Sanjeev Kapoor: From super chef to a super hero

A Padma Shri Award Winner, Masterchef extraordinaire and entrepreneur, Sanjeev Kapoor is one of India's most popular chefs. His recipes have cut across the language barrier through his 200+ best-selling cookbooks that are available in seven different languages. 

Needless to say, his name tops the list of the most popular TV personalities. Sanjeev has also figured in the Reader’s Digest list of 100 of India’s Most Trusted people.

However, few people know about the philanthropist Sanjeev. During the lockdown, he dedicated himself to arranging food for doctors, medical staff, police staff, migrant labourers, among others.

He says, “Philanthrophy is something that everyone has in their hearts. There are opportunities and you grab those. It is the intent/ desire to do something that is important.”

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Associating with Akshaya Patra 

Sanjeev has had a long-standing association with Akshaya Patra as a part of their consultative council. The world’s largest NGO-run mid-day meal programme serves wholesome school lunches to over 1.7 million children in 14,702 schools across 12 states in India.

“Having been associated with Akshaya Patra for many years, I must admit, that I am no stranger to the concept of ‘hidden hunger’. My own experience with caring for others has been soul satisfying. My endeavours at connecting with the disadvantaged have taught me many life lessons,” he says. 

As part of this, Sanjeev has run fundraisers across the world. He says, “Its simple. Do you want me to cook food for you. I will. Pay the money directly to Akshaya Patra.” According to Sanjeev, under this collaboration, he has managed to raise $1.5 million for Akshaya Patra in the initial years of collaboration. Today they are able to raise $10 million from the US alone.

Also, for over 15 years now, Sanjeev has been closely working with autistic children by supporting the NGO “Forum for Autism”. He also takes an initiative to provide employment to autistic adults to work in his company in order to support them and their families

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Helping during COVID-19

Sanjeev admits that he did not want to just sit at home during the COVID-19 lockdown. He reached out to Kasturba Hospital, Mumbai and found that the hospital was in need of food supplies.

He then called up Taj Hotels to check on the supplies they have in the flight kitchen. Though he struggled to get permissions for transporting the food on the first day, the hotel was able to get meal packages to frontline health workers.

Sanjeev started reaching out to more hospitals in the city and further to other cities in India. He claims to have associated with about 35 hospitals across India so far.

During the second wave of COVID-19, Sanjeev, along with World Central Kitchen (WCK), founded by Chef José Andres and Taj Hotels, started an initiative on July 30, 2021, to provide good-quality and nutritious meals in flood-hit regions of Chiplun and Mahad. As part of the ongoing initiative, the team is supplying a total of 15,000 fresh-cooked meals every day to flood victims in these areas and more.

Around the same time, United Nations (UN) chose him as the Indian Ambassador for their Clean Cook stoves Campaign. 

The Global Alliance for Clean Cook stoves is a public-private partnership led by the UN Foundation to save lives, improve livelihoods, empower women, and protect the environment by creating a thriving global market for clean and efficient household cooking solutions. 

According to Sanjeev, he still has a long way to go and that he wants to take the ‘Indianness in everyone to a global level’.

He says, “When you are doing something structured, then you need time for that. You can do it when you decide to give significant time. It is what you can find time for.”