Aparna Balasubramanian’s kitchen experiments are stringed with snippets on growing up in Nigeria, while Deeba Rajpal sounds a warning about the clutter of dishes to be cleared after every baking adventure. Endless driving, groceries, laundry; the everyday and the mundane are a conscious presence in Deeba's food blog. Sanjeeta K.K. dwells as much on new opportunities — food styling, “ideating” recipes at corporate workshops — as much as on her dill and potato oat crackers. Sia Krishna follows up homecoming after eight years in the United Kingdom with an Udupi-Mangalore special kaatu mavina hannina saaru .
Food is emotional; every dish a story. And food blogs of these women celebrate this vital, vibrant link. Their blogs aren’t spaces for indiscriminately slapping recipes. Two tablespoons of turmeric or a pinch of asafoetida are not the stars. Instead, little stories are. Memories, dreams, accounts of daily life are all here, giving little peeks to their small struggles. In turn, food blogs become documents — on raising children, running a home, rushing to work — the nitty-gritty of an urban Indian woman’s life.
“My food blog ( >www.litebite.in ) is an honest documentation of the past and present aspects of my daily life,” says Chennai-based Sanjeeta.
“I am kind of aware that it serves as a personal diary; I have never shied away from posting pictures from my life. From the beginning, it was never merely a recipe blog,” she adds.
New situations drew many of them to food blogging. Newly married, the kitchen was a space they had to know and master. Belonging to the Internet savvy generation, it was natural for them to document acquired recipes online.
“When I began in 2007, it was meant for people who were in the same boat; the ones raised abroad. I created an online presence for recipes collected from family members after my marriage,” says Goa-based Aparna, the woman behind www.mydiversekitchen.com.
Having grown up abroad, her knowledge of Indian food was the patchwork semblance her mom created with available ingredients. “Thirty years ago, ingredients taken for granted today were not accessible. My mother’s cuisine was one of approximation. I did not know the very traditional ingredients,” she says. The food blog at first was her quest and compilation of those.
For Sia ( >www.monsoonspice.com ), a new bride in England in 2006, blog began as documentation. “Food connected me to my roots. At first the blog was to document recipes I learnt over telephone from my mother and grandmother,” she says.
The nourishment to recipes happened as bloggers discovered their narrative style and realised there are stories too. Sia soon moved to blending food with experiences in a new country and memories of those left behind. “Every dish from my kitchen has stories to tell,” she says. They ranged from her mother’s Sunday special masala dosa and the onion pakoda of a street vendor to cooking for a four-year-old.
For Aparna, the stories were part of her evolution as a writer. “I prefer blogs that go beyond recipes. I like if it is well written — the story, food history. Slowly, I moved towards an introduction,” says Aparna.
Veteran food blogger Gurgaon-based Deeba Rajpal who blogs at www.passionateaboutbaking.com says, the style has to be one’s own. “You cannot emulate another person’s narrative style. If it is forced, it is not happening,” she says. For her, the stories tagging recipes are easy. “I have an emotional connect with everything I cook.” So a jamun mousse post is at once about a university returned daughter’s new-found appreciation for little things, so too of childhood memories — picking up fallen fruits and nursing clothes that never gave up the stain. “It takes me only about half-an-hour to write the story. The writing happens at a sub-conscious level,” says Deeba.
Personal lives
A blog that offers more than recipes touch more readers, say the women. Readers are often curious about the person behind the recipes. For Aparna and Sia, both intensely private people, letting others in comes with limits. Aparna’s profile picture is still a pomegranate. “There would be food memories I do not want to share. The details about my personal life are minimal,” she adds. Sia too enjoys her anonymity. “Only a handful of friends and family know about my blog; I like to keep it that way. For someone who is shy and introverted in public spaces, the freedom to express my thoughts and emotions virtually gives me joy and satisfaction,” she says. The stories they narrate, the women say, are at best peeks into their personality.
Rather than a diary, for Aparna a food blogs is about sharing. For a lot of them, food is the starting point to community-building and friendships. “Friendships have gone beyond the blog. We call and meet up,” says Aparna. Susan Visvanathan, professor of Sociology at Jawaharlal Nehru University, is struck by the sense of community. Browsing the food blogs, she says, “I am delighted by the camaraderie and the sense that food is a space of conversation not just of innovation.”
Susan reads food blog literature as an attempt to network with a wider world. “While entrenched in couple-dom or in small emerging families, they feel they belong in a larger social world of mothers and grandmothers, friends and children. Blogging makes them feel that they are part of this world. They are entrusted with the human task of sharing and inventing. By exploring the work of others in this adventurous search for multi-vocal cuisines, they feel that they have a community,” observes Susan.
Narratives are integral to building a sense of community and also vital to having an impact. Sanjeeta knows her blog hasn’t merely helped her make inroads into the food industry but has also been an immense confidence booster. After quitting corporate life to raise children, the blog has steered her to creative enterprises. “It is empowering, of course. The reader’s response has boosted my confidence and given me wings to fly,” she says.
The community-building through food and stories ended in Indian Bloggers Meet recently. Deeba, Sanjeeta, Aparna and many more were part of it.
“We had no idea about organising events. We pulled it off; went beyond of our homes and circle of friends. It was a validation of sorts,” says Aparna.
