When popular Indian-American chef Floyd Cardoz died in March last year following Covid-19 complications, his wife Barkha Cardoz decided to carry his legacy forward.
“As I tried to recover from the initial shock and grief, I wanted to make sure that he lived on through his legacy of Indian food.
We had been married for 30 years and he always loved home-cooked meals.
We didn’t use pre-packaged spices at home since he always made masala blends and stored them carefully in small containers,” Barkha remembers.
She now actively executes legacy projects of Floyd as the managing member of Cardoz Legacy LLC in New York.
The project to create and sell a line of Indian spice blends was launched by Floyd Cardoz himself in 2019 with Burlap & Barrel, a company which sources single origin spices directly from small farmers.
Though he was not able to fulfil his dream of commercially launching the project before his death, there are now three masala blends — Goan masala, garam masala, and Kashmiri masala — which are available online via The FC + B&B Collaboration Masala project.
Barkha Cardoz now actively executes legacy projects of Floyd as the managing member of Cardoz Legacy LLC.
Photo courtesy: SOGA Design Collective”We were already talking to Ethan Frisch, the co-founder of B&B, about a tie-up for our spices and didn’t ever want to take the retail route because there’s a big chance of failing.
And now, I’m proud of the spice blends created by my late husband reaching small kitchen cabinets in America directly,” Barkha told TIMESOFINDIA.com from New Jersey.
“We are marketing and branding it mainly through collaborations with chefs, artists and media rather than go to trade shows or spend big on advertising.” Barkha met Floyd in 1981 during their culinary training at the Institute of Hotel Management in Mumbai.
The couple married in 1991 after they reconnected in New York.
Today, she is deeply distressed about the massive number of Covid deaths in India and has raised funds to purchase family kits for the India Against Corona campaign, which is being run by charitable organisation Tycia Foundation.
Barkha and Floyd Cardoz.
Photo courtesy: Lauren Volo“We have been raising $1 from every jar that we sell to benefit causes that were close to Floyd and I.
Our siblings are in India and we have so many friends and well-wishers.
The pandemic situation in India is heartbreaking for me,” she explained.
Barkha had worked with her late husband at one of his famous restaurant ventures Bombay Bread Bar in New York City between 2016 and 2019.
“When Floyd launched his famous Indian restaurant Tabla in NYC in 1998, my sons were very young and I couldn’t join the business.
In those days, I preferred to remain behind the scenes and support him.
But by 2016, the kids were older and I started working with him.
I realised his amazing talent when we worked side by side.” Though the venture was closed down in 2019, she still remains connected with many chefs who had worked with her husband at different kitchens which he helmed throughout his career.
“In his journey to redefine Indian cuisine with an American twist, Floyd was a mentor and a teacher to many young chefs.
Most of them remember him with a lot of love and respect and have reached out to me and supported me after his death.”