“I want Indian cuisine to be seen as the local cuisine of America,” says Vikas Khanna—a vision that continues to guide his global journey. The celebrated Michelin-starred chef, humanitarian, and cultural icon has been awarded the Harvard South Asian Association’s (SAA) ‘Person of the Year 2025’, a prestigious recognition of his outstanding contributions to culinary excellence, cultural diplomacy and philanthropy. The award ceremony, that took place on April 11 at Harvard University, not only celebrated Khanna’s inspiring personal achievements but also shone the spotlight on India’s rich culinary heritage and its growing influence across the world.
“Being awarded by Harvard SAA is a big deal—they celebrate the South Asian community in the American diaspora, and to be recognised in my profession is truly amazing. People of my generation often felt like the unwanted underdogs, so to receive recognition on a global stage is a tremendous honour,” says Khanna.
This honour is not just a personal win for chef Vikas Khanna—it is an acknowledgement of what he represents: our heritage, our traditions and our culture. And Khanna understands this deeply. “To make Indian cuisine into something which we feel is now turning to be the local cuisine of America is amazing. This recognition feels like an honour for the millions of kitchens across India—its street food and street vendors—who have truly been the foundation of Indian cuisine. They are the real patriots of our cuisine and history, and I am proud to represent them every day at my restaurant, Bungalow,” adds an emotional Khanna.
Speaking of Bungalow, the restaurant completed one successful year on March 23. It has recently been awarded Michelin's Bib Gourmand distinction and continues to be rated among the top restaurants in New York. All this makes Khanna beam like a proud father.
“It’s heartwarming to receive so many global wishes from all over the world. When we started this, it was still very uncertain how a restaurant would become the central force of connecting the diaspora and connecting the Western world to India. However, in one year itself, it has set such amazing benchmarks. I do feel that an Indian restaurant owned by Indians, run by Indians, and that has made history by earning three stars from the New York Times. It is a strong testament to the ability and power of our cuisine to stand shoulder to shoulder with Western cuisine. Today, it is gaining acceptance and finding its identity."
Indeed, this one year of Bungalow has seen some major celebrations of Indian food—with global icons, influencers, local people and even people flying in especially just to eat at Bungalow.
“I have never seen this level of patronage for Indian culture and cuisine in four decades,” exclaims Khanna. “I think Bungalow stood the test of time of making many people in the West understand how deep, how intricate, how diverse our cuisine is,” he adds.
While the one-year celebrations are still on, Khanna showcased Bungalow in a brand-new avatar in April with a new menu. “I feel that we have such a huge database of flavours of India that we wanted to introduce to people so that they can find their new favourites too." While we are awaiting to find more about the new flavours that Khanna has introduced, there is one dish served at Bungalow which is very close to his heart. “It is a dish I had eaten at Sarafa in Indore. Called dahi ki tikki, it was just like a hung yoghurt cake, with semolina in it. What we serve is our dahi ke kebab where we use hung yoghurt seasoned with ginger, spices and dates and we wrap it up in kataifi (shredded filo dough) and fry it and serve it on a bed of pickled purple cabbage. This, I feel, is also introducing people to a whole new texture and culinary art of Indian food.”
While Khanna is excited about creating some very new and unique dishes—like a pickle from lotus stem, among other thing—he’s equally excited about his upcoming film, Imaginary Rain too. But he’s most excited about his new book coming out soon, titled, A day at Bungalow. “This book talks about what it takes to run Bungalow on a daily basis, and it offers deep insight into what has always been my dream project,” says Khanna before signing off.
