Pastry chef Pooja Dhingra's new podcast looks at the challenges behind the journey in the F&B industry
Pooja Dhingra
Drudgery has its own role to pay in inspiration. The commode has long been a vibrant place for brainstorming with the self. Or, Mumbai's stagnating traffic that is inversely proportional to the pace of life in the city. "You never know what clicks," you'll often hear people say.
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Something similar happened to city pastry chef Pooja Dhingra. "I began listening to podcasts when I was learning French and then I got hooked. I used to listen to them while stuck in traffic, etc," she tells us. When she realised there weren't enough podcasts from India and more so about food, it became fodder for Dhingra's latest venture, which she has been working on since this May. In No Sugar Coat, the "macaron queen" is in conversation with luminaries from the industry, including Thomas Zacharias, Gary Mehigan, Garima Arora, Prateek Sadhu and Kelvin Cheung among others.
For Dhingra, the idea was to bring forth real stories. "The mission was to open the doors of the culinary world to the people and share the struggles we all go through," she says, adding, "I've been able to learn so much about every person I interviewed."
So what did she learn about them, we inquire. "When I was interviewing chef and author Maunika Gowardhan, she talked about breaking down and crying in her kitchen after her pulao didn't turn out well for the eighth time during recipe trials for her cookbook. Or take Gary Mehigan's example. He talked about his days in culinary school and working non-stop. He wasn't able to close his hands into a fist because of all the meat chopping."
Dhingra's podcast releasing next month is packed with stories about trials. Go, listen.
Prateek Sadhu speaks
'I thoroughly enjoyed exchanging ideas and sharing our vision for the future of the culinary industry in India. It was also fun talking about my journey. It's a great way to spread our thoughts with supporters and foodies across the country.'
Kelvin Cheung bytes
'It's not often that a day at work includes recording a podcast episode with someone you not only admire and respect as a peer but also have a great amount of love for as a friend. I hope everyone enjoys our chat as much as I enjoyed recording it.'
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