TRUST ME I KNOW WHAT I'm DOING

Whether it is for nutrition, comfort, or connection, as we’ve seen with many conversations, food and cooking links us all in so many ways. It is the substrate to help us harmonize many stories from the past, present, and future.

And speaking of past, present, and future, thank you all once again for listening and watching TRUST ME I KNOW WHAT I’m DOING and for sharing this with your friends and family. Your support reminds everyone that conversation is the antidote to apathy, and if you’re enjoying these , please share a kind rating and review and follow along on social media and subscribe as I’m really quite grateful.

Now, my own relationship with food has gone through many forks in the road (pun absolutely intended) and many intersections: being born and raised outside of India, becoming a vegetarian, and finding solutions to prepare food that respects heritage, curious exploration, and practical innovation. So it was really wonderful to share a conversation with chef, content creator, and author, Sanjana Modha. Sanjana grew up in England and lives in Buckinghamshire, outside of London, as her family immigrated there from Gujarat via East Africa. Her own experiences have given her an amazing front row seat to the evolution of how the west and local British neighborhoods understand Indian food, from simple curry house renditions to both complex regional cuisines and street casual dining. She’s been a lacto-vegetarian all her life and through social media and contributions to BBC FOOD and The Guardian, Sanjana has been showcasing her recipes as an authentic and soulful exploration of culture, family, creativity, and nostalgia. I have to tell you that it seems like every one of her offerings is like a love letter to vegetarian traditions by way of modern access and feasibility. I’m skipping among dozens of choices, but whether its Soy Kheema, Vada Paav, East African coconut doughnuts, cabbage curry, Malai kofta, samosa crust pizza, or gulab jam, Sanjana’s recipes, descriptions, and demos make you feel like your both revering and transforming a dish at the same time. And all the while, she is telling a story that integrates her own family’s experiences as part of a global diaspora. Sanjana’s new book called “Sanjana’s Feasts” is coming this fall, and we had a chance to catch up and chat about a range things from writing her book to cooking as a parent to her go-to dessert, but since I was joining her on a California morning and it was early evening in the UK for Sanjana, I started by meeting in the middle, and was curious to hear what she just had for lunch!