Hello Donald Trump, Vikas Khanna Is Waiting To Cook Indian Cuisine At The White House – News18

Last Updated:November 07, 2024, 10:16 IST

After Donald Trump won the US presidential elections, chef Vikas Khanna wished and reminded him of a promise he had made when he visited India in 2020.

Donald Trump has been re-elected as the 47th president of the United States for a second, non-consecutive term, after defeating Vice President Kamala Harris by a large margin. As the election results showed Trump leading, American citizens and global leaders were quick to congratulate him. Among the well wishers was popular Indian chef Vikas Khanna, who reminded Trump of a promise he had made when he visited India in 2020. Khanna shared a nostalgic photo with Trump from a dinner held at Rashtrapati Bhavan, where he was invited by then-President Ram Nath Kovind. In his post, Khanna hoped that Trump would fulfill his promise of allowing him to cook traditional Indian cuisine at the White House.

In the photo, the chef is seen interacting and shaking hands with Trump. Khanna was not alone, as he was joined by Grammy winning music composer AR Rahman, who stood beside him. This picture was taken during a grand dinner event at Rashtrapati Bhavan in 2020, where Prime Minister Narendra Modi was also invited. Sharing the picture on Instagram, the MasterChef India judge wrote, “Hello Mr President. Hope to cook Indian cuisine at The White House as you promised the last time we met.”

Earlier, when Vikas Khanna had appeared on Bharti Singh and Harsh Limbachiyaa’s podcast, he criticised Donald Trump and his team for not properly celebrating Indian cuisine at the White House. The chef explained, “I got an invitation from Rashtrapati Bhavan, so when we went, Mr Rehman was standing with me and when Trump came there, I directly said, ‘Mr President, I just have a question for you. Since you are sitting as a seated President in the White House, we never had an Indian food event. I have not been invited even once since you became the President,’ and then he said, ‘We have been trying, we want to do something with Indian’.”

Khanna further shared that he wanted to see genuine appreciation for Indian culture by including Indian cuisine at major events. While he acknowledged that the pandemic had put a pause on public gatherings, he added that even before COVID-19 hit the world, there were no invitations for such events. Khanna highlighted that Indians are proud representatives of their food and culture. For him, cooking at the White House would be an honour and he is ready to do it whenever he gets a call.