Qureshis of Lucknow: the taste-makers of modern Indian cuisine

Meet the Qureshis. The first family of Indian cuisine, whose recipe for success borrows as much from tradition as it does from good old-fashioned ingenuity.

One of the stories that Imtiaz Qureshi loves to tell is about how he tricked Jawaharlal Nehru.

The chief minister of Uttar Pradesh, CB Gupta, had invited Prime Minister Nehru, Indira Gandhi, Lal Bahadur Shastri and Zakir Husain for a private dinner in the early ’60s. Nehru accepted reluctantly, and only on the condition that the food be pure vegetarian.

Gupta called for Imtiaz, then a young cook with Lucknow’s famous caterer Krishna Hotel, to take care of the meal. Imtiaz protested. He knew nothing about vegetables. But Gupta convinced him to take on the order and the worried chef spent the next month furiously figuring out how to make it work.

From left: Imran, Ishtiaque and Ehsan Qureshi, all established chefs, with their father Imtiaz, the first in the family to work in a commercial kitchen.

Foreign aid: Irfan (left)and Ashfaque Qureshi are taking Awadhi food abroad. (Photo: Sanjeev Verma)