Nepali food is ‘unique, flavourful’ but unknown. This celebrity chef wants to change that

Santosh Shah, winner of ‘Masterchef: The Professionals, Rematch’, wants to raise the profile of Nepali food by showcasing various indigenous cuisines and communities

While new restaurants are promoting Nepal’s ethnic and indigenous food, conversations on the culture and history of marginalised communities are missing

Reading Time:4 minutes

Santosh Shah at a vegetable market near his flat in Kathmandu. Photo: Bibek Bhandari

Published: 11:30am, 10 Sep 2023

Santosh Shah introduced Nepali cuisine to a global audience when he cooked up a storm during a British cooking competition.

The 37-year-old wowed some of the industry’s top chefs with his talent, becoming the first Nepali to win the BBC’s MasterChef: The Professionals, Rematch in 2021. The show put a rare international spotlight on Nepali dishes spanning different regions and cultures, and turned Shah into an overnight celebrity at home.

“I wanted to cook Nepali food that most of the world had never seen,” said Shah, who hails from Siraha district in eastern Nepal. “Nepali cuisine has massive potential, but it hasn’t been introduced in the way it should be.”

Nepal is a popular tourist destination, known for some of the world’s highest mountains and scenic trekking trails, but the country’s food is relatively unknown internationally. Tourists are usually introduced to generic versions of momos, or dumplings, and daal-bhaat-tarkari, a combination of rice, lentils and vegetables, which have become representative of Nepali food.

Momos and bread pakoras in Nepal. File photo: SCMP

However, Nepal has more than 100 ethnic and indigenous groups, and their food culture has been largely absent from the country’s culinary scene. Shah said he was making an attempt to introduce some of them, both globally and locally.

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