Sahil Makhija: Rock band guitarist & a cook on his YouTube food show Headbanger’s Kitchen

By Biprorshee Das


Headbanger’s Kitchen, a popular food show on YouTube, meshes the two great passions of creator Sahil Makhija — music and cooking. Makhija is better known as vocalist and guitarist of heavy metal group Demonic Resurrection, but he was always interested in food.

“I wanted to be a chef as a kid. Then music came along and cooking took a backseat,” he says. In 2007, Makhija began a Facebook food blog. “After 22 recipes and great feedback, in 2010 I approached Srinivas Sunderrajan, who used to direct music videos for Demonic Resurrection, to film me cooking. That’s how Headbanger’s Kitchen was born.”

The show kicked off its third season this month. ETPanache caught up with Makhija to discuss what the rocker and chef has served up so far.

This season of Headbanger’s Kitchen was crowd funded, right?

What I do occupies a niche space and that cannot attract corporate sponsors. So why not rely on fans?

Who has been your most memorable guest?

Every artist has been unique and fun. However, interviewing George Kollias, drummer of death metal band Nile, was awesome because I am a huge fan of his. Do many heavy metal musicians love to cook? There are quite a few. Randy Blythe from Lamb of God loves it. Many Indian metal musicians cook at home and upload photos on social media. My friend Jimmy Bhore from Zygnema has opened a restaurant. I would love to interview Nergal from Behemoth.

How do you decide what you will cook in every episode?

First, I speak to my guest and figure out their eating preferences. After that I pick a dish that I can make well, which matches those preferences. Then I find the right name for it, which usually includes some part of the band’s name or the title of a song or album.

What have you enjoyed cooking the most?

I think the Undying Meatzza was epic. It’s a pizza where the bread is replaced with mince meat. So it’s a meatzza in the true sense of the word.

What dish can you never get right?

Pork Crackling. I’m not sure if I’m doing something wrong or it’s the quality of pork in India.

Do you like Indian cuisine?

I dislike spicy food. I never bothered to learn to cook Indian food until I had an international guest. I realised it made no sense to feed him continental cuisine, and started cooking Indian food without all that over-the-top spice.

Sahil Makhija, the musician or Sahil Makhija, the chef?

The musician, I guess. It’s what I’ve been doing for 14 years.