What happens when an architect turns to food?
For Chef Smriti Iyer, the answer is not simply cooking. It is a way of thinking about ingredients, experiences, and what Indian food can become.
Trained as an architect and self-taught as a chef, Smriti has built her culinary journey around one clear idea—start with the ingredient, not the recipe. From her early days experimenting in hostel kitchens to MasterChef India, Smriti’s Special, and Anant India, the thread has remained the same: Indian ingredients are enough.
Her cooking is ingredient-forward, thoughtful and rooted in curiosity. Bottle gourd can take centre stage. Coconut can carry memory. Local sourcing matters, but never at the cost of quality. And food, she believes, is never just the dish—it is the whole experience around it.
There is also something refreshing about her journey. She did not wait for the conventional credentials, the perfect kitchen, or permission to begin. She built her own path, one experiment at a time.
Curious what happens when an architect starts designing food?
Read the full feature → https://www.hospemag.me/features/chef-smriti-iyer
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