Building bridges between culinary cultures, Thrissur-born chef Joe Thottungal is making waves in Canada by giving a taste of Kerala to the western gourmets.
Thottungal, who is currently the executive chef at Ottawa's Coconut Lagoon, says Indian chefs are the true ambassadors of the country's food and should not shy away from promoting it in the mainstream.
"I always focus and promote varied regional cuisine of India. I feel that all Indian chefs are the best ambassador of Indian food and we should not be shy to bring out our meals to the mainstream," Thottungal said.
"Promoting each region is a new way of exposing our hidden cuisine to the world and once people are hooked to the food then they tend to travel and visit these regions and my culinary tours to Kerala is the best example," he added.
"In the past 20 years, I have noticed lot of changes in food and beverage field in India. People are eating out more, pairing beverages with food and eating healthy," he said.
A Gold and Silver medal winner of Gold Medal Plates- Canada's highest culinary honour in 2016 and 2017, Thottungal is on two day visit to Crowne Plaza Today at Okhla in New Delhi.