As a seasoned writer and editor for publications Forbes, Food & Wine, and Haute Living, Rahim Kanani knows how to spot quality.
In his new book, A Wealth of Insight: The World’s Best Chefs on Creativity, Leadership and Perfection, Kanani dives into what it takes to run an award-winning restaurant. In order to find out, he profiles over 45 award-winning chefs, with almost 100 Michelin stars between them. “I walked away with a sense of wonder and curiosity not just about the world of cuisine, but about life,” he reveals
As Ferran Adrià – five-time winner of the World’s Best Restaurant Chef – notes in the book’s forward, Kanani’s study is the “first-ever comprehensive and authentic exploration of originality in contemporary cuisine, and a true world atlas of creativity and innovation of the 21st century kitchen.”
Rahim Kanani Investigates What Drives Outstanding Chefs
Kanani’s project began after eating at minibar, an experimental eatery in Washington DC from renowned Chef José Andrés. The Vancouver native realized there must be a fascinating human back-story to top restaurants.
“I went to the bookstore thinking there would be a book on this,” Kanani recalls. “To see what world class chefs have in common – and it didn’t exist.” So he stepped in to fill the void.
Kanani has years of experience in interviewing stars like Alicia Keyes, Madonna, Anthony Bourdain, and 50 Cent. With this experience, and one interview-based collection of profiles under his belt already, this chef project called to him.
“The whole theater of the experience was very exciting and mysterious at the same time,” he explains. He wanted to investigate how top chefs create memorable eating experiences and discover the secrets behind their kitchen doors.
Uncovering Secrets of Culinary Success
The chefs Kanani profiled differed in every way but one – talent. Across the board, the cuisine maestros amazed Kanani with their understanding of the craft.
“Just as a musician can form a piece of music in their mind long before they even write it down, these chefs can taste various ingredients mixed together, mentally, before they go into the kitchen,” Kanani explains. “Their memory bank is full of hundreds, if not thousands, of ingredients.”
Kanani also noted that nearly all of the chefs carried around a notebook at all time. With a notebook in hand, no sudden inspiration would go forgotten. And much like poets or painters, great chefs can derive inspiration from anything – smells, feelings, memories, sensations.
As a writer himself, Kanani understands this practice. “They recognize how fleeting inspiration actually can be. So they always write down immediately what’s in their head—what they’re seeing and feeling, because these are all things that they can reference later.”
Washington Inspires Rahim Kanani
Although Kanani ultimately traveled far afield to profile the best of the best, he attributes his inspiration to his home base: Washington, DC.
“It’s a place to start a new restaurant, a place to experience a wide range of cuisines within the food industry because of the kind of larger global nature of the city itself,” he explains. “There’s a natural diversity there that’s been tapped into. That’s why so many cuisines are flourishing here.”
It was in that flourishing environment that Kanani first realized how rich the culture of cuisine could be. He saw how food and art could intertwine in the hands of the world’s greatest chefs, like DC’s Jose Andres.
“A Wealth of Insight” is published by Black Truffle Press.
