‘Healthy and Delicious Can Coexist’: Experts Discuss Making Food More Joyful and Sustainable

“Healthy food will have an impact on the world if we are capable to make it nutritious enough to matter, accessible enough to be everywhere for everyone, and desirable enough to be chosen,” she said. “The issue with the food industry is that the big food manufacturers have created desire for product[s] that provide empty calories. They scale it, they spread it all over the world. We feed the world with fat and sugar at a low cost. … It hurts the planet, and it hurts the health of the people.”

TIME executive editor and panel moderator Nikhil Kumar then asked Vikas Khanna, a chef, author, and filmmaker, how he navigates making healthy food as a restaurateur. Khanna, who was on the 2026 TIME100 list, talked about how, at his New York City restaurant Bungalow, he and his team have worked to make their food delicious, healthy, and sustainable.

“There’s also an extreme stigma around ethnic cuisines not being healthy,” Khanna said, but it isn’t necessarily accurate. Much of Indian cuisine, he said, “is based on the principles of Ayurveda and sustainability.” And eating healthy doesn’t have to come at the cost of authenticity. For instance, Bungalow has reduced the ratio of creams used in its foods. “I do understand you adding 40% cream makes everything taste more delicious,” he admitted, “but I want people to feel as if they’re eating at home. I have never met an Indian who says that we use cream in our home cooking.”