NARAYANAN KRISHNAN - A CHEF WHO COOKS FOR THE HUNGRY

How many of us would renounce a well paying job to help others in need? Many of us would flinch at the whole idea but not Narayanan Krishnan.

Narayanan Krishnan is a chef with skills that world class kitchens covet but compassion overrides his top notch profession. When he saw people in the place where he grew up who were so hungry, they ate human waste, he was horrified and decided to do something to remedy the extreme needliness he witnessed and  it completely altered his world perspective. Following that introspection, he traded in his toque-blanche and his salary to instead, cook for the people in need.

Raised in Madurai, India, Krishnan, who belonged to the Brahmin caste - the highest echelon of Indian society led a privileged life. 

He discovered his passion for cooking at a young age and followed it all the way to college, where he obtained a Bachelor’s Degree in Hotel Management. 

His talent and hard work paved way for a promising career path in Europe and before chasing what he thought is his calling, the young chef first traveled back to his hometown where he was confronted with the extreme poverty and hunger that burdened his community. It was there that he experienced a silent revolution of self-realization that forced him to ask himself whether he was doing the righteous thing rather than the right thing and it changed his life in an unimaginable way for the Brahmin community he belonged to. 

Without further ado, Krishnan moved his life back to Madurai, with a new mission: helping the needy. He went against his family’s and friends’ disapproval and began using all of his savings to feed, bath and even shave whomever needs it. 

It was only when he took his mother along to see the work that he was doing and the change he was bringing did he gained his family’s support to soldier on. 

Krishnan explains:

“Several old people fell at her feet and told her that they were alive only because of her son who was feeding them. My mother stood with tears in her eyes and she told me, ‘you feed these people and I will feed you as long as I am alive.’” 

In 2003, Krishnan founded his nonprofit Akshaya Trust, and has now served millions of meals to India’s homeless, elderly and most destitute people. “Everybody has 5.5 liters of blood.  Everybody is the same,” says Krishnan, who, since has rescinded his Brahmin elevated status (a very rare deed in caste system steeped India) and instead identifies only as human.

Today, Krishnan continues to pursue his passion for cooking; except now he is cooking for the people who need it most. “What is the ultimate purpose of life?” he asks. “It is to give. Start giving. See the joy of giving.”

ROCK ON NARAYANAN KRISHNAN!

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