(July 18, 2023) Cooking is Sanjyot Keer’s happy space. He never gets tired of it. The master chef, who shoots his cooking videos for hours at a stretch — which millions of wannabe cooks across the world wait for — likes to unwind by doing nothing else but continue cooking, once the cameras switch off.
A hardcore street-food lover, Keer displayed the magic in his hands when he made his first dish — a ‘pav bhaji’ at the age of 10 — which was relished by everyone around him. Ever since, be it exotic dishes or street food — he has all it takes to give it a mouth-watering twist. Heard of a Nachos chaat, pav bhaji bruschetta or a Dabeli taco ? Well, Keer is the brain behind it.
Sanjyot Keer
“Street food has been the perfect inspiration, partner and motivation throughout my cooking journey. If I were to choose something I could have for the rest of my life it would be nothing but street food,” smiles Sanjyot Keer, chef, entrepreneur and digital content creator, in conversation with Global Indian.
Once a producer for the most popular TV show MasterChef India, Keer, who was featured in the list of Forbes India’s Tycoons of Tomorrow, 2018, founded ‘Your Food Lab’ (YFL) in 2016. It is now one of the most popular food channels followed by wannabe chefs across the globe.
“The idea of creating content on YFL is to make food approachable for my audiences, where the people who cannot travel, the people who have not explored cuisines around the world, can get a chance to create these cuisines in their home kitchens through my content,” informs Keer, who travels the world for a better understanding of food and cuisines, which helps him create content around it.
Travel for food
Back in 2019, he was invited by the California Walnut Commission to California, USA. “I was in San Francisco where I met with the association farmers scientists to check out how California walnuts are grown, how they are farmed, and how they are processed. I saw the process from scratch to the packaging,” says the chef, who even worked with the Commission to create recipes with California walnuts.
Last year, he visited Mexico to learn about Mexican cuisine and before that to Turkey. “Exploring different cuisines widens up my array of knowledge,” says Keer, who will soon be leaving for Italy. “I will be travelling from northern parts of Italy to the southern parts including Naples, Rome, and the Amalfi coast as well. Once back, I intend to recreate those recipes for my audience,” he informs.
Your Food Lab
When Keer started YFL, his relatives, friends and mentors started pulling him down saying it was just a hobby and that he would get bored doing it. “They wondered how I would earn money and suggested I open a cafe. I Uploaded my first video on April 25, 2016. The third video on the third day hit a million views,” informs the foodie, whose channel also received praises from many celebrity chefs and Bollywood celebrities.
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He started shooting on weekends and shot about 80-100 videos before uploading a single one. Initially, his idea was to do daily uploads and within a month, he gained one lakh followers on Facebook and in a year, a million. “To this day, I am very consistent because I am a chef by choice and content creator by destiny,” says the 30 year old, who began by making videos on his dining table in his living room using rented cameras and lens. Later on, he brought his first set of professional lights and other paraphernalia.
Family of Cooks
Born in Mumbai in June 1992, Sanjyot Keer did his schooling from Shrimati Sulochnadevi Singhania school in Thane. His father Bhupinder Singh Keer is a businessman and mother Davinder Kaur Keer a home maker.
“Everyone in my family is an amazing cook. Watching my parents cook was an experience and the way they would share happiness and love through their cooking was what got me intrigued to learn how to cook,” recalls Sanjyot, who got married to Payal Kapoor, a chartered accountant in 2019.
A complete introvert, Sanjyot was an average student when it came to academics. “I never loved studying and hated maths and science. But I was good at cultural activities,” says the chef, who enjoyed horse riding and played cricket, football and table tennis. He did his junior college at R. A. Polar College of Commerce in Matunga and went on to do his B.A. in hospitality and international tourism management from Queen Margaret University, Mumbai Branch.
Street food
He was introduced to street food since his schooling days. “My dad would take me and my sister out on bike rides and we would stop at this one specific shop and have pav bhaji. The rush around that pav bhaji stall was crazy and watching the man cook was an experience,” says the foodie, who has experienced exquisite cuisines to street food at multiple places. “I can proudly say that Indian street food brings happiness to a person in a way no other cuisine can,” smiles the chef, who admittedly has a “very desi palette.”
He describes those cooking street food as the food heroes doing an amazing job. “Those are the people I started learning food from so I still go back to them, eat and learn how things are done,” he says.
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In 2014, he shot to limelight with MasterChef India. “It was an honour to work with my cooking heroes, Sanjeev Kapoor, Ranveer Brar and Vikas Khanna. Having the chance to work with some of the most talented judges and welcoming new talents, creating new recipes and challenges really gave me a broad perspective,” says Sanjyot, who is credited for taking the Indian food to the global gourmet diaspora.
Recently, he met Chef Massimo, Chef Manu Thevar, Chef Ajay Chopra, Chef Vicky, Chef Harpal Sokhi. “I keep meeting many Chefs because of my profession. Their appreciation for my work means a lot,” says the chef, who has received ‘Best Food Influencer’ awards across a lot of platforms.
Collaborations
Along with the many collaborations that he is exploring, Sanjyot Keer will soon be launching his own D2C brand. “Currently, I am working on writing a cook book and shooting for ‘Chef it up -Season 2’,” informs Sanjyot, who had a produced a short film called ‘Before We Die’ and received a runner up award at the Dadasaheb International Film Festival Awards recently.
Sanjyot says “Food for survival” is something he strongly preaches to everyone. He believes one should know the basics of cooking. During the pandemic, he says, a lot of people were finding it very difficult to even cook a simple meal. “Lucky for me, I gained a whole bunch of new followers and I was very grateful that I could help them navigate their way through their new journey with ease,” says the chef, who believes that cooking teaches patience and compassion, which are the basics of love l
When not cooking, Sanjyot loves to drive, travel, cook while also listening to music like EDM, house, techno, trance. “I feel anyone who has a true passion for food, has great taste in music. I do read books but mostly try to find audio versions. Although, I do read a lot of cookbooks which have a lot of information about fermentation, preparation processes, etc,” he says.