chefs to Heads of States) to feed the hungry in New York City. 21 chefs in total cooked and served a menu with the theme "Fit for Royalty", designed around comfort food from the world's first families. Approximately 200 people from the community came out to fill up what was surely one of the better meals they've eaten at a soup kitchen in 2013. Machindra Kasture Live Demo

In 2015, he cooked at the site called Refectory Ambrosiano for Caritas Ambrosiana which is an association that collects the food which is not used in the restaurants of the EXPO Milano 2015 to feed homeless or poor people in a special refectory in Milan, Italy at Expo Milano 2015.

Media and books

Machindra Kasture's recipes are part of The coffee table book "Around India's First Table: Dining and Entertaining at the Rashtrapati Bhavan" which is being put together by Lizzie Collingham of the University of Warwick, bestselling author of Curry: A Biography, and author of The Emperor's Table, Salma Hussain.

Awards

National Tourism award for Best Chef of India in 2016.

References

External links

* https://twitter.com/chefkasture * https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=APLyWCLE8AE * https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CmHNAPsS8-I * https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mip9sRZ5-ig&t=3s * https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WwNGbd814Qo {{DEFAULTSORT:Kasture, Machindra Living people Indian chefs 1962 births