And so my love for food has landed me here. No I’m not the be-all and end-all or the last word on food. In fact, I’m just a student of life. But I do love good food with an undying passion. All through life, no matter what path I took, I somehow always found myself walking to food.

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My earliest memory goes back to my grandmother Agnes wearing a raincoat, and me with an umbrella, going into the garden. She would deftly pick out mushrooms. The rest. she would say, were toad-stools and couldn’t be eaten because they’re poisonous. How she knew, I never asked. I just knew that she knew.

She always sang and hummed while she did anything. Grandma Agnes was a tall, silver-haired, brown-eyed  woman. We all lived together, but she had her own kitchen and would cook her own food and was always fiercely independent. She was very funny and would whistle really loudly. She loved to travel, and her kitchen always was brewing with inviting aromas.

So I’m East-Indian and yes, we come from the West of India (the erstwhile ‘Bombay’ and are world- famous for our ‘bottle-masala’. We actually speak Marathi, but I somehow don’t have an affinity for languages.

Food has been an integral part of our everyday life, and when bang in the middle of mundane everyday food,  suddenly in the rains, Grandma Agnes would pick out mushrooms growing randomly in the garden, dinner that day would definitely be more fun.

So yes, mushrooms and me have a long-standing relationship, my favourite variety is enoki, because I love how delicate it looks and tastes.

It can be eaten raw, lightly cooked and is a great garnish when deep-fried, and mushroom risotto is my absolute favourite. In fact, it’s the first dish I ever learnt from an Italian chef, only because my son Zeke loves risotto.

I think Grandma Agnes in her own beautiful, nonchalant way, for introducing me to food that was not regular at that time in life.

Well, also the fact that I’m not regular must be somewhere in play.

So grandma Agnes, would pick the mushrooms and then clean them very delicately with a soft, bristled brush and I totally remember running my fingers on the inner side of the mushroom (which feels like velvet, by the way). She would prep the mushrooms in the evening for dinner. She would bring from her kitchen this beautiful aromatic soup that had greens and big pieces of mushroom that were cooked perfectly — silky and juicy and subtly flavoured with chicken stock.

She introduced me to various techniques of food while I was just a participant (definitely not an eager learner) at that time.

How someone made food was not really as important to me, as long as I was getting to devour it, and so, I was learning very early because of her, that food is actually available all around us, we just need to choose wisely.

Food is very much like life actually, full of choices, and it’s the choice we make in our lives, that actually defines how our life takes shape. Serendipity is what I believe in. And I truly feel like life sets you up for wonderful things in the most subtle ways.

I never really cooked and was not ever interested in it, till I actually had to feed Zeke, but here I am today, led by a series of happy and some disastrous coincidences and ‘food’ and I are doing pretty well with one another. And I hope that you join me, as I write my way into my world of all food wonderful.

And every morsel of deliciousness and the people who led me into this feast of life.

Food is not just food. It’s not just nutrition, it’s a relationship you develop with your body, heart and mind.

So keep it fun, healthy and happy.