The 22 year old Kirti Bhoutika from Kolkata emerged as the winner of Master Chef India Season 5 in a heart throbbing season finale where she competed against the other three finalists-Ashima Arora, Dinesh Patel and Mirvaan Vinayak- who went head to head to win the prestigious title.
Kirti won millions of hearts while she showcased her culinary skills in Master Chef India Season 5. The panel of judges which includes, Michelin-starred chef Vikas Khanna, Chef Kunal Kapur, and restaurateur Zorawar Kalra, were in awe of her talent. The other female winners, Pankaj Bhadouria and Shipra Khanna, have gone ahead to make their own individual mark on the Indian culinary scene and the same is expected from her.
Kirit is a home-baker with a skill set that has now proved to be unmatched. She was the youngest female contestant on the show to win the title. Kirti born on 25th August 1995 in Kolkata, West Bengal completed Graduation in Food & Nutrition from J.D. Birla Institute, Kolkata. She started her career as a Chef from at an early age of 18 years and owned a small home bakery with the name of Sugar Plum Cakery. Kirti multi- tasked her business, college and teaching tutions all at the same time. She is also a trained dancer and a painter. She wants to open a food studio where she plans to teach baking. Her inquisitiveness made her to practice more and more while learning from television and youtube. She is a truly an inspiration and Student Stories recently interviewed her in the interview below.
In conversation with Kirti Bhoutika :
1. “And the winner of the Master Chef Season 5 is…” What was going on in your mind at that moment and when your name was announced how did you feel?
I was just looking back and thinking about all those people who had faith in me. My parents, family, friends and followers and everyone who thought I had it in me when I didn’t. All the good and bad moments kept coming back to me like flashbacks. I was proud of myself. I was happy that I made my believers happy and proved my non-believers wrong. That moment changed my life irrevocably.
2. The age of 11 when all kids are busy in watching cartoons and doing fun stuff, you developed your interest in baking. Who inspired you for cooking and baking?
I think it was my love for sweets that made me want to bake them myself so I could eat more of them. Honestly, no one in my family has a culinary background, so my interest is self developed. Like every kid, I wanted to become a lot of things in the past, right from a designer to an artist to an astronaut. Thankfully, I finally found my passion in cooking and it took me places.
3. Kirti, you are a trained dancer, you also love to read and painT too! You are blessed with sO many talents. Still you chose cooking as your career, Why?
I think I did not choose cooking as my career. cooking chose me. Master Chef happened to me right after my college. I won master chef at a very deciding stage of my life so I would say god actually paved my way himself. I am very blessed. Now there is no turning back.
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4. ‘Sugar Plum Cakery’. What’s behind the name?
When I was in high school, i hosted a ‘summer cooking camp’ for kids along with my best friend to have some fun and earn some pocket-money. We named our camp ‘sugarplum’. after school, when I wanted to start my bakery in college, I decided to take that name forward because it was pretty lucky for us the last time.
5. With managing a bakery you also had your full-time college and taught tuitions. Kirti how did you managed to do all such things together?
My passion keeps me going. I am a workaholic and I can go hours and hours without sleep, water and food if I am working. My work is like god for me and I knew someday, this hard work would pay off. And it did. It always does.
6. When you look behind on the days when you went to baking classes as a student to the position where you are today, you have achieved so much in life. How was your journey?
If I had to shorten the entire journey to one word, it would be ‘learning’. I think life is all about learning and one learns at every step in his life. Every person you meet is a teacher and every day is a lesson. It’s up to us how much we can grab from situations and shine. That is the policy I have applied all my life. I have just accepted knowledge and learning that is in so much abundance everywhere around us. The whole transition from a home-cook to a celebrity chef has changed me as a person.
7. “As long as you know how to bake, life is sure to be sweet”. As a chef and a baker how do you connect with this quote?
My life has become what it is today only because I know how to bake. Baking gives me a reason to wake up every morning. I am very sensitive about baking. it’s the heart in my art that keeps me alive.
