Announcing…. The Uttarakhand Culinary Experience !

I am so very excited to announce the first ever Uttarakhand Culinary Experience. More so as a fundraiser in association with Veruschka Foundation.

Over the last 20 years, I've had the privilege to chronicle and document the cuisine of Uttarakhand. I have written about it, done pop-ups, and talked about it in global forums.

The simple and beautiful soul food that is the Cuisine of Uttarakhand has been hidden in the home kitchens of this wonderful region for far too long. I used to get a lot of requests for Uttarakhand cooking classes at the studio, but could never conduct one because this cuisine cannot be cooked without specific ingredients, especially the local spices.

There is so much that is amazing about the cuisine of Uttarakhand. It is truly soul food. Local, seasonal, root to leaf and nose to tail dining, sustainable kitchens, immunity-boosting ingredients, nutritionally complete meals, superfoods – all of those catchphrases that are trending today are part of the living culture of Uttarakhand cuisine.

I would love to introduce you to it, come discover its wonders with me?

About The Experience

This is the first class of its kind (as far as I know) on the cuisine of Uttarakhand. And I've worked really hard to make the experience as special as I can. I'm soooo excited to bring it to you that I NEED to tell what is waiting for you when you sign up first! (I'll get deeper into details on the cuisine and my reasons behind this fundraiser after.)

SO...Here goes!

Signing up for the Uttarakhand Culinary Experience is your first step into exploring all the wonders that make the culinary culture of this regions special;

First (of course!) is the Online workshop + Cooking demonstration/Cook along - You will join me in my kitchen here in Doon. I will take you on a virtual tour of the culinary culture of Uttarakhand with a slideshow and stories of learning its nuances over the years. Then I will show you how to cook some classic recipes using the ingredients you will receive in your spice kit. You can choose to cook along, or simply watch and recreate at your own pace.

The Menu I've designed for this session has 5 dishes we will cook in the demo and 4 bonus recipes. All of which will allow you to mix and match a number of meal combinations using the spices in your spice kit and even after the class is done.

Which brings me to the custom Uttarakhand Spice Kit and users guide I have specially curated with Kitchens of Uttarakhand. Because most of our recipes are anchored on hyper-local spices from this region you will receive this ahead of the class. It includes signature ingredients such as Jakhiya, Bhang seeds, Faran, Bhangjeera, and Gandheryani and a handy guide on how to use them.

And last but not least, because I had to do something special to show my love for Uttarakhand cuisine and show my special gratitude to you for supporting this fundraiser the Uttarakhand Culinary Experience also includes an exclusive set of collectors edition recipe Foodles (food+doodles) illustrated by me.

And there you have it! I really could not have made this experience more special! Book your spot NOW, (cos we have a limited number of seats using this form (it also includes the payment process through UPI.) We have two sessions, batch 1 is on a weekday option on Friday, 9th July 2021 from 4:00-7:00 pm and batch 2 is a weekend option on Saturday, 10th July 2021, 4:00-7:00 pm.

Link to Registration & Payment Form: https://forms.gle/y9cyijZaFpQ8ZykT8  (I have also reiterated all the inclusions and beneficiary details at the end of this post)

Now for the why and what.

My Passion and bond for the Cuisine of Uttarakhand 

The story is a long and gratifying one, that hopefully I will be able to share soon in my book. But here it is in brief. I have been chronicling the cuisine of Uttarakhand, since I married my wonderful husband Shekhar and discovered its existence. It had not been documented in any form until my first essay on it way back in the year 2000 and the first article on it appeared in Savvy Cookbook in 2005. It literally gave me an identity in the food world at the time. I've been working on a book on it for almost that long. Along the way I realised that just writing down the traditions and recipes while wonderful, really did not allow people to fully experience it. Creating opportunities for them to taste it became important to me and I started doing Uttarakhand cuisine pop-ups at my studio. In those idyllic pre-pandemic times I had clocked in about 20-25 seasonal pop-ups and fed about 500 people by the time we wound up the studio! 

But this journey took its most elemental turn in this pandemic. Last October we escaped the claustrophobia of lockdown in Mumbai and temporarily relocated to Dehradun. A move that afforded me the luxury of living and observing this culinary culture like never before. Each time I pick vegetables from the garden, cook a dish with Ma, or discover something new, I am reminded how privileged I am. To be a student and proponent of this wonderful cuisine under the tutelage of so many of our family’s food lovers and master chefs over the years. So many of whom we have also unfortunately lost in this time. So this is for Manju Chachi, Rekha Mami and Shubhang Bhai. For Nani and for Papa. And this is why it's even more important to share as much about Uttarakhand cuisine as I can even as I continue to chronicle it. I miss hosting those Pahadi pop-ups so much and every day I wish I could invite people in to really sample the cuisine here in Doon, where it's so much more EVERYTHING than I could make it be in Mumbai! While that seems a distant dream, this Uttarakhand Culinary Experience allows me to bring our cuisine to you in another way!

Creating impact as A Perfect Bite Consulting

Food has been at the center of varied conversations throughout the unprecedented times we are living through. Calling for humankind to find new strength and resolve time and again. And to reach out to support each other. And our food industry has risen to the occasion whenever required; be it in service of displaced migrant workers, Covid patients, marginalised communities and more. And I have been happy to support their initiatives; donating funds, contributing recipes, investing in e-book projects and signing up for workshops and masterclasses. I am thankful to have been of use in so many ways. As humanity we are going through so much loss, pain and grief in this time, that we needed these avenues to express our empathy and solidarity. But I wanted to do MORE.

And while it might seem like I am a little late with this first event, (we had a few hurdles to overcome with streamlining issues like taxes, supplies and logistics to ensure maximum funds went to the causes we supported) but as the second wave settles I’m keenly aware that the detrimental effects of the pandemic will continue to manifest in unforeseeable ways for a long time to come. And as A Perfect Bite Consulting, we wanted to create solutions that will continue around the years, rather than stop with one event. So I got talking with Dr. Tatyana Dias over at the Veruschka Foundation, a non-profit Sec 8 NGO, that works in the area of Developmental Disabilities and creates education and employment opportunities for young people with disabilities. We concurred on the idea of creating a sustainable model of fundraising to support more causes.

Ever since I got here, I had been working with my fabulous brother-in-law Vivek Thapliyal on the Uttarakhand Kitchen online store and it is thanks to his endeavours that we have managed to bring together this Uttarakhand Culinary Experience. So it seemed fitting to lead with this as our first fundraiser. But Team APB, Veruschka and I have been working on lots more and over the next few months, you can look forward to a whole lot of interesting workshops, the profits from which will go towards supporting the work of the Veruschka Foundation, as well as other organisations doing important Covid-related and other relief work. Will share more on that as we go forward.  Until then I will leave you with the full details on the Uttarakhand Culinary Experience.

Uttarakhand Culinary Experience - Fundraiser Details.

The ticket price per participant is ₹ 2000. The experience includes: 

1. Online workshop + Cooking demonstration featuring a virtual presentation and cooking demonstration (includes 5 demo plus 4 bonus recipes).

Date & time of virtual cook-along:

Batch 1 - Friday, 9th July 2021, 4:00-7:00 pm 

Batch 2 - Saturday, 10th July 2021, 4:00-7:00 pm

2. An Uttarakhand Spice Kit + user's guide from Kitchens of Uttarakhand containing (Jakhiya, Bhang seeds, Faran, local Haldi, Bhangjeera and Gandheryani )

3. An exclusive set of 6 collectors edition Uttarkhand recipe Foodles (food+doodles) of the signature dishes being showcased. Illustrated by Rushina Munshaw Ghildiyal in her signature food doodling style.

To book a spot, please use this form, which also includes the payment process through UPI.

Registration & Payment Form: https://forms.gle/y9cyijZaFpQ8ZykT8 

NOTE:

1. Registrations close on Friday, 25th of June 2021 as we need enough lead time to dispatch spice kits to you.

2. Participants will receive details to join the cook-along via email.

3. Participants will receive a package containing the Uttarakhand Spice Kit and print Foodles, a few days prior to the cook-along.

4. Currently This experience is only available to residents of India.

Through ticket sales of this first experience in our fundraiser series, we have chosen to support the work of:

1) Veruschka Foundation, which has been conducting culinary workshops as means of fundraising and skill-building for differently-abled persons, and

2) Kalap Trust, a non-profit organisation in the Tons Valley of Uttarakhand, who among other important initiatives, are currently working to set up public health centres equipped to treat Covid patients in a region where rapid healthcare is otherwise hard to come by.