Hindus are
celebrating Rongali Bihu on April 15, which marks the first day of the solar
calendar.
Certain provinces of
India are celebrating New Year’s Day, called Ugadi, which begins with the
coming of spring.
Puthandu is the New
Year for yet another province of India on the April 14.
There may not be
Ugadi or Puthandu celebrations happening on the streets of Cache Valley this
week, but there is still a sense of the Indian culture here on Main Street in
Logan at the Indian Oven.
Founded nearly five
years ago, the restaurant was founded by a native of India – a professional
chef with no formal cooking education.
Ash Oberoi left his
home in India at the age of nineteen. He had managed to get a job about a
freight ship, so he left his home and family behind for the prospect of work. While
aboard the ship he would travel the world.
“I left my country, I
travelled to 47 different countries,” Oberoi said. “There was no way I could
afford to travel to those countries, but because it was my job I could.”
Growing up, cooking
had been Oberoi’s passion. He was often at his mother’s side learning to cook
meals, often at the request of family and friends.
“Cooking has always
been my passion. Back home, I was thirteen or fourteen and cooking for my
parents,” Oberoi said. “I was always in the kitchen trying to lend a hand. My
uncle used to own a catering business and I would help him too.”
At the age of 19
Oberoi got a job on a freight ship, which would take him from India to
countries all around the world. As he circled the globe visiting foreign ports,
Oberoi would learn the local cuisine and add it to his cooking repertoire.
He claims to have
mastered Indian, American, Greek, Italian and Chinese cuisine.
“He knows cooking
from one end of the world to the other,” said Oberoi’s wife Jenise Oberoi. “We
walk into any restaurant somewhere else and if we really like something he can
just go home and make it.”
Oberoi’s first
restaurant featured mostly American food, but once the lease was up he decided
to open a new restaurant closer to his roots – Indian food. After Oberoi
purchased the former premises of the Italian restaurant Le Nonne, the Indian
Oven opened for business on Main Street.
Outside of the
restaurant business, the Oberoi’s teach classes for anyone to learn how they
can cook their own Indian food at home.
“I teach classes how to teach Indian food, and the classes
always sell out,” Oberoi said. “Indian food is not that prevalent in Cache
Valley.”
Between constantly
publishing coupons, catering to local Diwali festivals at Utah State University
and teaching classes on cooking, Oberoi makes it a point to give back to the
community when he can. The Indian Oven has won several local awards at a
cooking competition called Spice on Ice.
For Oberoi, it isn’t about
the money or the awards – it is about the food.
“I don’t say that I’m
a rich man,” Oberoi said. “But I do know I eat the best every day.”
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