Joey on a kitchen safari

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After scorching the ramp for more than a decade, supermodel Joey Mathew is sweating it out in the kitchen for her food show Love Bites with Joey on NDTV Good Times and she swears that the food that comes out of the kitchen is divine.

Joey confesses that she is not a big eater but she loves to feed. “I love to feed. I have never been a mother and for me the biggest deal is to feed and watch my nephews and nieces eat. It’s immensely gratifying.”
A career in food was not what Joey had ever planned. She in fact studied to be a lawyer and trained under Ram Jethmalani. Modelling happened when she got bored of law. However, cooking is something that never lost excitement for her. “Food is the basic requirement to be alive. I share a special relationship with food. It’s lot more meaningful to feed the hungry than anything else.”
Joey draws her strength from her friends, who have always supported her through thick and thin. A friend’s friend helped her seal the deal with the channel after which she opened the door of her posh South Delhi abode in Panchsheel and the 26-episode long series was shot in her own kitchen.
She says, “Two years back I had planned to take my food story forward and open my restaurant, but then my father went into a coma. So it was a tough time and my plans got shelved. But now it feels good to be doing what I had always wanted to do.”
Every episode will see Joey whipping up three signature dishes and the episodes often end with Joey inviting close friends over for an intimate meal.
“I don’t cook for myself and I don’t really do fancy dishes. When my friends come over I make normal things, conversation starters… that’s it,” she adds.
Joey’s food knows no boundaries. She can do French, European, Middle Eastern and Indian Coastal region with ease. With strong Malyali roots and global influences, Joey’s food is exotic yet simple; she ensures the food is light and healthy without missing out on any flavour.
“I am a Mallu. Although I do little bit of this and little bit of that, I mostly stick to my roots. I don’t do fusion food as that, I think, is like tampering with the original idea,” she says.
Joey has done various cookery courses, including lessons with visiting chefs at Zaffiro and would love to work in a five-star kitchen before she opens a laidback style, multi-cuisine restaurant.
While Joey is yet to say goodbye to the ramp, she says, “I am almost done with it. When I was 19, the ramp was everything for me but then you can’t do modelling for the rest of your life. At this stage the kitchen looks super exciting.”