Gent’s Talk: Ep 13 – A Sit-Down w/ Devan Rajkumar

Welcome to Episode 13 of the Gent’s Talk Podcast! This week we sat down with Devan Rajkumar, better known as Chef Devan. The Guyanese Canadian chef loves to tap into his Indian/Desi/Pakistani culture for inspiration. Devan is on a mission to showcase and modernize East and West Indian cuisines.

A Little Bit About The Chef

One thing that Devan does not lack is passion. A top-tier joy of his is when he sees someone’s eyes roll back after taking that first bite of one of his meals. That “sinking into the chair” feeling inspires him to keep chef’ing up delicious dishes time after time. Chef Devan is not known to dawn the standard “toque blanche,” as he’s taken an unconventional route to chef superstardom. As food demonstrations are more his joy, the traditional restaurant course has never been for him. As a media personality (as seen on CityLine), and a DJ, Devan shows that there’s never one true path to success.

When asked what about cooking drives him, he excitedly mentioned that it’s “the ability to do for others… The joy that food brings. It takes them away from the moment that they’re in.”

Chef Devan, Off The Screen

What attracted us to Devan is his story; he’s an impressive 16 months sober and openly dove into some of the ups and downs of his recovery journey. He credits his newfound ability to deal truthfully with issues. He used to navigate around problems, but now he faces them head-on and goes through them. Devan has taken a significant step in telling his story because there are a lot of kids that look up to him. He wants kids to identify with someone successful who works very hard, and also has a lot of personal things to go through. A major constant that Devan preaches is that he has done and continues to do a lot of work. Recovery is an ongoing journey; he is first-hand proof that we must keep fighting. His passion for helping himself and others is truly inspiring.

About Gent’s Talk

Gent’s Talk is available for streaming on Youtube and Spotify! Episode 13 of Gent’s Talk is presented by Bulova Canada and is filmed at StartWell Studios in Toronto. We genuinely appreciate you continuing to support us throughout this journey!