There were no cooks in our family: my father had teachers and my mother had builders. But we found ourselves in a strange city; no one was waiting for us with open arms; we had to work. When my father passed away in 2002, I didn't even dream of another profession; I just kept doing everything to keep my family on its feet.

I didn't take cooking seriously for a long time and thought it was temporary, even when I was already working in restaurants. Two things happened in 2010 that influenced me. While working in Alanya, Turkey, I saw MasterChef Türkiye on TV and thought about what heights I could reach in this career.

The second event took place at the forum for which we prepared Uzbek national dishes.

Then there was good advice from a good friend: stay in the same profession and develop in it.

Exploring the national cuisine of Uzbekistan, I am very proud. There is a legend that Marco Polo brought many interesting recipes to Italy from his travels to Central Asia. According to this legend, pizza comes from the Khorezm dish piccha-non (flatbread with cheese and tomatoes — editor's note).

Last year I met Italian chefs and told them this legend. It turned out that they also know it — and even confirm it. And during my trip to Italy, I saw many other similar recipes.

At the same time, different regions of Uzbekistan prepare unique dishes that can not be found anywhere else in the world. In Tashkent, you should definitely try naryn: it's finely chopped noodles with horse meat. Khorezm is a flour center; I recommend eating tukhum-barak (dough envelopes with egg filling — editor's note) and shivit oshi (Khorezm Lagman — editor's note) there.

The best noodles are made in Shakhrisabz; you will not find such noodles in other places. And if you find yourself in Karakalpakstan, order jueri-gurtuk—- these are djugar-flour dumplings served with turkey.

My main goal is to contribute to the development of Uzbek cuisine. There may be different areas of work: opening restaurants, holding festivals abroad, writing gastronomic books. But the goal is always the same.

In the future, I want to build a House of Uzbek Cuisine: to assemble a culinary school, a gastronomy museum, a research center, a restaurant and a banquet reception house under one roof.

Everything in life is for the best. If my father hadn't gone bankrupt in Chust, he would not have moved to Tashkent and opened a loaf shop. And without the workshop, our family wouldn't be cooking.