SHILLONG, July 16: Shillong-born executive chef, Tenzing Tsering has realised his American dream through the restaurant business.
Born to a Khasi father and a Tibetan mother and brought up at Mission Compound, Tsering runs the Punda Tibetan Restaurant in New York.
He took up a job as a mathematics teacher in Karnataka after graduating from St Anthony’s College in 1988 but left it to work as an accountant at a firm in Nepal. He turned to cooking – something he loved – and there was no looking back.
His culinary skills took him to the US, where he rose to become a food entrepreneur. He is now a member of the American Culinary Federation and the World Association of Chefs Societies.
Currently in Shillong, he shared his journey from Shillong to New York with a section of reporters.
Tsering said he never thought of becoming a chef even though he had a keen interest in cooking right from his childhood.
“I used to help a chef who cooked for us in the hostel. I use to help my mother run her restaurant by working in the kitchen,” he said.
The chef-restauranteur said he had also worked at a Punjabi dhaba on the Shillong-Guwahati Road as a dishwasher.
Tsering said that the turning point of his life was when he won a gold medal at a competition in Moscow in 1998 where chefs from 72 countries had taken part.
“I was the only one to get the gold medal. This moment convinced me that I should take cooking as my profession,” he said.
He recalled serving Khasi dishes such jadoh and dohkhlieh to one of the mayors in Russia.
The mayor relished the dishes and Tsering told it they were from his home state known as the wettest place on earth.
He also said that he promotes Khasi dishes whenever he gets an opportunity, especially at festivals.
“It is not possible to do it every now and then,” he said.
After a three-year stint in Moscow, Tsering worked in Siberia and Paris before landing in New York.
Every cook, he said, has a speciality.
“There are two types of cooks – one whose sole purpose is to earn money and the other who thinks about the health of the people he caters to. I belong to the latter category as the health of my clients is important to me,” he said.
Tsering said he would like to cook Japanese food as it is healthier.
“To become an executive chef, you will have to explore everything – Chinese, continental, or Indian,” he said.
Tsering is also a qualified Ayurveda and naturopathy practitioner. He treats people at his clinic in New York free of cost from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. every day.
“I love Ayurveda since it is a natural way of curing diseases. I have been treating people free of cost since I came to Shillong,” he said.
In his message to the younger generation, Tsering said it is important to be focused and pursue one’s passion.
“I have seen the tribal youth giving up halfway. I would not have come this far had I given up,” he said.
