Chef Damodaran Kothandaraman, fondly known as Chef Damu died on Sunday, October 25 in Chennai.

The 72-year-old Padma Shri awardee, best known for the show Cooku with Comali, showed that a passion for food could take you places you never imagined — and was unarguably one of the most beloved chefs from Tamil Nadu.

“He made a lot of lives. So many boys who entered culinary industry were clueless and considered dropping out. But Chef Damu mentored them till the end,” Chef Sheetharam Prasaad tells indianexpress.com with pain in his voice, recalling how the ‘disciplined and dynamic’ Chef Damu had students across the globe.

In fact, Chef Prasaad was one of them. He first met Chef Dhamu at culinary school 33-years-ago, wherein the latter was the Vice President.…