Celebrity chef Vikas Khanna has just been nominated for the James Beard Award aka the Oscars of the food world and the only person he has to thank is his beloved late sister Radhika Khanna.
Khanna was nominated for Best Chef: New York State for his restaurant, Bungalow.
The star chef shared the update in a heartfelt Instagram post for his sister, who he says has inspired him on numerous occasions to dare to dream.
Sharing an anecdote from 2004, Khanna said his sister was standing next to him as he cooked his first ever dinner with James Beard, barely speaking English.
“On August 23, 2004, my sister changed my life – and gave me a dream. That night I cooked my first ever dinner with James Beard: Taste of India. I was nervous. Overwhelmed. Overwhelmingly grateful,” he wrote. “Radha came to help me – and stood next to me during the acceptance speech. I barely spoke English then.”
Radhika, who trusted her brother fully, arranged for an English tutor for them on their way back from the event. “And she said something that quietly became the compass of my life: ‘Vik, one day you will represent India in the world. So let’s start preparing’.”
Vikas Khanna, who was also nominated for the same award in 2013, said, “Yesterday, when I was shortlisted for BEST CHEF: New York State (2026) – the only Indian on the list – it felt like life had come full circle. The James Beard Awards are known as the Oscars of the food world.”
“This one is very yyyyy special”: Vikas Khanna
Vikas Khanna has always talked about ‘Bungalow’ with reference to Radhika, who he said wanted it to be a “deeper restaurant”. As this award nomination came for Bungalow, Khanna said, “Though I was already nominated in 2013, but this one is very yyyyy special.”
“I know she is smiling somewhere watching her dream unfold,” he wrote in the post.
He wrote: “A few things that stick with me from that day: 1. The last glass of champagne I ever drank was after that dinner. She said, ‘The next toast is when you win a Michelin star'”
“2. My entrepreneurial journey in America – selling food, starting from nothing – was rooted in one belief she gave me: Self-employed people always start at the bottom,” he added.
“3. My guardian angel. Always in front of me. Always watching over me,” Khanna wrote in the post, adding that the list is endless. “It’s still evolving. Still guided by her faith.”
