“So this whole thing that, well, you know, ethnic cuisines can only be cooked by people from an ethnic background. I think that's bullshit.” Aktar Islam · The Go To Food Podcast
Food & Beverage · September 2026
Islam, a Michelin-starred chef cooking Indian food in Birmingham, had just called protectionism in cooking a form of racism and pointed to how diverse his own kitchen is. His test is investment rather than ancestry — time, effort, language, living in the country. He finished the thought by describing a cook with family ties to India and asking whether skin tone should disqualify him.
Transcript
done. Like, you know, even if you look at Ofime, the team is like super diverse. Because one of the things I've always fought against as well is protectionism and almost to a degree, a form of racism in cooking. You
know,
I've always believed that if you love something and honestly passionate about something, enough, you know, invest enough time and effort, you can do whatever, irrespective of your cultural background and your colour of your skin. So this whole thing that, well, you know, ethnic cuisines can only be cooked by people from an ethnic background. I think that's bullshit. Yeah,
yeah.
Because that's wrong. Because if someone's invested in it, I mean, the guy's spent a lot of time living in India. He's got family ties in India. He understands the culture. He speaks the language. But just because of his skin tone, are you going to tell him he can't... He
hasn't got the right to. Yeah.
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