Chef Vikas Khanna's next book to give insights into his 'Feed India' initiative

Michelin Star chef Vikas Khanna will write about his Feed India initiative, one of the world's largest food drives serving meals to the underprivileged amid the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, in his upcoming book, announced publishing house Penguin Random House India on Monday.

The book, "Kitchens of Gratitude", will be released in 2021 under the 'Ebury Press' imprint, they added.

'Feed India', or 'barkat', as Khanna calls it, was launched in March with a single tweet by the chef, and has grown to become one of the world's largest food drives by an individual. In just 175 days, the initiative crossed 40 million meals in more than 135 cities across the country.

Khanna, 48, in his book will write about his experiences in serving the greater good with the goodness of food during the COVID-19 lockdown.

He will recount his personal experiences in building Feed India, his efforts to supply rations and essentials, set up makeshift kitchens and ensure millions are fed daily. All this and more while living in the US, changing his sleep patterns to suit India time, working with a small team in India and making the campaign grow by leaps and bounds.

"Feed India is a symbol of solidarity. When we come together, there is no issue we can't resolve. Providing more than 30 million meals from thousands of miles away is proof. I am proud to share this journey in 'Kitchens of Gratitude'," said Khanna, who has authored over 30 books.

The well-known restaurateur-filmmaker will also be honoured with the prestigious 2020 Asia Game Changer Award in October for his noble initiative. He is the only Indian among the six honourees, including Preeminent cellist Yo-Yo Ma, tennis champion Naomi Osaka and producer of Oscar-winning film "Parasite" Miky Lee.

A deeply personal narrative, according to the publishers, the book will be a testimony of one man's determination, vision and connection to food and seva. It will combine Khanna's food ethics with his experiences and talk about "how and what he learnt about serving and making food, its impact on his life and its potential to affect the world at large".

"Vikas has spoken several times of the deep impact of Indian tradition and values in terms of his relation to food. It will be the warmth of this attitude of seva that will come out wonderfully in this book," said Vaishali Mathur, publisher, Indian languages publishing at Penguin Random House India.