With Asian Heritage Month kicking off, what better way to celebrate learning about Asian Heritage, like the kind of foods they make and eat? A lot of people are already familiar with sushi, kim-chi, and a lot of other meals and delicacies, but what about food of the South Asian variety? There’s lots of that and it comes in a variety of styles with amazing flavours. There’s a great 4 part Telus series coming out on CBC Gem focusing on this kind of food, and you ought to check it out.
The series is called Not Your Butter Chicken, and as you might’ve guessed, butter chicken isn’t in a single episode. If it were at all, there’d probably be a different title. As the viewer is treated to a journey of different foods in different locations, they learn more than just recipes, like untold stories and lessons about life from South Asians. Hosted by Shiva Reddy of Vancouver, she brings us along for more than expected from a typical doc series about restaurants with all the stories that manage to be included in every episode.
But I didn’t speak to Shiva for this article, I spoke to the director, Priyanka Desai. Because her and I met in person long ago during pre-COVID times and chatted for a bit. She was recommended by a former writer and I learned she was looking for work maintaining social media. She really stepped it up since then and talking to her was an amazing experience for me, but so was learning about this show. Now, grab a plate while I dish out some hefty servings of the main course, this interview.
HNMAG: When we last met you were mainly working in social media, how did you get into making your own films and series?
Priyanka Desai: I did a bunch of random media-related jobs, I actually now hate doing social media because it’s such a beast I hired other people to do it for me. I’ve been a journalist all my life, so I worked as a broadcaster in India and worked on television documentaries for a long time. I produced, directed, so yeah. Documentaries were something I have been doing for a long time. Mostly working for television, documentary TV shows, and whatnot. After I moved here, that was the only thing I knew how to do best, so I got into documentary filmmaking and Canada is such a great place for making documentaries and there’s a really healthy appetite for documentaries in films and tv shows, so I’m just so excited to be living and working here.
HNMAG: And what else have you been up to in terms of film work?
Priyanka Desai: I mainly work as a producer most of the time, story producing, line producing, doing business affairs. It’s something that I’m learning more and more towards these days. I’m actually co-producing another documentary series for Telus Originals, it’s called Our Ocean Table, and with two amazing producers: Joelle Wong and Sonya Lee. It’s co-directed by John Chang and Sonya Lee, and it’s hosted by Sonya Lee and Hannah Sung. I’m really excited for that upcoming doc series and it’s going to go out pretty soon. I’m also line-producing a feature doc and pitching my new feature doc that I’ll soon be directing this year in Chhalla.
HNMAG: I understand you’ve worked on some other series about food. Have you worked in restaurants yourself and/or have a deep understanding of cooking and cuisine?
Priyanka Desai: I do not actually, but I love cooking. I would say that while up in Mumbai, I grew up in a household where my mom did not ask us to learn cooking because she always wanted us to focus on careers, universities, so she kept us out of the kitchen. I honestly did not know how to cook until I was in my late 30’s, when I moved to Canada. I was here by myself and found myself missing home, and started cooking, started learning how to cook out of memory. Whatever I’ve remembered of the food we ate at home, sometimes getting recipes through video calls.
After gaining those skills, Priyanka says her friends call her a pretty good cook. I ought to sample some of her dishes myself if I ever get a chance.
HNMAG: And this is a TELUS original series, did you acquire a fund through some method like Storyhive?
Priyanka Desai: TELUS Originals is different from Storyhive, like the commissioning process is a bit different. I had worked as a story producer and one of the producers for a series by Black Rhino Creative. It’s called House Special and I had experience of working on that project. That’s how TELUS wanted to specifically work on a doc series on South Asian stories through food. That’s how Not Your Butter Chicken came about.
HNMAG: So you worked with TELUS before?
Priyanka Desai: Yes, House Special was funded by Telus, so that’s one thing. I had worked indirectly with TELUS before, I line produced a feature documentary called Mareya Shot, Keeta Goal: Make the Shot about young Punjabi hockey players in Canada. I had some experience working with TELUS, so at this time, and this project I got to directly work with them. It was such an amazing experience and big learning curve for me.
HNMAG: It lasts about 4 episodes, what does an individual episode cover?
Priyanka Desai: Each episode takes you to a different city, so we filmed in Kamloops and Kelowna in BC, and Fort McMurray and Lethbridge in Alberta. The episodes are driven by host Shiva Reddy who’s an amazing food and wine expert based out of Vancouver. She also is a columnist for CBC, so it was such a delight working with her and following her to these cities because unfortunately a few years ago her mom was diagnosed with Dementia. The premise of the series is that watching her mom lose those memories, what she’s trying to piece together through her travels in BC and Alberta. Through this thread that we follow throughout the four episodes, we are meeting different people who we met in these cities who speak to a specific team in each episode.
Starting out, the first episode’s theme is “Food is Savour” suggesting how it is a selfless act, being a service to others. Priyanka explained how that was a great value of South Asian and Punjabi culture. She talked quite a bit about how in episode 1 there is free food to the community every Sunday.
HNMAG: I’ve also noticed it’s already available on the official website before getting listed on CBC Gem. Are the CBC Gem episodes meant to be longer?
Priyanka Desai: Nope, it’s the same length. It was available on TELUS for a year and will continue being available on the OPTIK TV. At the same time, you can watch it on our website. Those who are also in BC and Alberta can watch it on TELUS OPTIK TV, and those who are outside can watch it on CBC Gem starting May 1st.
HNMAG: So you’re making it more accessible for people around Canada and hopefully worldwide?
Priyanka Desai: Yes, the plan is we know that especially where I am right now, the Greater Toronto Area has such a big thriving population of South Asian people. Also there’s a great appetite for South Asian stories, on this side of the country as well. We’re really excited for these stories to be watched and also looking forward to see how it resonates with the community here.
HNMAG: And you’ve had past event screenings last year? What kind of feedback did you get from the audience?
Priyanka Desai: A lot of people resonated with the fact that a lot of our recipes and food, is just becoming a mere memory and it’s not documented. So many people came back to me saying, “My grandma made this” or “My mom used to make this” or “My Dad used to cook this” and “I don’t have the recipe anymore and I wish I had documented that” and I feel like this series is biding a reminder to people to start documenting their own culture, their own traditional stories and family recipes which is so important and priceless. That’s something that I’ve heard a lot from people.
Priyanka went on to explain that people are really resonating with what Shiva shares in the series, from her personal experience as a Canadian and a South-Asian at the time, to dealing with navigating her dual identity. The food and wine industry in Vancouver itself is widely dominated by white people and being someone like Shiva is a big and difficult task. So many people can resonate with that experience, and with all the interesting characters included throughout the series, like an amazing woman who was once a superstar in India who did many features and over 500 music videos. After she and her husband moved to Alberta for work, it was a struggle for her to navigate this new setting but you learn all about it in the second episode, Ready to Roti.
HNMAG: So there are some interesting stories, are there any recipes featured in the episodes as well?
Priyanka Desai: There is actually, there’s a really interesting recipe featured which is a Duvali recipe. That’s in our third episode where we talk about Darkness to Light. I also want to tell you that this is not a food recipe show, this is a cultural show, I always like to talk about social justice through food. That’s something I wanted to do through Not Your Butter Chicken, talk about our values, stories, culture, through food. You won’t probably learn how to make a certain recipe, certainly not butter chicken. (laughs) But yeah, we do touch upon certain recipes, there’s a really interesting recipe that Shiva’s mom made for Duvali and for her. We tried to recreate it, I wanted to see how can she create this recipe from her memory for her mom this time. Then there is another recipe of Carda Prashad and Pourri. People who speak with no Punjabi culture would resonate with that a lot, one of our characters who we met was a scientist. He’s working in wheat production and bettering the production to make something like pourri which is made out of wheat flour and share it with other people. We had some really heartful moments in the episode.
HNMAG: You mentioned that you went through different areas in BC and Alberta. Was the traveling part easy or hard?
Priyanka Desai: I had been to Lethbridge for another TV show, in fact I’d been to Lethbridge and I thought I would never go back there again. Because it was really challenging to find stories, especially South Asian stories. It took a lot of research, I mean cold-calling. I called pizza places, and a lot of random people because I didn’t know any South Asians in Lethbridge. It was really hard at the beginning, but then once I was able to see there’s one person and then you find the other person. It was really an interesting experience to know their stories because it’s a really small community so they try to keep it on the down-low. Initially, it was a bit tough to convince them to be on the show, but finally we managed to find some beautiful stories and people to be part of that episode.
HNMAG: And what was it like working with Shiva Reddy?
Priyanka Desai: I loved working with Shiva, Shiva is known for her Shiva trivia. Most random food and things facts while working with her, so that was amazing. We were a really small crew. Only 5 to 6 people on set everytime, so everyone was kind of doing everything. It was almost like going out and being on set with the most amazing people and having fun while working. A lot of the time, things do not pan out the way we wanted. But we were quick to pivot, and Shiva was such a sport. Working along with the crew and going along with the flow. That was amazing.
HNMAG: Will there be further productions involving other places in BC or even other provinces?
Priyanka Desai: I would LOVE to do another season of Not Your Butter Chicken. Bring me fundings and I’ll do it! (laughs)
HNMAG: Did you get a chance to try any dishes and meals, were they all delicious?
Priyanka Desai: It’s so beautiful, in the first episode you will see Meera Bains’s mom doing the traditional meals from her culture. It’s a very specific delicacy, and she invited us into her home to come and film this with her. It was such a fun moment to be able to film that scene with her friends over. After we wrapped, she almost scolded us and said “You guys are NOT leaving the house without eating” so we had to sit down, eat the food, and then leave. There was some really hearty moments like that, we had some great food in Fort McMurray, we had this amazing delicacy which was kind of like pasta.
She explained some of the delectable delicacies she enjoyed while working and while I don’t eat Indian food often, this was making me hungry. Priyanka said that Meera’s mother made the meals nice and hot, and there were lots of other interesting food moments happening, as Priyanka described them.
HNMAG: Was there anything you wanted to include in the series, but couldn’t?
Priyanka Desai: There was this one thing that I really wanted to touch upon but probably that’s a good thing for season 2. I want to talk more about the students who are new immigrants to Canada, and their life and touching upon how they navigate their life here in Canada. Something that I’m personally very very interested in focusing on, and then there was another aspect that I really wanted to talk about. But you know, you can’t talk about everything in just one show. It’s about how the music and literature plays such a big part of South Asian culture and living, and how that has transformed this new life in Canada. I just love all the music that is coming out of South Asian diaspora right now, so I would love to feature those stories in the next time I get a chance.
HNMAG: What other subjects do you like to cover besides food?
Priyanka Desai: I like to focus on subjects that talk about gender, gender understanding, gender studies. Like the gender disparity that exists in our cultures, across the globe. I like to focus on that, I like to talk about social justice because I feel like if I am taking up screentime and getting a chance to communicate through stories, I want to create an impact and also entertain.
Man, that was filling. Almost as filling as the series and the food included in it. Be sure to check out the series now on TELUS OPTIK TV, or the official website, or even CBC GEM as it will be there pretty soon. In fact, I recommend ordering some Asian takeout and marathoning the series. It would only seem fitting to enjoy the same kind of food showcased in the series. Enjoy, folks. And scope out some restaurants for the month. I’m heading out to the local place that’s several blocks away for supper.
