I grew up around food — my mom is a chef, and our family ran a restaurant. I watched her cook the way other kids watch TV. But when it came time to figure out what I wanted to do with my life, I went to film school instead. I wanted to tell stories.

Turns out, I ended up telling them with food anyway.

After burning out on film, I enrolled at the International Culinary Center in New York City in 2019. It felt like coming home. From there I went straight into a professional kitchen — Olmsted in Brooklyn, under Chef Greg Baxtrom, one of the most thoughtful and decorated restaurants in New York. I was learning what it really meant to cook at a high level, and I loved every demanding minute of it.

Then COVID happened and everything stopped.

I came back to New Jersey and threw myself into the food business side of things — running operations at Shahnawaz Foods, learning what it takes to produce food at scale, to manage margins, to understand where ingredients come from and what they actually cost. Most chefs never learn that side of the business. I'm glad I did.

Khanivore is where all of it comes together. The technique I learned in professional kitchens. The heritage I grew up with. The business sense I built along the way. And the same reason I started cooking seriously in the first place — because a great meal is one of the best ways one person can take care of another.

That's what I'm here to do.

— Faraz Khan