Updates

It’s been such a long time since I’ve actually posted something on a blog. Whether it’s a lack of commitment, an omnipresent social life (FACEBOOK) that I regularly update or my proximity to all the people I’d normally share foodie revelations with, I keep telling the public that I will post and then I don’t.

For anyone I have let down, I’m truly sorry. I hope that my decision to barrage this blog and then stay consistent will make up for my absence. Shout outs to Krishna, Nam, Diya and Vishnu.

I’m going to edit the “About Me” section to reflect the following new pieces of information. But I felt the need to add this anyway.

I recently graduated UC Berkeley. I have a somewhat healthy obsession with my motherland, i.e., India, which has kept me going back. I was also raised in a Gaudiya Vaishnava family with a strict diet. Some people have been fascinated with the tale of my foodie genesis, so here it is.

In a nutshell, I’m a vegetarian and I recently (as in it’s been less than ten years) started eating out so most discoveries are pretty huge for me. Food excites me, calms me, grounds me and interests me. I love trying new places as much as I enjoy my allegiance to actually decent places. My adventures currently stretch out across the world and change as I travel. I’ve eaten in Southern and Northern California, India (primarily Northern), and Ireland (primarily Dublin) so I will blog about those experiences extensively. Cities I’ve spent some time in are covered, but not as much. These currently include Kolkata, Vrindavan, Paris, Berlin, Prague, Rome, Porto, Barcelona, Bari, Amsterdam and Budapest.

The extended version is as follows:

I grew up a strict lacto-vegetarian. That means I’ve never had meat in my life, or fish or eggs. For some reason, many members of my immediate communities, particularly Indian members, are shocked and awed. Personally, having never “tried” that stuff and without some sort burning curiosity stemming from a particularly abundant supply of food as a child and as an adult, I don’t think I’m desperately missing out.

Until I was about 13.5 and well into my first year of high school, my parents were pretty strict about eating out. In the jargon of our household, we didn’t eat “karmi-cooked food”. My parents and I, to a certain degree, believe in consciousness and the fact that the consciousness, either positive, spiritual, negative, lower, whatever, of the person preparing your food directly affects your consciousness. Thus, the first place I ate out at was Subway because I could actually see the food being prepared, not much cooking was involved in making a Veggie Delite sandwich and it was fast (I was in school).

I truly started enjoying eating out my second semester of college at UC Berkeley and my passion grew crazier as I became a person who photographed her food before that was a trend (in other words, I’m a hipster folks) and enjoyed switching it up as new options became available.

Then I decided to study abroad and this obsession became even realer as I began to HUNT for places that catered to my dietary restrictions. That’s about when I was ok with traveling halfway across town for the tastier and healthier option.

In any case, my foodie adventures are atypical in that they are not all encompassing. I eat strictly vegetarian food. I hunt vegetarian food down. I go to great lengths for that one superexcellent cup of gelato or donut or dosa or whatever.

If any of that appeals to you, please follow my adventures. If I actually cook, I’ll post a picture. If I can’t post a picture, I’ll be as vicarious about the experience as possible.

Thank you for your patronage.