Imitiaz Qureshi was an Indian chef and the master chef at ITC Hotels, known for creating the culinary brand of Bukhara and reviving the Dum Pukht tradition of cuisine. He served several official banquets hosted by the Prime Minister and the President of India. He died on 16 February 2024, at the age of 93.

Early Life

Qureshi was born on 2 February 1931 in a family of chefs in Lucknow, United Provinces of Agra and Oudh (in present day Indian state of Uttar Pradesh) of the then British India. The family traced its lineage to over 200 years when they were the chefs for the rulers of Awadh.

Career

Qureshi started his culinary journey with his uncle at the age of nine, when his uncle was tasked with cooking for a British regiment with over 10,000 soldiers in India. He later joined Krishna Caterers, a catering company which served the Indian Army during the Sino-Indian War of 1962. During this time it is noted that he cooked for the then Indian prime minister Jawaharlal Nehru for a state banquet hosted by Chandra Bhanu Gupta, the then chief minister of Uttar Pradesh. The dinner was supposed to be a vegetarian meal, when Nehru was surprised to see murgh musallam, fish, and shami kebabs, on his table, only to be told that Qureshi had reinterpreted vegetarian dishes including jackfruit, lotus stem, brinjal, and bottle gourd to appear as meat dishes. Qureshi was later commissioned by Nehru to cook for the opening of the Ashok Hotel in Delhi. A dish that is attributed to him during this time was Dal Bukhara (lentils cooked in the Bukhara tradition). The dish was based on black lentils (Urad dal) cooked similar to the one-pot meal called Khichdi. In another event from the time, at Krishna hotel, the young Qureshi was noted to have cooked a banquet for Begum Akhtar, when she had reached out in distress after Qureshi's mentor, the senior chef, was missing while having to cook for a Majlis.

Personal Life

Qureshi was married and had five sons and two daughters, Aisha Qureshi, Ishtiyaque Qureshi, Ashfaque Qureshi, Irfan Qureshi, Yasmin Qureshi, Imran Qureshi and Muhammad Ahsan Ali Qureshi, who are also in the culinary business and have restaurants in India and abroad. In his early days, Qureshi also dabbled as a local wrestler in Lucknow and was referred to as Imtiaz Pehlwan. He died in Mumbai on 16 February 2024, two weeks after his 93rd birthday. He had been admitted to the Lilavati Hospital in Mumbai, two weeks earlier.

Death

Legendary Indian chef Imtiaz Qureshi, the visionary behind the culinary excellence of ITC Hotels, passed away this morning, February 16, 2024.