Vishwesh Bhatt facts for kids
Bhatt at the 2022 Texas Book Festival.
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| Education | University of Kentucky, Johnson & Wales University |
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Current restaurant(s)
Snackbar
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Award(s) won
2019 James Beard Foundation Award, Best Chef: South
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Vishwesh Bhatt is a famous chef who has won a special award called the James Beard Award. He lives and works in Oxford, Mississippi. He is known for mixing different cooking styles, especially Southern American and Indian flavors.
Contents
Vishwesh Bhatt's Early Life and Learning
Vishwesh Bhatt was born in Gujarat, India. When he was 17 years old, in 1985, he moved with his family to the United States. They first settled in Austin, Texas.
He went to the University of Kentucky to study biology and political science. Later, he continued his studies at the University of Mississippi. While he was a student, Vishwesh loved to cook. He even had a small business where he cooked for his friends and people he worked with. He also started working at a vegetarian cafe in Oxford.
Vishwesh often visited a restaurant called City Grocery, owned by chef John Currence. He enjoyed the food so much that he eventually joined the kitchen team there. This experience made him realize he wanted to be a chef. So, he decided to go to a special cooking school, Johnson & Wales University, in North Miami, Florida.
Vishwesh Bhatt's Cooking Career
After finishing culinary school, Vishwesh Bhatt worked in restaurants in Jackson, Mississippi, and Boulder, Colorado. In 2001, he returned to Oxford to work with John Currence again.
In 2009, John Currence opened a new restaurant called Snackbar. Vishwesh Bhatt became the head chef there. Over time, Chef Bhatt started adding flavors and ideas from Indian cuisine to Snackbar's menu. His unique cooking style became very popular. Many food magazines and newspapers wrote about his special dish called okra chaat. This dish mixes Southern fried Okra with Indian Chaat masala, which is a mix of spices.
Awards and Recognition
Chef Bhatt's amazing cooking earned him a lot of attention. He was chosen as a semifinalist for the James Beard Award in 2011. Then, he became a finalist in 2014. He was a finalist again in 2015, 2016, 2017, and 2018. Finally, in 2019, he won the big award: Best Chef in the South! This is a huge honor for chefs.
His Cookbook
In August 2022, Chef Bhatt released his own cookbook called I Am From Here. This book is all about Southern American cooking. It shows how much he loves and understands the food of the South, proving he is a true Southern chef.
