Photography by Babiche Martens
They say behind every successful man is a strong woman – and that couldn’t be more true for celebrity chef Sid Sahrawat, whose wife Chand has been vital to his building a career as one of New Zealand’s top cooks and restaurateurs.
But as she prepares to turn 40, it’s time for Chand to step out of the shadows as she seeks to reconnect with the country of their birth. Restaurateur, mother, wife and hospitality industry spokesperson, Chand looks to have life sorted, yet scratch below the surface and there has been a self-described “identity crisis” at play for decades.
A lifelong cultural clash instilled a sense in Chand of never quite fitting in – but for their family’s sake, Chand and Sid, 44, are determined to reconnect with the culture of their birthplace.
“I was born in New Delhi and grew up as an only child in a city called Pune,” she says. “My family was Hindu, but nuns taught me at a Catholic school. So things were already a bit confusing early on!”
“India was still really conservative then, but there was lots of Western influence on pop culture. We wanted to dress like the Spice Girls, but if I wore a short skirt or three-quarter pants, I’d get teased.”
But Chand’s parents, Sangeta and Raj, raised her to question things: “Why can boys go out late, but girls have a strict curfew? Why can a boy date a bunch of girls and his reputation isn’t tarnished, but a girl would be called names for doing the same?
My parents soon realised the modern views they’d raised me to have were getting me into trouble. The best thing for me to do was head overseas.”
Arriving in Aotearoa in 2002, aged 17, she struggled to fit in. Most people with Indian heritage were at least second-generation. She didn’t feel accepted by them. Her Indian identity – already conflicted – grew new faultlines.
However, Chand’s shaky foundations in New Zealand strengthened when she met her husband-to-be, Sid, through friends. “I thought, ‘He’s pretty hot… and he has a cool car!’” she laughs.
Chand was 19 and Sid 24 when they clicked, and the couple married two years later. Sid was starting to build a reputation as a chef to watch and in living with him, Chand’s palate was opened to a world of new flavours. Her lifetime vegetarianism went out the window as she says she “assimilated to Sid’s way of cooking”.
When Sid established his first restaurant in 2009, Chand was on hand to help. “I’d just started my teaching career. But at the same time, I was on the phone sorting out a gas bottle for Sid so the restaurant could open!”
Sid describes Chand as vital to his success – it was she who drove him to expand, he explains. “It was Chand who pushed me to go beyond the first restaurant, to open Cassia.”
Cassia, a modern love letter to the food of the couple’s Indian roots, was an instant success and was soon followed by restaurants three and four. Today, Sid is one of the country’s most acclaimed chefs.
As the couple went on to open more establishments, Chand’s level-headedness and appetite for hard graft made her a natural fit to manage the operations. Fitting it all in while raising the couple’s two children, Zoya, 13, and Roan, nine.
However, being so busy with family and businesses, and having lived in New Zealand for over two decades, Chand and Sid drifted apart from the culture of their upbringing. Chand was confronted with this when she was asked to speak to an Indian Association women’s group.
“I had to wear a sari for the first time in years, I didn’t know how to drape it properly and I didn’t feel comfortable. I felt I must seem like an imposter up there in front of ‘real’ Indian women.” She recalls.
But she says looking at the diversity of the audience – from entrepreneurs and architects to “old aunties” – helped her reframe her perception of what it means to be Indian and she was determined to overcome her identity crisis.
When Chand and Sid established production of their Cassia at Home range of sauces in India. Travelling there to do business was a learning curve for the couple. Sid had left India as a 14-year-old to do a cheffing apprenticeship in Dubai. The couple have only visited a handful of times since.
“People do business there so differently to here,” explains Chand. “We turned up to a first meeting with all the legal paperwork and they’re like, ‘Whoa, that’s not how we do it!’”
However, returning to India kindled a flame. “We started falling in love with the country again,” she tells. In what feels a full-circle moment, the couple are both leading small group tours to their homeland with Good Food Journeys.
Just back from a recent getaway, Chand says, “The tour was amazing and so much fun. I loved seeing India from other people’s eyes. Probably for the first time in 22 years, I could consider moving there.” Whereas teenage Chand wanted to distance herself from a culture she saw as oppressive towards girls and women. She now appreciates “the powerful role women have played in India’s history”.
She enthuses, “India today is vastly more progressive. Seeing India’s president Droupadi Murmu speak was an emotional moment for me. India has now had two women presidents before the US has even had one, which is incredible!”
Strengthening ties to India is important not just for herself but for the whole family, she says. “Zoya and Roan don’t speak Hindi. I sort of can, but Sid struggles. He finds it hard communicating with his Indian chefs and needs me to translate.
“Roan sees himself as half-Kiwi, half-Indian. I had to explain to him that both his parents are Indian, which makes him Indian!”
This year, the kids holidayed in India with Chand’s parents, who now live in Auckland, and that switched a light on.
“They went on a tiger safari, stayed in a palace and visited their great-grandfather in Goa,” tells Chand. “Our kids think India’s the coolest place on Earth… and Sid and I agree.” Sid’s Good Food Journeys Culinary Tour to South India departs in April 2025 from Mumbai.
For more info, see goodfoodjourneys.com
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