Why Saransh Goila’s book ‘India on My Platter’ is my kind of book

 

 

I normally don’t do book reviews these days.

 

Most of the food books that have come my way recently are recipe based books. The true test of such books is how the recipes translate from the book into one’s kitchen.

 

The fact is that I very rarely cook from recipes. So it becomes tough for me to comment on recipe heavy books. Which is why I don’t do recipe book reviews.

 

There have been some interesting books in this genre of late which focus on Indian food.

 

 

 

Kunal Vijayakar wrote ‘ Made in India’ which, from what I understand, has recipes that he picked up while doing his television show, The Foodie. My friend, blogger Sassy Fork, has done a ‘Julie and Julia’ and cooked through his book and posted pictures on social media. Here’s her post on the experience. 

 

 

 

My friend Maunika Gowardhan, who blogs at Cook in a Curry, has just come out with her book Indian Kitchens. She had told me about the book when it got commissioned and since then kept me updated on what was happening on it. I felt really excited when I received a copy that she sent for me from the UK. It is now available in India too. It is a recipe based book which has a wonderful range of recipes from all across India and has some of the most lovely photographs that you will get to see in an Indian cook book. My mom in law was quite excited to find quite a few Parsi recipes in it. I have now given the book to Sassy Fork who has diligently started cooking from it and is thrilled with the results.

 

 

 

Last evening I was at the launch of Saransh Goila’s ‘India on My Platter’ at the Grand Hyatt, Mumbai.

 

It was a happy occasion with lots of known faces from the Mumbai food world around…a testimony to the goodwill Saransh evokes.

 

 

 

I had received a copy of this book a few days back and just loved the book. There are recipes but the recipe to copy ratio is 1:4 and not 0.5:1 as in the case of the average recipe based book.

 

I started reading it late one night and immediately realized that it’s my kind of book. It is a food travelogue. Covers Saransh’s story as he travelled through India for 100 days by road a couple of years back for the shoot of a show called Roti, Rasta aur India.

 

The book is written a bit like a diary with narrative in the first person. It is an easy, energetic read. One tends to race through it as one travels across India with Saransh. He goes from Pondicheryy at one end to Kargil (!) at the other and then Assam in the East. It is packed with stories of people he met, the food he ate. Gives information without becoming dry and pedantic. Has a human touch to it as he shares his self doubts and initial failings at trying to be an anchor and how he worked on it.

 

I read it over 2 or 3 days. Normally last thing in the day before hitting the day and for a while when I woke up the next day. I found it pretty riveting and really enjoyed reading it.

 

Here’s hoping that his book does well and that this genre of food writing grows in India. 

 

 

 

PS I have no idea how the recipes in the book are. I skimmed past them.