How One Writer/Blogger/Non-Journalist Scored a Celebrity Chef Interview

The other day I had a unique opportunity to speak with a celebrity chef. Trust me . . . he really is a celebrity chef. While not widely known to the average American, his cooking prowess can do the speaking for him far better than I can. Hari Nayak is an author, culinary consultant and an internationally recognized chef of Indian cuisine.

So the telephone conversation went something like this:

ME: Hello Chef Nayak (giggle, giggle, giggle), it’s an honor to speak with you (giggle, giggle, giggle).

CHEF NAYAK: Thank you, Valerie.

ME: Giggle, giggle, giggle.

[Momentary pause while I caught my breath. Whatever you do, do NOT tell my husband of my goofy behavior; he believes he is the only man that I gush over.]

ME: Thank you for taking time from your busy schedule to chat with me (giggle, giggle, giggle).

CHEF NAYAK: No problem. If you cannot take a call then, you know . . . if you can be anywhere, you can take a call.

ME: Giggle, giggle, giggle.

And on it went. Me, gushing uncontrollably and trying to keep from swallowing my tongue in a nervous fit, and he, being the most comforting, enigmatic and gracious of interview subjects.

Okay, I’ll be straight with you: This was my first-ever interview of anyone for an article. It felt great to dip my big toe in the hob-nobby waters of such a public figure. But in all honesty, our chat was not as sophomoric and rife with childish giggles as I make it out to be . . . although I did have every reason in the world to blush like a silly schoolgirl who had been struck over the head with the "big-ass-crush-on-you" stick. After all, this was the Chef Hari Nayak I was having a conversation with on the other end of the phone. In the past, he’s been featured in such publications as Food & Wine, Wall Street Journal, New York Times, India Times and more. It felt damned good to be in such fine company.

So how did I, an unassuming writer/blogger working out of her home office in Stamford, CT, manage to garner such an important interview?

It all began with a night of dining at an Indian restaurant, noticing a flyer for the Varli Food Festival—a first of its kind culinary event being held in NYC on Thursday, April 7, 2011,—promising myself and everyone within earshot that I was making major plans (along with the four-sizes-too-big floral print muumuu that I keep hidden in the back of my closet especially for such food emergencies) to eat my way through that festival, and, ultimately one gluttonous move led to another.

And now, my first major coup (well, in terms of celebrity chefs) is over and done with. But that's not the end of it. One celebrity chef down, one more celebrity chef to go . . .

In the meantime, you can read the article, Varli Food Festival Chef Profile: Hari Nayak, in its entirety (as it originally appeared on WomanAroundTown) and you, too, can gush over Chef Nayak. And once you’ve finished reading the article, you may want to check out his bestseller book, Modern Indian Cooking. And since I'm throwing around plugs, may as well tell you to be on the lookout for his upcoming book, My Indian Kitchen, being published by Tuttle Publishing.