YOU BEING A CELEBRITY CHEF AND WORKING FROM HOME, WAS IT DIFFICULT TO COMPETE OTHER CHEFS IN YOUR CITY? By: Khatibah Rehmat.
Ziya Shahbazov is a celebrity home chef by profession who started his career in this industry around 20 years back. He was working in a five star hotel property as a dishwasher. There, his days used to pass by washing dirty utensils of the kitchen. But, he knew that this was not the place where he belongs to. So, during work he used to watch chefs and try to learn their styles and techniques. After that, he started working under a chef. Very soon, his experience got him to a position where he could call himself a professional chef and later started providing masterclasses to people. Like everyone else, Ziya also had a dream to pursue his studies, so he took admission to a college and simultaneously started working with a chef to continue with his passion.
When he finished his college, he joined a training center to polish his skills as a chef and learnt different cuisines from all over the globe. Gradually, with time he was sent to different countries with a motive to spread those amongst people of different cultures. But, it has not always been sunny and brighter all the time and is extremely tough for a person to enter into cooking stream and even after that, sustaining there, was a much harder task. One has to make sure that learning mainly comes by watching their seniors and have to pick up techniques as quickly as possible. They have to stay determined in their work and put up best foot forward. Later, his passion for cooking grew and he decided to work from the comfort of his home.
Chef Ziya Shahbazov belongs to Baku City in Azerbaijan and he has a wife, a seventeen years old daughter and an eight years old son in his small family. He told about the traditional Azerbaijani food that is Pulav, which is a steamed rice, very similar to the Indian method of cooking, served with meat and various vegetables like pumpkin, beans etc. to create a different experience of flavors. If they are adding meat, they prepare some dry fruits, raisins, apricots and they add sweet dry fruits while preparing rice as well. Meats are also prepared with mixed herbs, spinach and other wild herbs. Also sometimes, seasonal beans can be a great addition to it.
Around three years ago, he visited India for a Food Heritage Festival Celebration at Gobind Garh Palace, Amritsar-Punjab. That included a wide array of Indian delicacies as well as national dance forms. Many chefs round the globe gathered together and prepared the delicacies which represented their own countries. His colleagues and he cooked one of their famous chicken dishes which was highly appreciated, especially by the people of Punjab. Throughout the four-days event, they were accompanied by an escort who helped them understand Indian culture better. He took bangles as a gift for her daughter. Chef Ziya Shahbazov further added that he loved to visit India and see to it’s diversified culture where everyone lives together.
INTERVIEWED AND PICTURE COURTESY: Chef Ziya Shahbazov.
INTERVIEW TAKEN BY: Khatibah Rehmat, Senior Journalist.
CONTRIBUTED BY: Lipika Kapoor.
