Here's to the local restaurants, to the chefs, owner operators, the staff the ones who love being in the weeds night after night when we go to work each morning.

That's who we have in mind.

From where we source our food to how we deliver it here's to them, the ones who are out there cooking for us every day.

Restaurants are the heart of everything we do.

We are Performance Food Service.

Proudly supporting Food Is Love.

Support for food is love is provided by Wild Alaska Salmon and Seafood.

Catching, processing and delivering seafood directly to the consumer's front door.

From caught to bought wild salmon direct from the fishermen.

Information at WildAlaskaSalmonandSeafood.com.

This is Maha Kumbhabishkam, a Hindu temple ritual of consecration that only takes place every twelve years.

It's a time to reset the energy of the temple.

It's estimated twelve to fifteen thousand devotees will visit here during the next five days.

Kumbhabishkam literally means 'pouring the sacred water over the Vigras or deities, and the tower tops or goprums of the temple itself.

Colorful traditional clothing is everywhere lavish silk and hand embroidered dresses.

The aroma of curry and vegetables is layered between the smell of incense, burnt offerings and the sound of Sanskrit verses recited over a loudspeaker.

There is an electricity and excitement in the air.

And for a minute, I almost forgot I'm still in St. Louis.

As a chef, I need to stay curious in order to evolve.

For me, that means looking beyond a good meal to learn more about who made it and what inspires them to cook.

La comida es amor Every great city has great food.

I'm going on a journey around the world right here in St. Louis.

I'm on a quest to find passionate chefs who cooks from the heart.

That's exciting.

'"And I think it's the best", to prove that food is love.

And it's going to be delicious.

Food is love.

Love your food If I've learned anything over the last few years, its that St. Louis is a diverse city.

In my travels, I have met people from all corners of the world that own businesses and call St. Louis their home.

From Bosnian to Italian and Mexican.

The influence of the immigrant cultures has put the food scene here on the map.

I would humbly submit that I have become well versed in the subject of immigrants and food in St. Louis.

And I will also humbly admit I had no idea that the highest number of foreign born immigrants in St. Louis are Indian.

This is an exciting revelation to me.

I've always been fascinated with Indian cooking.

It's a layer of the St. Louis cake I can't wait to dig into.

So how deep does Indian food and culture go in St. Louis?

I've enlisted my friend, private chef and menu consultant Ashok Nagashwaran, aka 'The Food Raconteur', to show me what I've been missing.

This morning I'm meeting him at the Hindu temple of St. Louis for the Maha Kumbhabishkam.

And helping to guide us along today is Ashok's friend and pillar in the Indian community, Ram Lakshmanan.

I'm not sure what I'm in for, but I know that I'm in good hands with these two.

For me, the celebration is a good way to see many aspects of Indian culture.

They offer ghee, rice and other nine grains into the fire.

So they are building the fire right now, and it's done in a certain sequence ordered sequence, and that's what the prayers are all about.

At each point, they will start offering things inside.

There will be priests sitting around the fire and offering It's for everyone's well being that they pray.

They are not just praying for themselves?

they are praying for everybody.

Because we are all God's children, regardless of whatever, even if you're an athiest.

The climax of this five day event is when the tower tops are cleaned and placed back on the temple.

Very graciously.

These guys have asked if I would like to take part in this process.

It's such a great honor to be asked to help with such an important part.

It's got things inside, too.

It's got like, mustard seeds and all the five metals inside them.

This is made of five metals gold, silver, zinc, brass.

And this is made with that.

And it is all filled with so much stuff that is auspicious to Indian culture.

And then it is installed up there.

So round the clock if you want to pray to the God.

Traditional Indian clothing isn't something you can find in a department store.

But here, during the celebration, you can find whatever you're looking for.

It's a generation of weavers who do it for hundreds of years.

Then they just live and survive purely just by that.

Then some of the sarees are like, I mean , even seven or eight thousand for one single saree.

Some of them take few months to prepare.

There is a story almost It's like, I think, in the border, many of them have different styles and you'll see them, each one is like a different one.

This is from a different region So you'll see the feel of it is like different hand woven silk fabrics with beautiful embellishments and jewelry and even henna tattoos, which apparently are popular at Indian weddings.

During weddings, this is one of the functions Its called mahendi function Can you get it anywhere on your body?

Yes Downstairs, these guys are making a drink from sugar cane.

Normally they do instead of a ginger juice, they pound a little bit of ginger and put in there.

So you feel a little bit of the chunks of the ginger in there.

When did you come to this country?

2012 Just like any other immigrants, we like to try to find some of the culture we left behind.

Right.

It is.

It's like, to an extent, it's like we do that and I mean food is one of the ways it's like we do that and then we have this sort of social gatherings.

We do that way.

But again, it's like the idea is like to just blend seamlessly in the country you just enter yet not forgetting the roots.

That's all it is, I believe.

So even though some of the food or the dishes that we do, there is an Indian twist to that.

Very subtle Indian twist to that, to explain people about the benefits or the history in a way that people can connect and understand it better, then that's what I tried to do with many of the ingredients, whether it's a saffron ginger turmeric, it's sugar cane and ginger juice, it's really delicious.

Mmm sugary.

But aside from the clothes and jewelry, there's another important aspect of what's practiced here at the Hindu temple.

Caring for others and giving back to the community is a key component.

One of the best ways to do that is to feed them.

Come to the temple hungry and you will leave full for the number of people they have to feed they need You cannot make it in small amounts so, it massive.

And it's not just good food, it's healthy food.

When you're talking about food in regards to temple practice, vegetarian dishes are the order of the day.

Rice is a theme.

There we go.

Look at the ghee.

Of course, that's the vital ingredient.

It's like it's a clarified ingredient.

Clarified butter, ghee.

I think it's like in most of the food, I mean, even the god offerings, I think everything is Sometimes we take a shower in it.

But I think people people don't realize it.

People don't realize it.

I think this has less fat than the regular butter, right?

Veg biryani.

Veg biryani.

So why is there no onions and no garlic in there?

That's the Hindu tradition.

They are considered to be stimulants.

So you remove the stimulant aspect of it.

Like I told you, it's pacific food.

You want to control your thoughts.

But is it all the time or it's only when you have ceremonial food?

Typically,.. because onions without curry there's a lot of onions in there.

Yeah, at home.

We have it at home.

Ceremonial offering we do for the god.

We do this for a living.

Both of us are chefs.

They are both chefs.

Everyone here is a volunteer.

Imagine.

They don't expect anything.

They're just doing it as a community service.

At a time when it's hard to find people to work in the restaurant industry, these men are volunteering to help cook.

The ratio here is about five guys to one task.

If I can only find this many employees to work in my restaurant, let alone volunteers.

You're here on your own will and you're cooking for other people that's love.

Right?

And now I'm learning what you're doing.

You're throwing this good karma out and you're going to get a lot of positives back yes.

Volunteer chefs!

Well, we are really short of some stuff in the industry.

We really need somebody.

I mean, this is like a poaching exercise I think .

If somebody is interested, please.

So all the ingredients and everything is donated.

Donated?

People bring and they do it as a service to the temple and to feed all the people.

Can you imagine.

That's why I salute them.

Yeah.

I really salute all of you.

That says a lot about this place.

Food also brings community together.

You know this.

So you're a vegetarian?

Vegetarian.

Is that a choice?

Yes.

I always grew up eating vegetarian food.

Nobody ate any meat at home.

And I say I'm such a strong vegetarian, I don't even say glad to meet you.

Yeah.

It's also because it's healthy for your body.

Essentially, you consider food as your medicine, natural medicine.

So that it heals the body as much as organically possible.

So that medicine doesn't become food.

Yeah.

Why don't you eat beef in India?

And I know that there is a religious meaning.

Cow is considered sacred.

Why is it considered sacred?

Two reasons.

So that you can create the phrase "holy cow" from India.

Just kidding.

The real reason is cow provides milk.

And when you bring up the baby and.. milk, you use that for the ghee.

For ghee.

And all milk products.

Right.

Even yogurt is made from milk.

Butter is extracted from milk.

Those are all milk products, right?

Yeah.

Many people breed cows at home.

Like, keep a cow at home to feed the family.

With milk, it becomes a nurturing effect.

And so cow is considered like a mother.

I see.

And that is the significance that you don't want to kill your mother.

She provides you milk, and along with the milk, you use yogurt, butter, yea, everything comes out of it.

So more out of respect, you understand?

Basic it's about but it's interesting how it's so important in American culture.

Because we eat so much beef and in another country, it's a sacred animal.

Yeah, because the steaks are high.

In case you couldn't tell, Ram has a great sense of humor.

That same thread of community service through food echoes everywhere in Indian culture.

To illustrate that point, Ashok has brought me to another temple, the Missouri Ganesha temple.

It's relatively a little bit smaller temple, but it has some surprises in for us.

Let's go check it out then.

After removing our shoes, we watch as the ritual service takes place.

In Hindu beliefs, milk is representative of maternal or Godly love.

Pouring milk over the idols can be seen as an offering or way of cleansing them.

As mantras are recited.

To welcome us as guests, a child devotee performs a song.

This is in our Hindu culture, we do this mala.

We pray God with the flowers a lot.

Flowers are a must for us.

We've grown up like this, okay?

It's not something new that we have done.

We have been doing this.

Its an age old tradition.

Yeah, age old tradition.

Everyone is welcoming, and just like the last place, food is provided.

This is chickpeas we call sundal.

And this is with rice and lentil and jaggery.

Sugar cane jaggery .

Its delicious.

Thank you.

Doesn't matter with whatever religion or any belief system you may have, be a good citizen, be a good human being.

That's what it is.

The little guy was singing that time.

Music, it's an offering, prayer.

But music brings people together.

We're talking about this.

Yeah.

Food.

Thank you.

Yeah, food and music.

The two best things to prepare.

Food and music.

Man, am I lucky or what?

Are you going back to Illinois or Denmark?

I don't know.

I'm staying here.

Im watching you.

Okay.

I'm trying to behave.

In the last few hours, I've seen Indian culture as I have never experienced before.

Today, my perspective on it has already changed.

But true to his style, Ashok has more up his sleeve.

Next, he's taking me to an Indian restaurant in Chesterfied not far from the temple.

This time to try North Indian cuisine at a place called Desi Vibes, or local vibes where they offer Punjabi dishes that are not typical to the average Indian restaurant.

I definitely like the vibes in here.

It's a good sign when the place smells like fresh naan.

Naan is a North Indian style flatbread.

That is both pillory and crispy, and real naan is cooked in a tandori oven like this.

This thing gets up to about 900 degrees inside.

I personally look for the little dark spots of char.

That's a sign it's going to be good.

And you never burnt yourself or anything?

Yeah, many times.

Many times.

We need oh, there we go.

Oh, my.

It's all part of the game.

But does it release when it's done?

No it will not release I have to take it off You need to, okay.

There we go.

That gets you that earthy smokey flavor.

Oh, wow.

There we go.

Perfect.

Beautiful.

Wow.

That's awesome.

You can't get more fresh naan.

Brush it with a little butter, if anyone wants.

With butter, you can apply butter.

And I like garlic naan, so that you just put that on afterwards?

That's it ready to serve.

Wow.

This is what fascinates me about Indian food.

There are so many things that are new to me.

Unlike the food that I had at the temples, North Indian cuisine has less emphasis on rice.

And here at Desi Vibes, they make vegetarian and non vegetarian dishes.

Vikram was showing how it is cooked in layers.

Yeah, so I always tell my guests, when you take you take a deep dive, it's like lasagna.

Get the whole lasagna.

We can eat with our fingers.

That's okay.

Without the rice, the curry really packs a lot of deep flavor.

Are you going to eat all of that yourself?

No, sir.

This was what I made, right?

Yes.

It's delicious.

Did I mention how much I love naan?

Everywhere I've gone today, I've seen and tasted new things.

Ashok is an excellent guide.

Based on what I know he does the kitchen I'm not surprised.

I have a lot to absorb from today, because tomorrow we begin again.

Today, Ashok is taking me to the Sihk temple of St. Louis for a Gurdwara celebration to eat at the langer, or community kitchen.

The only requirement before entering the temple is a head covering, which they have in the lobby.

We are just going to visit something called langer, which is a very, very significant stuff.

It's basically a service, community service.

And they prepare food.

So it happens at all Gurdwaras they do some really amazing job to the community.

The langer here is a true community kitchen, which serve meals to everyone, free of charge, regardless of religion, caste, gender, economic status, or ethnicity.

The practice of Langer is a beautiful use of food as love.

And once again, believe it or not, everyone here is working as a volunteer.

Ashok and I make a plate and sit on the floor and eat together, as is the tradition.

It's delicious.

It is.

It's like very simple.

Best vegetarian one.

I mean, is this like a typical Indian breakfast?

North Indian breakfast, I would say.

Thank you, sir.

Thank you very much, sir.

And what kind of bread is this?

Spinach blended with wheat flour, green chilies.

This practice reminds me a lot of the Japanese tea ceremony.

Rich sits next to poor people of all walks of life, sitting next to each other and sharing a meal.

Everyone is the same.

you might be at a super successful level in a corporate, or you might be a wealthy millionaire.

Doesn't matter.

Everyone is just the same over here You are showing love for your fellow man, right?

Yes.

By eating together.

Fellow humans, then across, I mean anything, right?

No question.

Class then.

I'm happy in just serving you.

I'm happy in just cleaning it up.

Then I'm just happy in offering my service to you then.

And that is the serving to humanity is the biggest form of service, right.

Generally, it's a good lesson to the world, working together and giving it back to the society selflessness, putting other people first ahead of you.

And the food is beyond what you would expect out of a community kitchen.

It's really good.

You can tell they put a lot of effort.

A lot of effort goes into the food.

Right.

It's not just like canned soup kitchen food you won't see any canned I mean, it's really well prepared, fresh ingredients, and even the masalas and everything is like hand pounded or done at the kitchen.

over here, the volunteers just plan it much in advance and somebody takes care of the logistics.

And there is a lot of coordination required to execute a meal for a few thousand people every day over the Friday, Saturdays and Sundays.

This is what every soup kitchen should strive for.

After finishing our food, we visit the temple out of respect for our hosts, though I'm not sure what's happening.

Everyone is kind here.

A surreal experience, to be sure.

What's the story with the different head pieces I see in there?

Fashion It's fashion, but is there a reason for that?

We're not supposed to cut our hair, so we were given the principle by our God.

It's like, keep your body like the same way.

Do not alter your body.

Okay.

And the second reason for the turbine is those times whenever someone is in trouble or is in need of help.

Right?

Yeah.

You might see a thousand people standing there anyone with a turbine, no matter what, do not hesitate go to the person he's going to help you.

Shelter, food, resource supply, no matter what, he will help you.

That's basically a responsibility given to a Sikh, to our culture, to our religion, that you have to make yourself of service.

We can learn a lot from the Sikh.

Being the trusy and thorough guide that he is, Ashok has taken me to work off some of the basmati I've had today and to see another side of Indian culture in St. Louis Cricket.

It's the second most paid league now cricket, after NFL, in the world.

In India, cricket is the most popular sport there.

That brings us here to the American Cricket Academy in O'fallon, Illinoi Started by just a handful of people.

Kids, We have around, I would say more than 200 kids who are actively playing cricket.

And there are a hundred who are very, very serious.

So if you come Saturday morning here, this is packed with kids here.

The mission of the American Cricket Academy is to teach character, community and cricket.

And this place, like other places we've been, runs on volunteerism.

We have started last from last year.

They have started a thing called minor league cricket and a major league cricket, which is going to get launched next year.

So that will be just equivalent to the baseball.

So St. Louis now has their own minor league team.

So some of the coaches, you see the players who are going to play there, they are practicing for the minor league, which is getting launched.

Our St. Louis team is called St. Louis Americans because of American Cricket Academy and Club.

When you go to the baseball game, you have a hot dog or whatever.

So what are we going to get at the cricket?

You're going to get some chicken masala and naan.

I love it.

I love it.

But in all honesty, I don't know the first thing about cricket.

Are you sure this doesn't come from the kitchen?

Because this looks like a soup paddle to me.

The more they try to explain it to me the more confused I am.

Ashok, however, seems to suddenly have come alive for the chance to hit bad or whatever they call it.

You can see why he's the guide.

I mean, is there anything he can't do Now it's my turn to embarrass myself.

I've seen this on TV.

Honestly, though, this part is a lot of fun.

With a different pair of shoes and a little more practice, I think I can be a contender.

That's why I chose this avenue.

Being a chef, I shine in the kitchen not out on the field.

Another mode of physical and mental fitness that is a big part of Indian culture is, of course yoga.

In popular culture.

Yoga is mostly known for the different poses, but the physical aspect is only a small part of it all.

Bella Korgaonkar is an Indian yoga instructor here in St. Louis.

Malasana, which is Garland pose, where we sit on our feet and we can have our hands to the heart.

Awesome.

You're doing so good!

This pose is said to aid in digestion.

That can definitely come in handy.

I obviously have a lot more work to do, but listening to Bella, I'm starting to see a connection between the philosophy of yoga and Indian culture as a whole.

A mindfulness of taking care of oneself and a responsibility to eat well.

As a reward for pushing my limits and to round out our Indian experience, Ashok is taking me to eat well at our last stop, the Indian restaurant Turmeric.

Named after the spice commonly used in curry, turmeric is known in St. Louis for classic Indian flavors, presented in a modern way That makes it popular with traditionalists and those new to the Indian food scene.

Try the lamb.

The lamb is perfect, and it goes really well with an Indian beer.

Turmeric has lived up to the hype I've heard about it.

I'm not sure how I've never eaten here before now.

A row of spice containers like this is a dead giveaway that you're in an Indian kitchen.

It was absolutely fantastic.

Ashok has outdone himself and represented the Indian community well.

I knew so much less about it just a couple of days ago when I started on this tour of Indian food and culture, when we went to different Indian temples around St. around St. Louis.

I'll admit I didn't immediately make the connection on why Ashok was taking me there, and to so many of them no less.

Sure, there was cooking involved, and yes, they were feeding others amazing food.

But after gaining a better understanding of not just Indian culture in St. Louis but Indian culture as a whole, I can see it now.

When I went to cooking school, we learned this Indian soup called Mulligatawney It's all connected.

The beliefs and practices of the temple, the philosophies of yoga, all of those things are reflected in the overall culture, the diets, the food, the way food is used to care for others.

But if there has ever been a true food is love, this is it right here.

Throw positive thoughts, create positive ripples, helps everybody.

But that's what we try to do with our food.

We try to throw love and positivity out through the food.

Spread the love.

And spread the love yeah.

I had to experience it all to see the bigger picture it demonstrates It demonstrates No matter if it's India or St. Louis The universal truth remains that food is love.

Support for Food is Love is provided by wild Alaska Salmon and Seafood.

Catching, processing and delivering seafood directly to the consumer's front door.

From caught to bought wild salmondirect from the fisherman Information at WildAlaskaSalmonandSeafood.com Here's to the local restaurants to the chefs owner operators, the staff.

The ones who love being in the weeds night after night when we go to work each morning, that's who we have in mind.

From where we source our food to how we deliver it.

Here's to them, the ones who are out there cooking for us every day.

Restaurants are the heart of everything we do.

We are Performance Food Service.

Proudly supporting Food Is Love.

Support for Food is Love comes from Natural Tableware supplier of sustainable green alternatives to plastic tableware.

Support also comes from Moonrise Hotel, A boutique hotel located on the Del Mar Loop in St. Louis.