Chef Asma Khan Champions Seasonal Cooking
London chef Asma Khan, who runs one of the world's only all-female restaurant kitchens, advocates for mindful, seasonal cooking using local ingredients and adapting menus based on availability. Khan's approach means omitting items like okra when out of season, emphasizing both sustainability and creativity. Her philosophy encourages conscious dining and highlights the evolving relationship between chefs, ingredients, and environmental responsibility.
- Before her culinary career, Asma Khan earned a PhD in British Constitutional Law. She started her journey in food by hosting supper clubs at her London home in 2012 to recreate the dishes she missed from her childhood in Calcutta. - The staff in her all-female kitchen are not professionally trained chefs but immigrant home cooks. Khan's goal is to challenge the idea that women should only cook for free within their families and to provide a professional platform for their skills. - A portion of Darjeeling Express's profits funds Khan's "Second Daughters Fund," a charity that supports and celebrates the birth of second daughters in India, a response to the cultural preference for sons. - Khan was the first British chef to be featured on the Netflix series "Chef's Table," which significantly raised her international profile. In 2024, TIME magazine named her one of the 100 most influential people in the world. - In addition to omitting out-of-season produce, Khan's sustainability efforts include eliminating single-use plastics and minimizing food waste. She adapts traditional Indian recipes to local British ingredients, such as using beetroot from the Fens for a Bengali "chop" or substituting local beans for Indian varieties. - In early 2026, Darjeeling Express is scheduled to move to a new, larger location on Rupert Street in Soho. The 5,600-square-foot space will seat 130 diners, and the expanded kitchen will allow for a broader menu. - Proceeds from her restaurant have also been used to establish an all-female café for ISIS survivors in Northern Iraq. On Sundays, when her restaurant is closed, Khan offers the space for free to aspiring female chefs to host their own supper clubs. - The professional kitchen remains a male-dominated industry, with women making up only 18.5% of chefs in the UK. Khan actively works against the often-hostile kitchen culture by fostering a supportive environment where staff are paid equally and have been known to sing together during service.
