IN MEMORIAM - Chef Floyd Cardoz(1960-2020)

RUPALI DEAN BIDS ADIEU TO AN INDIAN CHEF WHO, IN THE WORDS OF DAVID CHANG, WAS ‘BELOVED’ BUT ‘CRIMINALLY UNDERAPPRECIATED’ IN THE WESTERN CULINARY SPHERE

- RUPALI DEAN

Chef Floyd Cardoz documented his last few days on Instagram, posting a selfie at a hospital where he was being treated for a fever. on March 25, his sudden death shook the culinary industry around the world. CovID-19 had taken yet another victim, this time a prominent name in the realm of food and hospitality. As tributes poured in from fans and competitors alike, the world rightly echoed, “gone too soon.” Floyd’s legacy was of bringing people together, and altruism his natural stance. Just as in life, he donated $1,10,000 to the Young Scientist Cancer Research Fund at New York’s Mt Sinai School of Medicine, in death, he left behind a fraternity that will learn from his extraordinary miscellany of values, and how much we are all important in this fight together.

Floyd was the Culinary Director and Partner at Bombay Sweet Shop, o Pedro and The Bombay Canteen. In 1998, he partnered with union Square hospitality Group’s Danny Meyer to open Tabla, a New York legend for ‘new Indian cuisine’. This cherished affiliation would continue for 17 years. With Chef Floyd at its helm, Tabla received several honours, including a 3-star review from The New York Times. After 12 fruitful years of easing American palates and minds into the world of spice, Tabla bolted its doors in December 2010.

“I have known Floyd for many years, and I have had many meals at both Tabla and Bombay Bread Bar,” shared celebrity chef Vicky Ratnani. “I loved him as both a person and a chef because of his positive attitude towards everything. I bumped into him often in Mumbai, too. I remember a sandwich shop called Num Pang, in New York, serving a panini with pepper chicken on their menu in his honour.”