For more content from City A.M. – The Magazine like this interview, click here Food writer and restaurateur Ravinder Bhogal interviewed her friend Nitin Sawhney, the composer, producer, and multi-instrumentalist, at her restaurant Jikoni.
Here’s what happened. Nitin Sawhney: Hi Ravinder, how’s it going, are you in a good place? Ravinder Bhogal: Yeah, I’m good! I’m having a year for me , after two pretty hectic years of book promotion. I’m taking a year to really find joy.
NS: Well that’s what your book, Comfort & Joy, is about! How’s that going? RB: Comfort & Joy has done really well. I went to the States and did all the festivals in the UK so it was hectic but really joyful. The last book came out during the pandemic so there were no live events.
NS: You’ve had such a successful career as a writer as well as an amazing chef. That’s what I’m full of admiration for, you’ve had these parallel careers and they compliment each other. Do you have a love for one over the other or do you feel they cross-fertilise? RB: We’re quite similar in a way: you’re also multi hyphenate, you’re a polymath, you do so much, but I think the similarity in the writing and cooking is it’s about giving a service to someone.
It’s about how you make someone feel when they read a piece you’ve written or eat a meal you’ve cooked. I think similarly you’re like that with music, ultimately you know it’s going to move someone in a certain way and I think there’s a j.