Where it all began...

I haven't always been a foodie, as afternoons parked in front of the TV as a teenager gobbling junk food proves. However, I could always smell from the front door the day my parents' garden tomatoes and coriander replaced dull grocery store varieties, and munched my way through freshly grown sugar snap peas, delicate string beans, sunflower seeds (hung upside down and raining from the garage roof) and wild strawberries every summer. Growing up in the Mid-West, USA, sweetcorn season was always a highlight, paired with the standard butter & salt or sprinkled with chilli powder for a kick.

Speaking of kicks... who could forget Kamdar Palace's super spicy samosas, the Aurora Temple's famous tamarind rice, my mom's legendary spicy tamarind sauce (vethalkuzhambu), or my dad's crispy masala dosai? Leaving all of this for university was a shock and I realised why so many people hated vegetables... the only seasonings they used were salt and pepper, on canned & frozen veggies! I craved my mom's potatoes with curry-leaf chutney, and finally proved to meat-loving roomies that veggies can be tasty, even without chilli. Later I found some veg(an) friends who gave me the confidence to turn vegan & introduced me to some super tasty dishes, from crispy tofu w/spring onion & coriander (which I still miss) to vegan chocolate pie and cake.

My love for food continues here in the UK, where I aptly married into a family famous for its love for chillies and its knowledge of what fruits & veggies are in season from which countries around the world at any given time. 

Since the hubby's an omnivore, I get jealous at times when some restaurants have loads to choose from for him and a boring plate of steamed veggies (if that) for me... but I'm redeemed by the fact that when we travel, half of the time my food, with all his limitations, is better than his!

One thing I've always been a bit uncomfortable with is the omnipresence of meat & dairy in "gourmet" foods- how can I consider myself a foodie when I can only eat a tiny percentage of good food in the world? But the hubby helped me realise it's more about how much you love that food than how much of it you can eat! 

His hope: I can share a bit about tasty vegan food with other foodies who don't like to be limited to veggie restaurants.... and more importantly that when I go into a restaurant armed with a big fancy camera, we'll get better service! Cheers to that!

p.s.- Being a vegan foodie often means you've gotta be self-sufficient and make your own goodies, so I'll be posting some of my favourite recipes too!