Amelia J. Moore Photography
From Music City to countries across the world, in the most prestigious kitchens or in local communities, Maneet Chauhan’s reputation precedes her.
She is an award-winning chef, television personality, and author of two cookbooks. Throughout her career, Chauhan has earned a James Beard Foundation Broadcast Media Award for her role as a permanent judge on Food Network’s “Chopped” and an Augie Award from The Culinary Institute of America. Born in Punjab, India, Chauhan moved to the U.S. to study at the Culinary Institute of America before working as an executive chef at some of the top restaurants in New York City and Chicago, earning them national acclaim under her leadership. After an unexpected relocation to Nashville, Chauhan and her husband co-founded Morph Hospitality Group and opened their first restaurant, Chauhan Ale & Masala House, in 2014. In 2017, the group continued to broaden Nashville’s dining options with the opening of Tansuo and The Mockingbird. Chauhan has made an undeniable mark on Music City’s culinary scene and the community as a whole using both her skills in the kitchen and in business. She’s learned a lot along the way, and her story is nothing short of inspiring.
Love at First Bite: I grew up in this really small town in India. My dad was an engineer, and my mom was a teacher before becoming the principal of the school. In India, each state has a very distinct cuisine of its own. Where I grew up, there were people from all over India because it was a working community. We were a predominately North Indian family, but our neighbors were from Southern India, or Eastern India, or Western India. As a kid, I would finish dinner at home, go over to my neighbors’ houses, and tell them that my parents hadn’t fed me so I could eat with them. It was incredible because the food was so different from what we ate. I would see spices and techniques that I didn’t see in my own house, so I would spend time in their kitchens just fascinated. Later in life, I realized what I love about food is not only the fascinating alchemy that it creates, but also that it is the world’s biggest connector. I could walk into somebody’s house and just connect over food. That is why food has such an important place in my heart.
Breaking Barriers: I grew up in a community where everyone was studying to be doctors or engineers. I really wanted to be a chef. In India at that time, being a chef wasn’t a good profession. But this is what I wanted, and my parents said, “Do whatever you want, just make sure you’re the best at it because mediocrity is not going to lead to success. If that’s your passion, follow your passion.” In India, there weren’t chef schools; you had to do hotel administration to become a chef. So that’s what I did, and I’m glad I did because it laid a foundation for me to get into the restaurant industry and become a restaurateur. I don’t think I ever thought of anything else; this was always what I wanted to do. I did my undergrad in India and asked one of my chef instructors, “Where is the best culinary institute in the world?” Without even batting an eyelid, they said the Culinary Institute of America, so that’s where I applied, and that’s where I got into. It’s always been this. I’ve always wanted to be a chef.
Making Music City Home: Nashville has played a very important part in my life story. When my husband and I decided to open a restaurant in Nashville, it hadn’t yet become the hottest food destination, but there was something about it. We came over here and just fell in love with the opportunity the city afforded us. The idea was to open a restaurant, then go back to New York and commute. A six-month project took two years, during which we found out we were expecting baby number two, and baby number two decided to be born three months early on the day we opened Chauhan Ale & Masala House. That was it. We were like, “If he’s so adamant about being a Nashvillian, who are we to stop it?” So, we moved here. Nashville was there at the time when we were in a very vulnerable place because our son was in the NICU, our daughter was three years old, and the people here really supported and embraced us. We were like, “This is home. We’ve come home.” It’s also very interesting to see the growth that has happened in front of us. In just 10 years, the entire landscape of the city has changed. The growth has been incredible.
A Universal Language: I’m proud that I’m from India, and I’m very proud of where I’ve ended up. I am a Nashvillian with roots in India, and that’s what I celebrate: the best of both worlds. At Chauhan Ale & Masala House, we have Chauhan’s ode to Nashville, which is a meat and three. We have things that are quintessentially Nashvillian but with an Indian twist, so I stay connected to my roots through the food and the flavors. Food humanizes connections. You can connect with anybody over food. A couple years ago, I went to Peru. We were in a small village, and everybody else in my group wanted to nap because we had an overnight flight. I went ahead and walked to the local market. My husband found me an hour later making these potato croquettes and selling them with an old grandma. The interesting part is that I don’t know Spanish and she did not know English, but we still connected. I was looking at what she was doing, seeing how she was making it, and she just gestured for me to sit right next to her and showed me how to make it. It was a very profound moment for me because I realized if more conversations were had about food or over food, it would be a much more peaceful world. That is what food means to me. The more I discover about different cuisines and different countries, the more I get to travel, the more I realize how similar we all are because what connects us is greater than what divides us.
No Such Thing as Failure: I could write a never-ending book on failures as opposed to successes. What I’ve learned from my failures is so much more valuable. You work your entire life for that one moment of success to happen, but that moment has happened because you’ve learned everything from your failures. It could be winning or losing a competition; it could be shutting a restaurant down. I learn something every day. That is how I keep hope alive in myself because I don’t get disillusioned by failures; it is a part of life and a learning experience. Every morning, when I drop the kids off at school, I tell them this mantra that I’m trying to instill in them: There are no problems, only solutions. That is very important to me. I know they’re young right now, but I hope they’ll get the gravity of that one day. I would tell my younger self to be more embracing of failure. I was a lot harder on myself when failure came in front of me. I was a lot more frustrated, and frustration led to me doing things that I probably wouldn’t have done with a calmer mind. Be a little bit more forgiving to yourself. Have high standards for yourself, but if you don’t reach those standards at that particular moment be a little bit more forgiving to yourself.