Kunal Vijaykar is the Foodie. This short, stout little man is a true foodie and one of the great television hosts. The Foodie is a program about - yes you got it right - food and it is telecast on Times Now on Saturday at 5:30pm, repeat telecast on Sunday morning 11:30am and 7:30pm.
The program is a touring cookery show. Most of the TV channels now have such shows eg : Highway on my Plate, Chak Le India on NDTV Good Times and Secret Kitchen on CNN-IBN. But it is the Foodie, which is the first and the best of the lot. The program is hosted by Kunal Vijaykar, who is the one of the best TV show hosts.
The format of the program is very simple, Kunal goes out in search of food and he goes not just all over India, but he travels around the world. He meets interesting people, including celebrities and talks to them about food. He visits popular restaurants and introduces us to different cuisines. He also shows the making of these foods and of course eats them with gusto. No dainty forks and spoons for Vijaykar, he loves to eat with his hands and licks his fingers to show his appreciation of good food.
The show has had some real good episodes, including:
The episode featuring Dharmendra was one of the best episodes. The program took us down memory lane, giving an insight into Dharam paaji’s career and of course his love - for food. Dharam took Kunal to one of his favourite restaurants and what followed was a royal feast with Dharam paji showing that age hasn’t whetted his appetite.
The show with Jumping Jack Jeetendra was yet another great episode. Jeetendra took the show to his favourite sea food restaurant. He revealed one of this famous health secrets which is ’Don’t drink water for atleast 2 hours after a meal, this allows the digestion process to take place well’. Sounds strange, but this is Jeetu’s secret. Some of the other celebrities featured on the show were Harbhajan Singh, Diya Mirza, Sonam Kapoor, Prahlad Kakkar.
One of the episodes featured Kunal’s crazy friend Cyrus Broacha. The two of then in Jai-Veeru style took off on a scooter and visited Mumbai eateries, with a laugh riot all the way. Another episode with Boman Irani was equally funny.
The show has covered all types of cuisine - Punjabi, Gujarati, Chinese, Kerala, Chettinad and many more. The show at the Naval Catering Institute was very interesting and provided insights into life in the navy and also some interesting dining etiquette at the navy. Sample this, when the captain finishes his meal and lays down his knife and fork, the dinner is over - whether you have eaten or not! Many more such interesting information is revealed by Kunal in this wonderful show. One interesting episode was about a wife who wanted her husband to learn cooking and Kunal took him to a catering college and made him learn cooking and whip up a meal for his wife at the end of the show.
The show has had some gruesome moments too - particularly the one in Australia when Kunal ate Emu, Ostrich and Kangaroo!
Overall the program is interesting to watch, well hosted and if you are a foodie like me, you will surely enjoy it.