{"id":5953,"date":"2012-02-04T12:24:40","date_gmt":"2012-02-04T12:24:40","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/beta.tehelka.com\/?p=5953"},"modified":"2012-02-04T12:24:40","modified_gmt":"2012-02-04T12:24:40","slug":"nobody-diets-in-the-headbangers-kitchen","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/tehelka.com\/nobody-diets-in-the-headbangers-kitchen\/","title":{"rendered":"Nobody Diets in the Headbanger\u2019s Kitchen"},"content":{"rendered":"

Aradhna Wal\u00a0<\/strong>enters the lair of a YouTube microtrend and discovers raw, heavy flavours
\n

\"The
The demon dishes it out: Sahil Makhija<\/figcaption><\/figure>
\nA SET<\/strong>\u00a0of knives glistens on the tables, next to a skull. Nervecell\u2019s\u00a0Demean<\/em>\u00a0plays in the background \u2014 their characteristic bloodcurdling oldschool death metal with a Dubai twist. A man with long black hair and goatee picks up a sharp blade and wields it with finesse. He is chopping potatoes. Meet Sahil Makhija, aka Demonstealer, the 29- year-old vocalist of the popular Mumbai-based death metal band Demonic Resurrection and chef on his own YouTube cookery show\u00a0Headbanger\u2019s Kitchen<\/em>.
\nWhat does one ask a metal head who cooks? Dude, how did this happen? He has been Demonstealer since he was 15, but Sahil started cooking a long time before music came along. Influenced by his mother and grandfather\u2019s homemade fare, he fell in love with food. \u201cI wanted to be a chef when
\nI was 12 and never stopped cooking since,\u201d he says. Watching professionals like Gordon Ramsay and Jamie Oliver on television, he started experimenting. He started\u00a0Headbanger\u2019s Kitchen<\/em>\u00a0in March 2011. And enjoys the discordant note it makes. \u201cSome fans reacted badly. I am breaking stereotypes here.\u201d A portion of the fan base expected Makhija to be splattering blood and eating raw carcasses, not baking. Makhija finds these enclaves of extremism amusing. \u201cThe biggest surprise,\u201d he says, \u201cis coming across other metal heads cooking. I don\u2019t know if it\u2019s because of the show or if I\u2019m the one discovering them now.\u201d
\nFor a lot of Indian metal fans, Sahil\u2019s format works just great. Metal acts such as the UAE band Nervecell, Australian band Karnivool and the Greek metal drummer George Kollias turn up on his show. Sahil cooks, interviews and feeds them. Fans love to see their favourites interviewed by an insider who knows his music and asks the right questions. They are the show\u2019s core viewer base, averaging 3,000 hits per episode. That may not seem impressive but the numbers are steady and the comments are largely from very happy viewers.
\nMetal is an integral part of his identity; raw and heavy just like his cooking. The very first episode of\u00a0Headbanger\u2019s Kitchen<\/em>\u00a0tells you what you\u2019re in for. As does the name of the dish, Demonic Beef Burgers and Rustic Potatoes, his favourite. It is rich, heavy, meaty and meant for pure indulgence. Enjoyment is written all over Makhija\u2019s face as he lays the bacon on beef patties atop buttered buns. Or when he serves the Bhayanak Bacon Bomb and Cheesy Potatoes. Or Djentleman\u2019s Roast Chicken with Mashed Potatoes and Gravy.
\nBetween food and music, what would he choose? \u201cMusic any day,\u201d he asserts. He\u2019s having to make a version of that Sophie\u2019s choice just now. He\u2019ll spend time away from the kitchen this year to make up for a discouraging 2011. Demonic Resurrection played just nine shows and their UK tour was cancelled due to visa problems. So when\u00a0Headbanger\u2019s Kitchen<\/em>\u00a0started, many took that as a sign of Makhija\u2019s desertion. Sample a telling YouTube comment: \u201cIt hurts me to see the only predominant rock scene in India somehow getting lost in between chicken and lamb rather than being in studios.\u201d Makhija is unfazed. Before the show takes a break, he promises to recreate his grandfather\u2019s pork chops and mother\u2019s cheese macaroni.
\nAradhna Wal is a Trainee, Features with Tehelka.<\/em>
\naradhna@tehelka.com<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Aradhna Wal enters the lair of a YouTube microtrend and discovers raw, heavy flavours<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":73,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[21],"tags":[7051,7239,7240,7241,810,7242,7058,7243,7244,5884,7245,7229,7231],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/tehelka.com\/rest-api\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5953"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/tehelka.com\/rest-api\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/tehelka.com\/rest-api\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tehelka.com\/rest-api\/wp\/v2\/users\/73"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tehelka.com\/rest-api\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5953"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/tehelka.com\/rest-api\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5953\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/tehelka.com\/rest-api\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5953"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tehelka.com\/rest-api\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5953"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tehelka.com\/rest-api\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5953"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}