{"id":8029,"date":"2014-10-22T12:46:23","date_gmt":"2014-10-22T12:46:23","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/tat.reddaisytrading.co.uk\/index.php\/2014\/10\/22\/amarpal-harrar-on-the-kitchen\/"},"modified":"2014-10-22T12:46:23","modified_gmt":"2014-10-22T12:46:23","slug":"amarpal-harrar-on-the-kitchen","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.theasiantoday.com\/index.php\/2014\/10\/22\/amarpal-harrar-on-the-kitchen\/","title":{"rendered":"Amarpal Harrar on The Kitchen"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

Amarpal Harrar overcomes Parkinsons on TV show The Kitchen<\/h3>\n

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\nReality show The Kitchen<\/em> gives us a glimpse into eight different families\u2019 kitchens as we see their unique meal times. Created by the same team behind Gogglebox <\/em>it showcases, in BBC2\u2019s words, \u201cthe spirit of life in Britian\u201d. <\/p>\n


\nThe latest British TV craze introduces us to food lover Amarpal Harrar. Born in Stafford, Harrar has been an avid Indian style cook for years and his appearance has allowed him to share his skills and passion with the public. But Harrar has personal reasons for taking part after battling Parkinson\u2019s disease for the past six years. He sees participation as a means to cope and maintain his well being.<\/p>\n


\nHe has no qualms about laughing at himself, \u201cWhen I brush my teeth, I don\u2019t need an electric toothbrush.\u201d He also states in one episode how his condition is ideal for making Martinis as they are \u2018shaken not stirred\u2019, as a symptom of the disease is excessive shaking.<\/p>\n


\nThe food enthusiast first heard of the show through a tweet his son spotted where producers asked for food-loving families.<\/p>\n


\n\u201cThey were here for days filming,\u201d he says, \u201csix whole days filming at the hours, 12 hours a day.<\/p>\n


\n\u201cI think we suited the programme because we cook everything ourselves.<\/p>\n


\n\u201cIt\u2019s important to us that we all sit down together to eat. For me, a mealtime brings a family together.\u201d<\/p>\n


\nCooking on the show also helps Harrar deal with another setback, being made redundant from his job as a medical rep. This spurred him to start his own business, a cookery school called \u2018I Cook Indian\u2019 <\/p>\n


\n\u201cI had a chat with the family and we all brain-stormed and the result was I Cook Indian and it seems to have been a good idea because it\u2019s worked really well. People have fun learning how to cook Indian food, what could be better?\u201d<\/p>\n


\nIt has been five decades since Harrar came to the UK from the Punjab where he fondly remembered the sights, smells and tastes from his home village where vendors sold authentic street food like samosas, pakoras, and tikis. Today he is determined to help his students cook Indian food with confidence. Though he states he is not a chef, he takes inspiration from his mother\u2019s cooking and claims his technique is purely home-style.<\/p>\n


\nAs an optimist Harrar is eager to get on with his life despite his condition, \u201cI looked at it this way, \u2018Well, I have got it, but do I have Parkinson\u2019s, or does it have me?\u2019.<\/p>\n


\n\u201cI\u2019m not going to allow Parkinson\u2019s to have me. I\u2019m going to get on with my life.\u201d<\/p>\n


\nHarrar hopes his appearance on The Kitchen<\/em> will lead to bigger and better things such as starting his own cookery show or writing a cook book. <\/p>\n


\n\u201cI get on stage and ignore my Parkinson\u2019s. I soon forget about it. I\u2019m just talking, making sure I\u2019m getting it right.<\/p>\n


\n\u201cI\u2019m the sort of person who likes to see the positive side of life, because that\u2019s what we\u2019re here for, and if I can\u2019t be positive, then I shouldn\u2019t be breathing.” \n<\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Amarpal Harrar overcomes Parkinsons on TV show The Kitchen Reality show The Kitchen gives us a glimpse into eight different families\u2019 kitchens as we see their unique meal times. Created by the same team behind Gogglebox it showcases, in BBC2\u2019s words, \u201cthe spirit of life in Britian\u201d. The latest British TV craze introduces […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":11753,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[38],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-8029","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-national-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.theasiantoday.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8029","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.theasiantoday.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.theasiantoday.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theasiantoday.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theasiantoday.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8029"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.theasiantoday.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8029\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theasiantoday.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/11753"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.theasiantoday.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8029"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theasiantoday.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8029"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theasiantoday.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8029"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}