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Smita Vaidya is a food blogger and home chef based in Bangalore, India. She discovered her passion for food blogging during the pandemic and there has been no looking back for her ever since. She also has a keen interest in traveling and discovering new cuisines.
Smita Vaidya‘s niche is on preparing food primarily surrounding the South Indian style. She also focuses on homemade and vegetarian food.
In her conversation with Icy Tales, she spoke about her journey of choosing this field, her opinion on South Indian food along with some insights on the current food blogging industry.
Q) When did you discover the food blogger side of you? Take us through your journey
Smita Vaidya: I started this page around two years ago and it’s been a journey that I cannot forget. It’s become a part of my life as a whole. This is something that I started because of the passion and love that I had for food because I love to eat.
I had a huge crush on food (laughs) ever since I was a kid but this eventually developed only during COVID-19. We had the lockdown and when I could not get any food from outside, that’s when I thought to cook at home and eat. Then I started cooking a lot; I cooked so many dishes during the lockdown.
Then finally in September, I decided to start my page. It took me a while and in December 2020, I officially launched my page. Then I started posting pictures of the food, followed by IGTV videos and then I moved on to reels as it was the trend.
My hand at reels was really good so I got better with time because after that I had to improve my skills. Despite that, I enjoy the process and it’s been a great time ever since.
Q) What is something you enjoy the most about food blogging?
Smita Vaidya: Undoubtedly, cooking is something that I enjoy the most. I understand food blogging is like a process. It’s not just like you cook and it’s done, we have to take out time on weekends or anytime even on weekdays to invest ourselves in this.
Whenever I have time, I dedicate that time completely to food blogging. I also need to have a recipe that I’m going to make so, eventually, I will also have to do a trial of it. I research well because I don’t want to give out wrong information to others.
Along with it comes some skills in photography and videography. Also, there’s a little bit of cameras and lighting set-up and also some basic cooking investments like utensils. Apart from that editing is also important. That is something that came without asking because I’m an editor. It’s only going upwards from here.
Q) Junk food is becoming very popular, especially after COVID. What do you have to say about eating healthy food?
Smita Vaidya: On my page, I make home-cooked and mostly South Indian recipes. I love eating South Indian food and that has been something that is not very common to everybody so I just wanted everyone to get introduced to South Indian cooking.
Regarding junk food, I feel like everything is about portion control. You should not go beyond a certain limit and just keep on eating it. I would also like to tell people to not cut down on their cravings. Cut your portion levels and exercise at the same time. Workout, and have some physical activity, which improves your health.
Q) What is something you like the most about South Indian food?
Smita Vaidya: South Indian food feels like home to me, because, I’ve been in Bangalore for more than 15 years. I’ve grown up eating South Indian food! Let me tell you a little background of my food blogging page. First thing, whatever my granny made, I just wanted to document it.
I wanted to show the entire world what is Indian cooking. I wanted to prove that it is not just chicken tikka or naan, we have a lot of variety not limited to just that. Something that I love the most about South Indian food is its simplicity. I’m sure everyone here owns simplicity in their food but simplicity in South Indian food is a whole new thing.
Q) What’s your opinion on the current food blogging industry and how do you wish to achieve more in this field?
Smita Vaidya: The current food blogging industry is vast. I know so many food bloggers from Bangalore and we are all connected. Sometimes we meet here and there doing some videos, some launches, or something; it’s food blogging as a journey.
It’s not only related to one thing. One blogger can blog about just the food they eat or the food that they cook and another can blog about the restaurants they visit.
We have so many different niches to catch as well like we have South Indian food, and there’s another blogger focusing on northeastern food.
So you can blog about anything you wish to and I think food blogging is just doing that. All the bloggers have their style of doing it and all are putting out a lot of information and it is helping everyone because, after all, it’s free of cost.
Through blogging, everyone can learn, it is nice to be connected to everybody so that we can explore together. The food blogging industry is something that will grow in the meantime. It is something that a food lover can enjoy.
Q) Tell us your favorite recipe
Smita Vaidya: This is a little hard for me because I love all recipes, that is why I put it out. But if you ask for one, I posted one recipe that included tomato, garlic, and chili salsa, like a chutney. It went well and the reach was exceptional for that particular reel.
Everyone showed a lot of love in that reel and ever since, that’s my personal favorite; it tastes so good. Whenever I recollect that reel, I get a sense of pride as I made it, and my mouth starts watering. So it’s something that I always go and check out, whenever I open my page. I have also pinned that reel.
Smita Vaidya aims to reach more heights through food blogging. She wishes to inspire more people through her work and uphold her name in India’s food blogging industry.
Check out the whole conversation with Smita Vaidya on our YouTube Channel.
Also, enjoy her yummy and healthy recipes on her Instagram page, especially the viral chutney which gives the ultimate satisfaction to your taste buds.
Last Updated on by NamitaSoren