Asma Khan: More Than My Food
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Why did Asma call her smart stove a 'calamity' and how has technology complicated cooking?
So I love pig trotters, right? Generally, any like, so it's like paya.
You can't call them pig trotters. Okay, any hoof.
Okay, whatever, trotter or trotter. Any hoof, any, you know what I mean? Yeah, so we have paya, nihari.
Okay, right. So pig, cow, you name it. Just like anything with the hoof. I'm in, I'm in. The gelatinous, I love gelatinous food, you know? So you can't really find much of it, especially like Hunanese. I think that's how you pronounce a cuisine in South Africa. So Eugene one day says to me, he goes, yo, why don't I, I can cook that for you. Then I was like, shame, my friend, he's really, this is like a lovely gesture, but completely unnecessary. Do you know what I mean? And then he was like, he's like, I was like, what do you mean? Then Eugene said, oh, I cook. Then I went, ah, I understand what he means. He means that he will put food together on a stove, heat it up and then ingest it. Now, many people can cook.
Yes. Most people shouldn't cook. Do you understand what I'm saying? Yeah. Yeah. I've met many people who can cook.
Yeah.
I've met many people who say, you should come over, I will cook. Yes. And then when you go there, you go, I pray this never happens again. I pray this thing you've done to me should never be done to another person. If I could call the Hague, I would. Because of what? In fact, I'm shocked that you spent time doing this. The fact that you said we'll be busy for the next few hours and this is what you made. Oh my God.
This is What Now? with Trevor Noah.
I feel like the universe conspired for this interview to happen today because of what happened to me this morning. And I feel like you might be overqualified for this question, but you will indulge me. What happened to you this morning? It's not really a question. It's actually a... For a word we use a lot in India, calamity.
Yeah.
Oh, now I want to know what happened to you. You used the word calamity. That's not a small word.
That's a loaded word. So this morning, bought groceries. Two days with the groceries. And I thought to myself this morning, let me make myself egg and toast, right? And a little bit of Italian sausage. Then I tried to turn on the stove. The stove said, do you have the app? I said, no, I don't have the app. Downloaded the app.
Was the stove talking or does it write this? It writes there on the screen.
You see where on the oven side where it's supposed to show you the temperature of whatever setting you are on?
Yeah, it said, do you have the app?
Yeah, it says download app.
Yeah.
Searching for app. Then I downloaded the app. Then the app said connect to put Bluetooth and also Wi-Fi. For a stove? Stove. Oh, wow. Then I was like, okay, maybe let's give up on the oven. Let me go to the induction top side of it. Put the plate, put the pan, put the oil, switched it on. The stove said, and I was like, we're in business now. Picked my temperature. Five seconds later, stove went off. Kept doing that. Went onto YouTube, tried to Google what's going on. At the end of searching, after five videos, it says, For the induction stove of that make exactly, you have to have steel bottom pans. Yeah, that makes sense. Yeah, but I looked under the pans and they look like metal.
This is not a visual thing. This is a real thing. Because induction will not, every pan doesn't work. So calamity is also, I think it's too big a word for this.
Why were the pans there in the first place?
Induction doesn't work. Every pan doesn't work on induction. The pans were there. I know. I'm not disputing that. But I'm just telling you, it's not a calamity. It's a kind of you not knowing what you were doing.
Me or the person that bought the pans?
Okay, the person who bought the pans.
So you've come hungry. Well, I knew you were coming, but I thought you would bring a little tupperware or something.
Do people expect that of you? I did. No, because I assume if you are a world-renowned chef who has appeared on Chef's Table, Time 100, Most Influential People, the Royal Family has come to your restaurant to participate in the making of food. And then they call you to the palace to come and be honored.
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Chapters
8 chapters
1
Why did Asma call her smart stove a 'calamity' and how has technology complicated cooking?
0:04–5:34
2
How did childhood discrimination and sisterly support shape Asma Khan's identity?
5:34–7:59
3
What childhood adventures taught resilience—swimming, street cricket and hitting a cheater with a bat?
7:59–18:04
4
When and why did Asma transition from Kolkata childhood to marrying an academic in Cambridge and discovering food?
18:04–58:12
5
How did homesickness in Cambridge make Asma Khan start cooking and reconnect with heritage?
58:12–1:00:47
6
Why does Asma argue food should teach history and reveal colonial injustice (poppy seeds, opium, spice trade)?
1:00:47–1:10:19
7
How does Asma challenge fine-dining norms and the ‘customer is always right’ mentality?
1:10:19–1:19:34
8
What systemic problems in restaurant culture does Asma want to change (gender, abuse, visibility of cooks)?
1:19:34–2:05:55
Speakers
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