Growing up in Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India’s southernmost state, meant Peter Joseph was brought up on dishes such as idli, dosas and sambar, foods full of flavour and colour. But it was the importance of food in the home and the passion he saw when his parents cooked that really inspired him. ‘I loved watching my mum put dishes together – the way she used lots of fun colourful ingredients and spices was always something that intrigued me,’ he tells us. ‘She would always pack me off to school with a tiffin box full of delights such as parota (fried bread), appam (rice pancakes), sadam (flavoured rice) and always a few sweet treats such as halwa too.’

The rising popularity of Indian cuisine in Britain was also something that excited Peter. ‘It was fascinating to watch Madhur Jaffrey conquer the UK, using techniques and ingredients I understood from watching my mother,’ he says. ‘In some underlying way I suppose I wanted to be able to do the same; reading cookery and recipe books was a bit of a secret pastime for me and I loved finding new and exciting dishes to chat to my mum about. Food just started to become a bigger and bigger part of my life as I grew up.’

Once he had decided to dedicate his life to the art of cooking, Peter entered the hospitality industry and began gaining experience in professional kitchens. ‘In the early years of my career I became a management trainee at the ITC Sheraton Hotel, where all the chefs I met and worked with were an inspiration,’ he explains. ‘Later, I worked with Rakesh Upadhya, who was really talented and became my mentor, advisor and guru. All the chefs I had the fortune to meet and work with during my career had a passion and drive that was hugely motivating to witness. Their influence built the foundations of my cooking career and that’s what I go back to when I need inspiration. They remained true to Indian flavours yet explored spices and ingredients, and that is what I continue to do today.’

Peter joined London-based Tamarind in 2004 as sous chef, which was a huge step up from the traditional restaurants he had worked in previously. ‘Tamarind was the first Michelin star restaurant that I’d experienced,’ he tells us. ‘I was used to cooking in kitchens where the food wasn’t necessarily cooked to order and the majority of the dishes were prepared with a standard bulk sauce, which is how Indian restaurants are able to get so many dishes out quickly. There was no real consistency in the cooking or kitchen processes so the dishes that went out to the customer would vary in taste and colour.’