You thought “Top Chef” was intense? In his latest TV cooking competition, Columbus chef Avishar Barua will run a gauntlet of 24 cooking challenges in the course of 24 hours against 24 rivals.
Food Network’s “24 in 24: Last Chef Standing” premieres its third season April 26 at 8 p.m. New episodes will air Sundays through May 31, and each will stream the next day on HBO Max and Discover+.
Barua is no novice when it comes to cooking or cooking on television. The owner of Agni in the Brewery District and Joya’s in Worthington has twice been nominated for a James Beard Award and has appeared on no fewer than six national cooking shows.
His first was in 2021, when he placed eighth on season 18 of “Top Chef.”
Ahead of the “24 in 24” debut, he sat down with The Dispatch to talk about the experience.
This is what, show number…? “Top Chef,” “Guy’s Grocery Games,” “Beat Bobby Flay,” “Diners, Drive-Ins & Dives,” and then “Bobby’s Triple Threat” and then “24 in 24.” So six — yeah, six — shows. That’s a lot, man.
Do you like them? You must enjoy them. Uh, no. I mean, I don’t know that I would say I like. I don’t. But I like the idea of meeting chefs that are very, very skilled and seeing how I stack up with others. So it’s a great, like, weird networking opportunity for me.
I do not like competition. I don’t like competitive cooking, and I don’t do well under pressure, being recorded that severely, normally. I always get severe anxiety whenever I do these things. And then when I’m there, I actually think, “What if I mess up?” Those thoughts always overpower me.
You have to force yourself to do this… I think if you do something that is genuinely uncomfortable or weird, I think it’s the best way to learn. So I go in head first. I try not to compare myself too much, because when I look at other chefs, if I compare myself on a technical level to some of the chefs that are there, these are some people that I’ve learned from. So I decide, let me just show up and do the best that I can.
I didn’t go to culinary school to be on a TV show at all, which is weird because there’s lots of people nowadays who want to be on TV. I don’t know if I do or I don’t want to, but it seems to happen. You know, it seems to happen.
Is it easier the more you cook in TV competitions, or do you still feel anxiety? I have found that because I’ve done it a few times, my mindset has changed. Before, it was, how do I show who I am, you know, in this 10 minutes or less or whatever? Now it’s more like, what can I do with what I have?
It’s just a matter of adapting. A younger me would be like, “No, I have to find a way to inject myself into this food.” But honestly, nowadays, I’m like, let me just try to listen to the rules, let me just do my best and see what happens after that.
Are judges more critical than customers? Oh, it depends. It depends on who the judges are. You know that if you’re going to be featured on television you have to put a strong criticism forward; it’s important to have a strong opinion. Otherwise it wouldn’t make sense. If you’re just like, “Everybody’s good,” how do you send somebody home if everybody’s good? It would be very boring TV.
Follow Dispatch dining reporter Bob Vitale on Instagram at @dispatchdining. You can reach him directly at rvitale@dispatch.com.
This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Columbus chef Avishar Barua returns to TV Sunday, April 26. Here’s why he does it
Reporting by Bob Vitale, Columbus Dispatch / The Columbus Dispatch
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