Suvir Saran
Executive Chef: Dévi, New York, NY
Competing for Agricultural Stewardship Association
An accomplished chef, cookbook author, educator, and farmer, Chef Suvir Saran views the kitchen as both a culinary and spiritual haven. Born in New Delhi, India, Saran has nurtured a lifelong passion for the traditional flavors of Indian cooking. As Executive Chef of Dévi, Saran shares the authentic flavors of Indian home the heart of New York City. Devi has consistently received popular and critical acclaim and has earned a three-star rating from New York Magazine and two stars from The New York Times. It is the only Indian restaurant in the U.S. to have earned a Michelin star. A respected culinary authority, Saran is Chairman of Asian Culinary Studies for The Culinary Institute of America (CIA). He has also led classes for culinary centers and schools nationwide including the Institute for Culinary Education, Sur La Table; Williams-Sonoma at Time Warner Center, Central Market, and Apron’s Cooking School at Publix. Saran’s approachable and informed style has helped to demystify Indian cuisine in America, and ultimately formed American Masala, his culinary philosophy that celebrates the best of Indian and American cooking. He is a contributor to Food Arts Magazine and has penned several cookbooks including Indian Home Cooking: A Fresh Introduction to Indian Food, with More Than 150 Recipes (Clarkson Potter, 2004) with Stephanie Lyness and American Masala: 125 New Classics From My Home Kitchen (Clarkson Potter, 2007) with Raquel Pelzel. Saran is the only U.S.-based contributor to the largest Indian cookbook ever published, India Cookbook, featuring 1,000 recipes (Phaidon Press, 2010). Saran and partner Charlie Burd live and care for American Masala Farm, a nineteenth century farm in upstate New York. Dedicated to the recommendations of the American Livestock Breed Conservancy (ALBC) in choosing the farm’s animal population, Saran and Burd exemplify farm-to-table living by providing local restaurants with their heritage breed eggs and goat’s meat.
