Kitchens are hard and they form incredibly strong characters.
The quote holds perfectly for the man who dedicated his life to preserving the art of dum pukht, an ancient tradition. He has numerous titles attached to his name, the most recent being a Padma Shri. However, his real pride lies in the appreciative hums of the people who taste his food, Grandmaster Chef Shri. Imtiaz Qureshi is the person who reintroduced royalty to Indian Cuisine.
Born in the year 1931 Shri. Imtiaz Qureshi is an ITC Grandmaster Chef. Coming from a family of chefs, he started his culinary career with his uncle before he went on to join the Krishna catering that served the Indian Army during the Sino-Indian war. He later went on to join the ITC chain in 1979 and served at their various locations including the Clark Hotel, Lucknow and Maurya Sheraton, Delhi eventually being appointed as their master chef. The Government of India awarded him with the Padma Shri in 2016, the fourth highest civilian award making him the first chef to have ever received this honor.
3rd December 2017 can be considered golden on all accounts when the Jagran Lakecity University School of Hospitality and Tourism had a chance to host him, the man who is single handedly responsible for the revival of Dum Pukht in India. The occasion was an Igniting Minds lecture graced by Shri. Imtiaz Qureshi along with his two equally talented sons Chef Ishtiyaque Qureshi and Chef Ashfaque Qureshi.
Every member of the audience sat spellbound as the Grandmaster delivered his lecture, sharing his experiences that he had gathered along his culinary journey with multiple brands. He gave various words of advice to the young chefs to help them succeed in life. The highlight of the event however was what happened post the lecture in the SoHT kitchen. The Qureshi masters worked together for 90 minutes to carve out their famous ‘Royal Dum Biryani’ for the JLU School of Hospitality and Tourism. The aroma that floated out of the Degh displayed decades of experience, passion and perfection, and the feast that followed was pure MAGIC!
