i used to hate cooking.

I didn’t want to be anywhere near the hot oil that always jumped out when I got near the stove, or the pressure cooker and its sudden loud steaming noises. As a young Indian woman, you can imagine how that was so out of the norm. How would I find a husband if I couldn’t cook a proper meal? How would I keep my in-laws (envisioned as those stereotypically evil beings thanks to years of Bollywood and Indian soap operas) happy? (Was my reaction to these sociocultural norms extreme? In hindsight, yes, don’t judge me, we’re all idiots.)

so what am i doing with a food blog?

The simple answer: I started cooking because I needed to. But somewhere along the way of freaking out (because that’s what I generally do) and being too uncertain, cooking turned into a lot more. I’ve always loved food—my parents would disagree, I was a very difficult child—and not just because I like taking photos of it. Now that I was making it, food was a whole other universe: it was science, history, tradition, culture, context, all rolled into one. And it was fascinating.

All of which to say, I have fallen in love with cooking. This blog is my attempt to make sense of everything that it is, through the foods I’ve grown up with, the concept of cooking as someone who’s very new to it, and anything else I feel like talking about.

What can you expect from this space? A lot of pictures. A lot of words. Some recipes. Some rants. Some questions. A whole lot of experimenting, and memories, and talking about Indian culture (you might have to look up some Hindi words, sorry not sorry). And a whole lot of pepper—of all kinds.

My name is Vritti, and welcome to Pass The Pepper.