LUCKNOW
THE CITY THAT SHAPED ME
Lucknow, the city of my youth, shaped my palate and my imagination. A cultural and artistic hub in northern India, Lucknow is renowned for its signature Awadhi cuisine, where Persian influences slowly mingled with the native Hindu and Vedic food traditions of the region. What emerged was a cuisine of refinement, fragrance, depth, and subtlety.
As a young man, I often wandered through Lucknow’s hidden alleys and byways, tasting snacks from street vendors cooking beneath trees and visiting small family-run food stalls where recipes had been preserved for generations. I would speak with the cooks, ask questions, and listen to their food histories. In time, they came to know me as the young lad with endless curiosity about recipes. They fed me generously and shared their stories.
Those memories still live in my cooking today. I do not always need to open a cookbook to create a recipe. I return to my heart, and a flavor, a fragrance, a voice from Lucknow rises again.
MY MOTHER,
MY GURU
My passion for cooking began at a young age. Even as a child, I could guess what was cooking, just by the aroma! You see, my mother was an exceptionally great cook. She cooked every meal with devotional attention. I would be blown away by the dishes cooked by my mother, overflowing with the flavors of cardamom, saffron, turmeric and other rich and fragrant spices. I would hurry back from school, knowing a simple but divine meal awaited me and my younger brother and sister. We kids would all laugh and chat as we ate our after-school meal, and our mother would look on with satisfaction, knowing in her heart that every single ingredient from her recipes, was going to transform into a blessing! My tryst with food continued as I grew older and my mother saw my fascination with the cooking process. She gradually asked me to accompany her to the vibrant and colorful local farmer’s market and showed me how to choose the freshest vegetables by looking, touching and smelling them. I learnt to use my intuition and also select, mix, roast and grind spices to perfection. I even stirred her magical pots once in a while, from which would emanate delicious aromas and she would smile and share a secret tip. As I hung out in the kitchen with her (after my homework) I recognized a certain happiness or shall I say contentment in my heart. I did not know then that my mother’s kitchen, her recipes and the magical flavors to everything she touched, were becoming part of my Chef-DNA!
AYURVEDA:
THE INSPIRATION
Chef Sanjai’s journey into Ayurvedic cooking began at home, alongside his life partner, Acharya Shunya, a master teacher of Ayurveda. What began as a love for flavorful food became a life calling: preserving, teaching, and sharing authentic Ayurvedic cuisine as a healing tradition.
My life partner, Acharya Shunya, is a master teacher of Ayurveda, the sister science of Yoga, where food is understood not merely as nourishment, but as medicine itself. When I married Shunya more than twenty years ago, I could not have imagined that my love for creating flavorful meals would evolve into a deeper calling: preserving, teaching, and sharing the healing wisdom of authentic Ayurvedic cuisine.
Ayurveda teaches that when diet is aligned, medicine is often unnecessary, and when diet is neglected, medicine alone cannot restore balance. Living in a home shaped by Ayurvedic principles awakened my own fascination with this ancient culinary tradition. I began studying classical Ayurvedic source texts in Sanskrit, some dating back over two thousand years. Within them I discovered a vast treasury of knowledge: healing spices, seasonal food wisdom, principles of mindful cooking, and recipes designed not only to nourish the body, but also to uplift the mind and spirit.
Over time, I became concerned by how often Ayurveda’s culinary wisdom was being oversimplified, commercialized, or disconnected from its authentic roots. Many traditional recipes and practices were quietly disappearing. I felt called to help preserve this living heritage with integrity and care.
Through Vedika Global, the nonprofit educational foundation that Acharya Shunya and I co-founded, I have shared more than 200 Ayurvedic recipes with a global community of students and seekers. Together, we continue to archive traditional food wisdom while documenting the many stories of healing, balance, and renewed wellbeing that emerge when people reconnect with Ayurveda’s timeless approach to food and life.
The Ayurveda Creations
