Food means different things for different people. For many, it is a source of sustenance. For a few – luckily global population statistics mean that a few are still enough – food is the reason we live.
If you’re part of the first lot, we are likely not going to be friends but perhaps this story will convince you to think about food otherwise!
As you may have rightly guessed, I belong to the second lot of people.
For me food is less about what I put in my mouth and more about the entire experience. The memories associated with it, the aroma that wafts in one’s kitchen, the excitement of planning a menu, the joy of discovering a new ingredient whilst shopping and of course the happiness at seeing people smile with enjoyment when they eat my food – all of these reasons are why food means so much to me.
They say, the dots only connect looking backwards.
While I was writing this story, I thought long and hard about a ‘good luck story’. It’s then that I realised that everything that I considered ‘good luck’ was somehow associated with food and that mysteriously food has become my recipe for good luck.
Let me explain.
The first instance of food being lucky for me has to be my Mamaiji. She was a caterer herself and made the most brilliant curry – so tasty in fact that I once told her that should she die she should leave me a never ending pot of curry that I could remember her by. As a child, she was the one who taught me how to enjoy food – “Close your eyes and focus on what’s in your mouth”, she’d tell me. Thanks to her I learned how to enjoy food and when I introduced her curry on my blog and on my menu, it quickly became my hottest selling dish
The next instance of food being a recipe for good luck is with my mum. When we moved to New Zealand 12 years ago we had very little. Mum didn’t have job those first few months in NZ so we fell back on what she knew best – cooking. We started selling kebabs and cutlets and with each exhibition we did, the food we sold helped us buy one more piece of furniture for our house – the full story is here if you’re interested!
There’s also one with my GrandPa! He was the one who taught me the importance of quality produce and reliable suppliers. He bought watermelon juice and pani puri from the same vendor for more than 20 years and the same goes for his fish and his masalas. I’d accompany him to the markets on Sundays and on those days out he taught me how to respect good produce and to form relationships with the fish aunty and the mutton uncle – after all, they were the reason I could have his kebabs every Sunday morning for as long as I can remember. Today, I host about 20 people a month at home and the first thing they all want to try is my Grandpa’s Kheema Kebabs.
And finally, how can I write about food and good luck without mentioning The Rodinhoods? When I started my Parsi food blog, I casually wrote a post about whether I could turn my blog in a business. What followed was an absolute deluge of support from all quarters which compelled me to give it a shot. I started with creating a Facebook page, proceeded to start offering weekend ‘special menus’ and went on to curating Parsi pop-ups, running Parsi cooking classes and catering for parties of upto 60 people! All of this led to Bawi Bride being covered in more than 60 publications and a rock and roll 2014 filled with about 200 litres of Dhansak and me winning the Best Regional Food Bloggers Award.
Today, thanks to my passion for eating, cooking, feeding and writing about food I’ve reached a stage where I said goodbye to my job and completed my first full day as a full-time entrepreneur. And I could think of no better place to share this recipe for good luck than the place where it all started – The Rodinhoods.
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You can also WIN Ashwin Sanghi’s book ’13 Steps to Bloody Good Luck’
by posting your #goodluck story on trhs!
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