I first knew of Tara Deshpande through the silver screen. As an actress in Hindi films and a VJ for MTV.
We connected a few years back when I was the editor at large for the India Food Network. She had emailed with a wonderful piece on the Byculla Souffle then, which it was my pleasure to publish.
We connected a few years back when I was the editor at large for the India Food Network. She had emailed with a wonderful piece on the Byculla Souffle then, which it was my pleasure to publish.
That was the beginning of a beautiful friendship, for Tara is not only a cook book author, an avid food researcher and storyteller, someone who takes lip-smacking pictures of food; but she also is one of the warmest and nicest people that I have come across in our happy world of food and K and I are both very fond of her.
I recently learnt that she had become as home chef post the lockdown and I immediately interviewed her for #foodocracyforher.
I am so glad that I did so because I got to know so many interesting things about her in the process. About the role played by her grandmother and grandfather and her parents in getting her interested in food, her Xavier’s Mumbai years and the story of the disappearing canteen; and then about her time in Boston where she hopped multiple trains to teach Indian food in classes, before she returned to Mumbai and made all our lives richer in the process.
Do watch this episode because the way Tara looks at food is very deep and nuanced and I feel that there is a lot we can learn from her!
