Shiva Natarajan was born in Calcutta, India. Natarajan credits his passion for food and hospitality, to his 92 year old grandmother, who ran a non-stop kitchen in their Calcutta home. She prepared delicious meals and snacks which were liberally shared with visitors and neighbors throughout the day. Now a successful restaurateur and chef, Natarajan owns several highly acclaimed restaurants.

Natarajan also hails from a family which has close personal ties to the Mother Theresa institute in Calcutta and the Sivananda ashram in Rishikesh. He utilizes every opportunity to further the universal messages of these two institutions : Swami Sivananda and his simple message of serve, love, meditate, realize and Mother Theresa with her simple message of peace, love and helping the down-trodden and unfortunate.