Chef Pablo Naranjo Agular has been in India for more than a year now and he is smitten with the country.
The half-Colombian-half-Hungarian chef came to India to help out his friend Pooja Dhingra-- whom he met at Le Cordon Bleu in Paris-- with her Le15 Café in Colaba, Mumbai. His initial plan was to stick around for a year. However, it seems the idea of India has grown on him.
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"For now I'm here in India," Agular told International Business Times, India when asked about his future plans. "I like to live in the present. And there is no way I'm thinking of leaving this place any time soon after the warm welcome India has given me."
Agular was born in Bogota, Colombia. His penchant for cooking started at a tender age. By 25, Agular was already running his own restaurant in Paris after stints at Michelin-starred restaurants like Guy Savoy, Alain Senderens and Ze Kitchen Galerie.
"Everything started with family meals," he said. "Seeing my grandmothers spend so much time buying products and cooking just to be able to give their respective families a beautiful moment and memory! That love they put into the food made me obsessed with the moments we all share around food. It wasn't a dish that made me who I'm, it was the moments I shared with my family and food as a kid."
Besides cooking, Agular is a sucker for travel and his social media pages are filled with photographs detailing his adventures. He thinks his sojourns have influenced his personality in a big way, which has trickled down to his cooking as well. "My travels haven't changed me as a cook. It has changed me as a human being, and that has changed my take on food. I cook out of emotions and experiences, so every time I travel, something inside me changes, and that do modify my way of tasting and cooking."
Agular is now associated with Colors Infinity's Eat @8 segment, which has roped in renowned celebrity chefs to create local content and deliver unique experiences for a few lucky fans through exciting contests.
