Why I Quit: From Chemist to Chocolatier

Here’s how Prateek Bakhtiani went from working as a chemical researcher to making artisanal chocolates.

Transcript

00:00I didn't go out looking for food.

00:16I think food came and found me and ripped me out of that life as a chemical researcher.

00:30And being a good Indian kid that sort of sped his way through academia, chemistry and science

00:41was the only thing I knew how to do and I had absolutely no other interests.

00:46So yeah, I decided I'd take a year off and study wine.

00:54Working with dairy, working with rhubarb, growing it and then using it to cook and then pairing that food with wine.

01:02I think I realized then that there was so much more to the story of food.

01:12Oh, how I fared in culinary school, abysmal.

01:17So bad, girl, like so bad.

01:20If I did not have this rich history with cooking, that would give me a shoe-in or any orientation to culinary school.

01:28I worked really, really hard to get up to standard.

01:33The chocolate, you get the one bar and that's all you have to work with and you make it or break it on that one bar.

01:51And it really allows you to use the story, use the terroir, use the provenance of that chocolate to tell the story.

02:02Which, as you can probably tell by now, is in alignment with my culinary philosophy.

02:19I use a lot of emulsion dynamics and colloidal dynamics, fluid dynamics, things like that.

02:26That helps me a lot, sort of make micro adjustments in chocolate to portray an inspiration better.

02:44And when things get bad, I want you to know that Chef Pratik said, you're doing great, sweetie.

02:51I'm here for you. I see you and I love you.