Moderated by Vikram Doctor- featuring Nilanjana Roy, Shoba Narayan and Rushina M Ghildiyal .
Food writing is sizzling! Across the world the interest and amount of food writing in books, newspapers, magazines, and blogs has been exploding. It is a subject with almost guaranteed reader interest - everyone eats! everyone is hungry! Everyone has opinions on where to get the best vada-pav!
Food writing spans the spectrum from serious academic research on the role of food in societies to food as a way of discovering family histories. Food writing is now less a specialised category, than a style that cuts across genres, so you have food and history, food and science, food and crime fiction, food and romance fiction, food and politics… plus, of course, there are cookbooks!
Vikram Doctor is the Editor - Special Features at the Economic Times, but the features he writes are really excuses to support the two regular columns on food that run in the paper along with other articles on food that come in ET, the Times of India and Times Crest. His main focus is on Indian food and the many meanings it has in society and culture, both in India and the Diaspora.
Nilanjana S Roy is a book reviewer, food writer and literary columnist with the Business Standard, and has worked extensively in the worlds of media and publishing. As chief editor from 2007-2009, she was part of the team that started up Tranquebar, a Chennai-and-Delhi based publishing house. She edited A Matter of Taste: The Penguin Book Of Indian Food Writing; some of her short stories have appeared in the Scholastic anthologies of science fiction, horror and fantasy writing for children. Her journalism has appeared in publications from Outlook to Biblio to The Hindu and Le Monde, and can be found online at http://akhondofswat.blogspot.com.
Shoba Narayan writes a weekly column called “The Good Life” for Mint Lounge. She is a food and travel writer who contributes to Condenast Traveler, Gourmet, Time, the Wall Street Journal, New York Times, Washington Post, Forbes Life, Town & Country, Beliefnet, and others. She is the author of Monsoon Diary: a memoir with recipes.
Actively blogging since 2002, Rushina M. Ghildyal has been a food writer for 6 years and written thousands of articles on gastronomy in reputable international publications. She continues to be a prolific blogger and is currently working on two book projects of her own. In her career she has found the perfect cover for her obsession with all things food and brazenly uses it to legitimise her foodie idiosyncrasies; such as an obsession with getting a perfect bite - every time, shamelessly discussing food with anyone, anywhere, and going to any length to get her hands on new and exotic ingredients! Rushina began as a blogger, but quickly grew into a food writer and today heads her own consultancy company (also called A Perfect Bite). Rushina also spearheads her own consultancy firm. Called ‘A Perfect Bite’, this is a fresh new company, that offers a wide range of turnkey solutions in gastronomy related consultancy to clients in the food publishing, hospitality and restaurant businesses. A strong core team of individuals, led by Rushina specialize in identifying and putting together ensemble casts of experienced, creative professionals to best serve a projects requirements on a project to project basis.
