There is a chef. And then there is a fitness chef. Meet Eefa Shrof, a bubbly, charming personality, who takes food seriously. A graduate of the prestigious Le Cordon Bleu, Ms. Shrof is a sports nutritionist with a passion to create foods from different cultures which benefit your health goals. “I feel too many people are falling prey to a culture that lives in food psychosis based on non-science and I feel strongly to help people re-make a connection with food and wine that is based on love, abundance and self respect,” she says.
A beautiful writer in her own self, Ms. Shrof is a TEDx speaker, and has consulted and cooked for the likes of Hrithik Roshan, Suzanne Khan, Abhay Deol, Gayatri Oberoi and Tanisha Mukherji to name a few. Sporting a perfect figure herself, we are sure she deserves the celebrity clientele!
The instantly likeable Ms. Shrof, with an adorable dimpled smile, opens her heart out in her answers to our 13 questions. You can actually feel the love and energy in them. So without further ado, here is what she says. And if you want to get a sample of her creative cooking and infectious laughter, Ms. Shrof is in the process of hosting multiple pop-ups around Mumbai!
LuxuryFacts: What did you want to become as a child?
Eefa Shrof: At first it was a journalist and a news reporter. Later into my teens it developed into ‘story-teller and rock star’. I very much enjoyed writing and speaking in public ever since I was very young. I wanted to share my ideas with the world and believed I could make it a better place in doing so.
What was the life experience that impacted you the most? How and why?
In the early 90s, I spent three months working in Milan as a fashion model. At the age of 22, I was pretty aimless about what direction I wanted to take in my career. I knew it wasn’t modelling. One morning after another late night of partying and waking up late, I had quickly showered and rushed to rehearsals where I knew I was going to hear it out from my choreographer. Unable to function without my morning coffee, I stopped by the café, the same one I used to each morning.
I ordered a take-away on my coffee, using my broken Italian. The café owner, a passionate old 75-year-old started shouting at me in fluent Italian. I couldn’t understand a word but I knew from his hand gestures and tonality that he was asking me to leave. Thinking he’d misunderstood me, I repeated my order more animatedly, getting increasingly annoyed with the old man. Hearing the banter, the old man’s grandson came rushing in from behind the kitchen. Luckily he spoke enough
English to translate to me that his grandfather was angry about my order. He said that his grandfather took great pride in making coffees for his customers and demanded enough respect that his guest take the time to at least stand, if not sit, at the coffee bar and drink it out of a porcelain cup. A take away, was an insult to him and his forefathers! Besides there was no such thing as a paper cup in his restaurant inventory!
I quietly stood there, soaking in his words and something in my heart warmed up. I ran up to the old man, apologized in Italian (with a little help from his cute grandson) and kissed his artistic old hands with respect. He accepted my apology, ruffled my hair, mumbled further in Italian and went on to make me my coffee.
I sat patiently, and savored every sip. It was the best cup of cappuccino I’d ever had. I was beyond terribly late for rehearsals and knew I risked being fired from the show, but I couldn’t care. I knew I’d found my calling. I was going to be a chef someday no matter what it took or how many years.
What advice would you give to your 18-year old self?
You can make money following your passion. Never trade money for passion! Glory lies in following your heart. Falling and learning to get up is embarrassing, but you know what? As a young person, one has to become a professional failure anyways. That’s how we learn and grow into full blown mature adults. So why not do it, doing what you love! Oh Ya! Don’t use substance abuse as a way to feel better about your failures. Instead feel the pain, learn from it and come back better, bigger, stronger
What was the last thing that made you genuinely laugh?
Gosh…so many! My doggies’s wagging enthusiasm to see me every morning, my perfect cup of coffee each morning…and afternoon…and evening…and night, Mom’s khichri and dry fruit raita cooked with immense love, a funny one-liner by a guy who recently asked me out, my last glass of Moet and the list goes on and on. I smile and laugh a lot.
What is the most exciting part of your work day? The most tedious?
Most exciting – one-on-one consultations and seeing my clients dance around after having met their weekly assessments, sometimes even overshooting their goals!
Most tedious – The first 20 minutes of writing…working on my book or a speech
How do you decompress?
Meditate, listen to music, travel and go home to Mom who lives in the hills.
What was the first thing you thought about this morning?
My top 4 goals
What is the last thing you do before going to bed?
Read a topic on personal excellence
What is the one luxury item or service you can’t live without?
i) Good quality freshly brewed, pure Arabica coffee
ii) Top quality fresh produce to cook
iii) My secret bread and pizza dough
iv) A semi dry, bubbly glass of sparkling brut wine
What is the meaning of life?
A celebration in good times, a great teacher in the not-so-good times
What’s love?
Love is that one ingredient that makes everything taste, feel, look, sound and smell better. Love is
life’s heartbeat. The queen of all emotions.
What are you most afraid of?
That I’ll run out of coffee, wine and fresh dough to bake. That and big waves.
What is one existential, difficult-to-answer question you wished you knew the right response to?
How do we reverse global warming, find a practical and healthy alternative to plastic, clean up our planet and bring harmony to all its people? Most importantly, how do we create a system so that no person on the planet goes hungry?
