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Chillibreeze Interview with Anushruti R K
1. You have always been interested in anything that is food. Did you get a related degree/diploma to help you through? In the beginning, my interest in food was at a more subliminal level, which led me to pursue my education in other streams. I have a bachelors degree in Chemistry and studied Business Management thereafter. 2. What do you think of the ingredients that go into our food today? Do you think it’s a good idea to go organic? Unfortunately, the ingredients (chemicals, toxins in grains, pulses, fruits and vegetables and processed ingredients) going into our food today are not just harmful to our bodies, but also our future generations and the environment. I avoid using processed stuff and have been using mostly organic ingredients in my kitchen for years now. It is sad that agriculture in India was 100% organic before independence and today it is sparse and erratic adding to the exorbitant prices of organic produce in the market. Hopefully, demand and awareness of the same will make things easier and streamlined and make organic ingredients widely and easily available at affordable prices.
Being a recipe developer means writing a recipe precisely from scratch and in detail from the beginning to the end after having tested it in the kitchen so that other cooks can replicate the same. Assignments can be wide ranging from developing menus for restaurants and hotels, magazines and food manufacturers. One of my favourite aspects of this job remains developing recipes for my blog Divine Taste. 4. Do tell us about your sattvik meal plans. Sattvik cooking means cooking without meat, fish, eggs, alcohol, onions and garlic and is based on our age-old Vedic scriptures like the Bhagavad Gita. A wide range of dishes from India and around the world can be prepared using sattvik ingredients which include breakfast, appetizers, starters, main course, entrees and the like. Indian vegetarian cooking had been largely sattvik in nature before the Mughals invaded India and other ingredients became popular in mainstream cooking.
If you are curious about what exactly I eat, then breakfast is idlis, dosas, string hoppers or even healthy fruit crumbles, waffles or pancakes for a change. Lunch is usually Indian with vegetables, curries, dal, rice and rotis prepared in the north or south Indian style. Dinner could be soups, roasted vegetables, pastas or light oriental dishes. I have a huge sweet tooth and my snack cupboard is usually filled with traditional Indian sweets and snacks but my family loves western desserts like puddings, cakes and pastries. Everything at home is prepared fresh from scratch using sattvik ingredients. 5. Can you share some of the advantages of ‘Ayurvedic cooking’ with us? Ayurvedic cooking may sound a little alien to us today but it is actually the way our grandmothers and great grandmothers cooked using spices and seasonal vegetables that are right for our body. Eating the Ayurvedic way means more health, energy and general wellness. 6. Your blog Divine Taste does not look like a ‘healthy recipe’ site at all! But it is…do you make this conscious effort not to scare people away?
What I showcase on Divine Taste is the food that I, my family and friends actually eat and there is no conscious effort as such made in that direction. Healthy and sattvik does not mean dull and boring. Although most of my cooking is with whole meal ingredients I do believe in occasional indulgences like a soft and fluffy cake or crisp and chewy cookie made with white flour and sugar (which is of course unprocessed). 7. Is food photography very different from regular photography? Do you need a special lens or will a regular digital camera do? Are photography workshops really useful? Every genre of photography is distinct and unique and requires the right skills. Food photography is no different. One can start with a regular lens and then proceed to lenses that are more suitable for food photography. Workshops can definitely help in learning the basics but food photography or photography in general is a skill that you learn each day and there is something new you discover each time you shoot. Food photography requires a lot of thinking on the go in terms of light, styling, placement of the ingredients, etc.
One of the most amazing things to have happened to me is the connect that I share with the audience of Divine Taste. Millions of visitors from around the world visit my site every month, leave comments and send emails. I feel touched, astounded and humbled by the fact that people who are aware of my cooking philosophy, as well as those who are not, appreciate my food for what it is. Check the results of the writing contest for the First Quarter, 2012 Check the results of the writing contest for the Second Quarter, 2012 Related links: Learn to Click at the Top Photography Schools in India
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Anushruti is the creator, writer, recipe developer and photographer of Divine Taste, a food blog with a focus on pure vegetarian and sattvik cooking. She has been featured in the likes of wall street journal blog, BBC Good Food magazine, other websites and publications
