Parul Pratap

A Chef by profession, a cook by heart, Parul Pratap (@parul_pratap) began her journey in the culinary world way back in 1998. With a dearth of jobs for women in a hot kitchen, a few stints here and there led her to styling food for photography, creating recipes for brands, menu consulting with restaurants and even content creation in the digital space, for F&B brands. The objective was to remain connected to an industry she was not only trained for but an industry she loves. As they say, all good things come to those who wait, she found her calling at Music & Mountains where she joined as a Marketing consultant for the brand and went on to moonlight as a kitchen consultant, going on to become the Executive Chef. Today she continues to write on food, create digital content for brands and products at her home studio and remain busy with her kitchen at Music & Mountains. (@musicandmountains1) Parul’s food is good for the soul - comforting, delicious and reminiscent of old world charm. She shares with an open heart, and with so much love for the recipes she creates, everything you learn stays for life.

Ruchira Hoon

Ruchira Hoon (@ruchirahoon) is a self taught cook and is currently the Brand head of Ek Bar, Olive Bar and Kitchen. (@ekbarindia) In her previous avatar she was a journalist with brands such as Hindustan Times and Times of India. Currently she's pursuing her passion - which is all things food called The Ruchira Kitchen where she cooks, she styles, she photographs, she teaches and she feeds. Ruchira’s online workshops are a well rounded experience where you go back not only learning the dishes on the curriculum but with your mind opened up to endless possibilities.

Simi Kohli

Simi Kohli (@kohlisimi) is a recipe developer, food stylist and photographer. She is also the co-founder and Culinary Head, @shibuyafoodnbar Simi started her company, Cook Style Click in 2015 and has since worked with many brands developing recipes and styling and clicking their products. Simi is a fabulous artist too and one of the finest chefs we know. We are proud to have her on board as one of our collaborators. We’ve had some wonderful workshops with her already; watch this space for more!

Abha Kohli

Abha Kohli (@abha.kohli) is a graphic designer turned Cake Artist. For over 15 years, she has been working in the field of Chocolates and Cake design, and is the face behind Maya handmade chocolates, based in New Delhi. She is a self-taught chocolatier, baker, and cake artist. Abha works primarily with chocolate and buttercream, drawing on her design background to create celebration cakes which have their own unique style and treatment, using colours and textures all created in chocolate. She also specialises in Art-themed handpainted Cakes, turning famous paintings into edible art with coloured chocolate on chocolate, with edible pigments, and edible metallics. Abha divides her time between designing cakes, teaching cake decoration, working as a food stylist, and teaching Graphic Design at School of Planning and Architecture, Delhi. We are truly proud that she chooses to teach some insightful sessions with us. Watch this space for announcements of our workshops with Abha.

Crescentia Scolt Fernandes

A true passion for cooking is when a person commits to creating a brand that showcases the cuisine of their culinary history no matter what their background may be. Crescentia Scolt Fernandes (@crescentiaskitchen) is one such person. An Anglo- Indian brought up in Kerala and married to a Goan, is the founder of Bernardo’s – Delhi/NCR’s oldest dedicated Goan restaurant and now a catering service. She has always loved pickling and baking to the point where she quit her 9-5 job with the United Nations to start Bernardo’s. Having run a pickling factory in her formative years as a Chef, she went on to rediscover a treasure trove of family recipes, so she and her husband Chrys set up Bernardo’s almost two decades ago. When Bernardo's, the restaurant closed (after an innings of 14 years) she started Crescentia's Kitchen.

The most arduous part of Goan cuisine is the grinding of the spices. In some cases, numerous spices are sun dried then roasted separately and then ground together. To make life and cooking simpler for the modern-day cooking enthusiast, Crescentia's Kitchen brings you readymade home-ground Goan Masala mixes, with easy instructions on their usage. Apart from Goan Masalas, Crescentia's Kitchen makes smoked Goan Chouricos, and also caters for small parties, specialising in Goan food and conducts cooking classes for a cuisine that stands out as both delicious and unique among all regional cuisines of India.

Aanchal Bhalla

Since childhood, Aanchal Bhalla (@anchal_22) has been sneaking into the kitchen along with her dad and staying glued onto cookery channels while her counterparts followed cartoons. Her love for food and cooking evolved naturally. Wherever she travelled, she attended cooking courses to learn the regional cuisines. Each new recipe learnt used to bring a sense of happiness and achievement, and there came the idea to share the knowledge of our wonderful home cuisine and culture through Tastesutra. The journey which began back then, still continues – meeting travellers, cooking with live audiences and interactive sessions. She strongly believes that anyone can cook and looks forward to offering you the opportunity to cook, create, crave and cherish food in a way like never before. She also believes that people, who cook together, stay together. At Tastesutra, she shares her love for food and brings it alive by creating memories which bring warmth and contentment through alluring cooking experiences.

Divya Saraf

It all started with Divya Saraf (@quarter_plate) pursuing a pastry course in one of the world’s leading institutions of pastry in France, Ducasse Ecole and Institute of Pastry Arts Malaysia. Divya's passion for baking fuels her life. She has 14 plus years of experience and has worked with some of the top hotels in India such as the Taj group and Novotel. Divya started her own brand Quarter plate in Kolkata, 6 years ago. She also does pop-ups, bake sales and back-end supply to cafes. Recently, she has started a studio school and has trained over 6000 students in India and around the world. Divya is regularly featured in international cake magazines and websites for her expertise in modelling chocolate and creating bust cakes.

Natasha Celmi

Natasha Celmi (@natashacelmi) is a self-taught chef and founder of the popular food blog Cucina Mia by Natasha. Her cooking workshops around India, which are now online, are very popular, and she has been successful in teaching people the art of cooking global flavours using fresh, local produce without toiling in the kitchen all day. While she is Indian, her husband hails from Southern Italy, and they have lived in various parts of the world. It is this cross-cultural influence that is essence of her food philosophy.

Suchana Bera

Suchana Bera (@suchanabera) is the Brand Head, to a renowned global spirit brand. A dynamic professional with more than 15 years of professional experience with globally renowned brands like Hyatt, Mercedes etc, she is a curator of immersive experiences, Mixologist and Lifestyle influencer. With an interesting mix of expertise to her credit, Suchana has many other remarkable skills and capabilities in her portfolio. Suchana Bera, who is breaking the barriers, an International management degree-holder, is one of the renowned mixologist in India. A prolific travel, cuisine and lifestyle influencer and a writer with a huge Instagram following of 91k, Suchana explains that “mixology is not only about creating a unique blend, but delving deep into the history and culture of each drink by continuously educating oneself, along with hands-on experience.” A young mother to an 8yrs old boy, she gives the credit for her success to her parents, husband and two siblings and says “more women are now shaking off inhibitions, coming forward and supporting each other.”

Gaurvi

Gaurvi (@itsthecookiebrain), a professional patisserie chef trained in French patisserie under Chef Florent Cantaut, Gastronomicom. With over 8 years of experience in the global hospitality industry, she has donned many hats: A pastry internship in Hotel Carlina, Courchevel, France Commis pastry in Oberoi Gurugram, Sous chef in Coffee Bean and Tea leaf, Entrepreneur in Delhi and Bangalore. Her forte lies in baking traditional French patisserie elements like a genoise, roulade, praline, crèmes, tarts, biscuit de savoie, with a focus on technique and the science behind the art of pastry Currently she’s working and playing with new flavours and is also taking orders from her home kitchen.