Maneet Chauhan Will Never Make Those 'Chopped' Fritters Again

The chef, author, and restaurateur shares her journey from "complete brat" in her neighbors' kitchens to beloved Food Network champion.

Maneet Chauhan and the Fritters She Will Never Make Again

Welcome to Season 1, Episode 5 of Tinfoil Swans, a new podcast from Food & Wine. New episodes drop every Tuesday. Listen and follow on: Apple Podcasts, Google, Spotify, Stitcher, iHeart Radio, Amazon Music, TuneIn.

On this episode

In our fifth episode, Food & Wine's executive features editor Kat Kinsman catches up with Maneet Chauhan, the chef and restaurateur behind Chauhan Ale and Masala House and other excellent Nashville spots, as well as the author of Chaat: Recipes from the Kitchens, Markets, and Railways of India. These days, Maneet is a veritable force on shows like Chopped, Iron Chef America, and Tournament of Champions, but before all that, she was a self-admitted "complete brat" as a kid, running from house to house in her small community in India, bugging the aunties to teach her to cook, and dreaming of the day she'd get to call herself a chef. Maneet shares her journey to the Culinary Institute of America, the art of running a restaurant empire with her husband, and how learning to accept mistakes is the best thing that ever happened to her.  

Related: Second to Naan: How to Make Maneet Chauhan's Favorite Indian Breads at Home

Meet our guest

Chef, restaurateur, author, and TV personality Maneet Chauhan was born and raised in India where she could often be found running from house to house, eager to learn the secrets of her neighbors' kitchens. After studying hotel administration at one of the finest programs in India, Chauhan set her sights on the prestigious Culinary Institute of America, and launched a restaurant career that's taken her from New York to Chicago to Tennessee, where she now makes her home. She is the chef and co-owner of Chauhan Ale and Masala House and other excellent Nashville spots under the umbrella of the Morph Hospitality Group, as well as the author of Flavors of My World: A Culinary Tour through 25 Countries and Chaat: Recipes from the Kitchens, Markets, and Railways of India, which won an IACP Award and was named cookbook of the year by multiple outlets. Chauhan is a competitor and judge on Food Network shows including Chopped, Iron Chef America, and Tournament of Champions (which she won), and is involved with multiple charitable endeavors.

Related: 11 Maneet Chauhan Recipes You Need to Add to Your Rotation

Meet our host

Kat Kinsman is executive features editor at Food & Wine, author of Hi, Anxiety: Life With a Bad Case of Nerves, host of Food & Wine's podcast, and founder of Chefs With Issues. Previously, she was the senior food & drinks editor at Extra Crispy, editor-in-chief and editor at large at Tasting Table, and the founding editor of CNN Eatocracy. She won a 2020 IACP Award for Personal Essay/Memoir and has had work included in the 2020 and 2016 editions of The Best American Food Writing. She was nominated for a James Beard Broadcast Award in 2013, won a 2011 EPPY Award for Best Food Website with 1 million unique monthly visitors, and was a finalist in 2012 and 2013. She is a sought-after international keynote speaker and moderator on food culture and mental health in the hospitality industry, and is the former vice chair of the James Beard Journalism Committee.

Related: Shota Nakajima Likes Being As Uncomfortable As He Can

Advice from the episode

The universal language

One of my favorite neighbors didn't know Hindi or English. She would speak a South Indian language called Telugu and I didn't know that, but I spent hours in her kitchen with her. Later on, I realized that's why I fell in love with food — because it's the best communicator in the world. You don't need to know the same language, but you still connect with people. It makes me very emotional because I can do that. I can walk into a room, I can talk to anybody about food, and I form that connection.

Driven to succeed

After four years of working, I got this Mazda Miata, which I used to call my pre-Porsche. I hopped in it, drove from New Jersey to Chicago, and started knocking on doors, walking into restaurants, asking if I could stage. I wanted that experience so many chefs have had of "after graduating, let's just go to Europe and knock on back doors." I miss not having done that. But I'm like, OK, better than never.

The power of love

When you have somebody who tells you repeatedly, "Of course you can? Why are you questioning yourself?" I think that is what really gave me the wind beneath my wings.

Embrace with grace

Don't let your mistakes deter you; they are the most important learning tools in your life. The amount that you're going to learn from your mistakes, you will not learn from your successes. Don't repeat them, but embrace those mistakes and learn from them and grow from them. Don't let them make you dejected. I think that's what I would tell the 10 or 18-year-old me.

The 200% principle

My mantra is that the moment that I am in is going to get my 200%.  It's not going to get 50% where I'm thinking of what happened yesterday and what's going to happen tomorrow. No, this is going to get 200%. Once it's done, it's done. Move on to the next task. As long as you've done your best, there is nothing more that could have been done.

About the podcast

Food & Wine has led the conversation around food, drinks, and hospitality in America and around the world since 1978. Tinfoil Swans continues that legacy with a new series of intimate, informative, surprising, and uplifting interviews with the biggest names in the culinary industry, sharing never-before-heard stories about the successes, struggles, and fork-in-the-road moments that made these personalities who they are today.

Each week, you'll hear from icons and innovators like Guy Fieri, Padma Lakshmi, David Chang, Mashama Bailey, Enrique Olvera, Maneet Chauhan, Shota Nakajima, Antoni Porowski, and other special guests going deep with host Kat Kinsman on their formative experiences; the dishes and meals that made them; their joys, doubts and dreams; and what's on the menu in the future. Tune in for a feast that'll feed your brain and soul — and plenty of wisdom and quotable morsels to savor.

New episodes drop every Tuesday. Listen and follow on: Apple Podcasts, Google, Spotify, Stitcher, iHeart Radio, Amazon Music, TuneIn.

These interview excerpts have been edited for clarity.

Download the Transcript

Editor’s Note: The transcript for download does not go through our standard editorial process and may contain inaccuracies and grammatical errors.

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