My Story: 'My Interest In Cooking Came From My Mother & Mumbai Street Food Vendors, Who Made People Smile Through Their Recipes'

I was always interested in cooking and knew I wanted to be a chef since childhood. I believed that my mother possessed a superpower, which was the ability to make people smile through her cooking, and I wished for that superpower.

I began cooking when I was 10, and my inspiration came from Mumbai street food. I used to go out with my father and explore many Mumbai street food options, and that's when I got inspired by looking at a pav bhaji vendor and created my first ever recipe.

After finishing my hotel management degree and working in the food industry, I was allowed to work on the sets of MasterChef season 4. Soon after, I decided to go to London for further studies. However, I could not travel at the time due to financial difficulties in my family. I joined my father and began working in his factory.

For almost a year and a half in 2014, I worked full-time with him and was responsible for various tasks related to the business, on-the-ground work, and so on. I was far from food, but my experiences taught me how to keep my head high in the darkest times of my life and that if you work hard, you can sail to every given situation. On weekends, I began making videos at the same time.

How Did The Food Lab Happen?

Since I started making videos, people began recreating my recipes at home. That is how Your Food Lab (YFL) began. The journey has been insane, a rollercoaster ride. What began as a weekend project for me while working at my father's factory has now grown into a full-fledged legit business.

YFL is now one of the most popular food channels in India and worldwide. The journey began with me making videos in my living room on my dining table using rented cameras, lenses, DIY lights made from domestic ceiling lights, mounting them on stands, and filming them. It was an incredible experience, I still remember the day when I received my first brand integration and was able to purchase my own set of camera and lenses, and when the second brand integration arrived, I brought my first set of professional lights, and YFL has never looked back since.

Your Food Lab is a channel where you can watch a diaspora of different cuisines and recipes. It's a love story I have with food, and I portray that in the videos I make, so for me, the visual aspect, practical aspect, recipe execution, when all of this comes together, it becomes a YFL video. The channel has become a model and has inspired many people to create food videos in new ways. It is watched by billions of people and followed by 11 to 12 million people across three major platforms and has received praise from many celebrity chefs, Bollywood celebrities, and, most importantly, my millions of followers who try my recipes daily. The journey continues, and I will continue to try to create fantastic content for our audiences.

Future Initiatives

I'm now preparing to film a brand new YouTube web series, four episodes, with other content creators and celebrities with whom I'll be collaborating, which is an exciting new format. Next, I want to explore more OTT, creating a couple of D2C companies, and products that my audiences can enjoy and experience at home.

In addition to many other initiatives, I recently produced a short film that will have a very different impact on people's lives. I also want to work for the cause of food wastage and malnutrition in children in India because that is a huge problem that we have faced and I'm actively going to support these causes soon.

If you, too, have an inspiring story to tell the world, send us your story at mystory@thelogicalindian.com