Four women in food who inspire me every day, by Garima Arora

The first Indian woman to win a Michelin star for her Bangkok restaurant Gaa and Asia’s Best Female Chef 2019 continues to push the boundaries in the kitchen and beyond. She introduces you to four of the women who help motivate her to work harder and are fast establishing themselves as game changers in their respective fields

Amninder Sandhu 
This Mumbai-based chef is someone you’re about to start hearing a lot more about. At her restaurant Arth, Sandhu refuses to cook on gas. All of her food is produced over wood fires or a charcoal grill and she is the prime mover championing a new Indian slow cooking movement. Where most restaurants of her style and size will often buy in the base ingredients for condiments, Sandhu insists on making hers from scratch. “I really admire her determination in every element of her cookery; you can really taste it in her food,” says Arora. “It’s truly beautiful on every level and it’s absolutely packed with soul.”

Karena Armstrong
Having worked her way up through some of Australia’s top restaurants – Bondi Icebergs, The Melbourne Wine Room and Kylie Kwong’s restaurant Billy Kwong – Armstrong has found the perfect home for her fresh, seasonal cooking at Salopian Inn in Adelaide’s Maclaren Vale. Prior to working in professional kitchens, she learnt cookery from home, reading books and through experimentation. “Being self-taught, Karena’s cooking is very interesting and extremely different from more traditionally trained chefs – she looks at things with a different eye,” says Arora. “It’s feminine and motherly, which is a long way apart from other high-paced restaurants.” Armstrong has coupled a career with raising three boys, who she cites as inspiring her to create better food every day.

Vanika Choudhary
A genuine polymath, Choudhary studied engineering at university and ran a media company in France before finding her calling as a cook. Based in Mumbai – a populous city not renowned for healthy eating – she is helping to revolutionise the food culture with her brand of balanced, organic food at her burgeoning restaurant, Sequel. “I admire Vanika’s commitment to educate people in how to eat better, but not only that, how she singlehandedly shows that healthy food can be satisfying and delicious,” says Arora. “Considering her background is not even in food, she has come such a long way. Her restaurant has grown from a tiny bistro to a full-blown restaurant – the level of care she gives to food is incredible.”

Vanika Choudhary

Alisara 'Paper' Chongphanotkul
This prodigal daughter pastry chef learnt her craft in France, before returning to Thailand to create Thai-infused desserts laden with intricate French technique. For a cuisine style not known for its sophisticated pastry work, she is pushing the envelope at Saawaan, the Bangkok fine dining restaurant where she currently plies her trade. “Paper is a real rising star in Thailand,” says Arora. “I really enjoy her palate and the sensibility she brings to dessert. It’s really refreshing to see such a young talent making her mark in Bangkok in a major way.”

Discover what ignites Arora’s passion in the video celebrating her winning the title of Asia’s Best Female Chef 2019: