From The New York Times
It’s perhaps one of the most sumptuous paeans to Indian cuisine ever made.
In the foodie flick “Today’s Special,” the masalas and chutneys serenade the senses as they make the journey from pot to plate, a symphony of colors and textures and almost — just almost — tastes, captured vividly on celluloid for epicurean posterity. Released in 2010, it quickly joined the likes of “Big Night” and “Like Water for Chocolate” in the encyclopedia of culinary cinema.
Surely, the mastermind responsible for this epic feast of a film must be an inveterate gourmand, I presumed.
I presumed incorrectly. As it turns out, Aasif Mandvi, co-writer and star of “Today’s Special,” is not really that into food.
About a half hour after our scheduled meeting time, Mr. Mandvi — comic, actor and “Daily Show” correspondent — sauntered in wearing a faded green fleece and a fedora. The first revelation he made as we pondered the menu at Dawat — renowned actress/chef/”Today’s Special” co-star Madhur Jaffrey’s upscale Indian eatery on a tony Manhattan block just steps from Bloomingdale’s — was that he’s actually a pescetarian, and in fact, almost vegan.
Seriously? The star of a sybaritic film that managed to make a leg of lamb presiding over a dinner table look positively sensuous subsists predominantly on fish and veggies in real life?
“I’m not really a food connoisseur,” he said. “The film is about getting in touch with your heart, your soul, your creative self. We used food as a metaphor for this man’s journey of finding himself.”
