About me

My family’s culinary and spice collecting journey began generations ago in the spice trade in Gujarat, India, long before my birth. My grandparents owned a spice shop that sold spices and grains to all the residents and neighboring towns. My grandmother was a progressive and aggressive woman in the early 1900s, which is probably where I got my spunk from. Women in those days did not work in the business, but my grandmother wanted to help my grandfather’s spice shop thrive, so she made an elaborate recipe called Handvo (which is included in my first cookbook From Gujarat with Love). All the customers loved the Handvo and asked for the recipe. With the recipe in hand, customers bought a lot of the spices from the shop. My grandmother made their business thrive. She was way ahead of her time, as she figured out that by giving away samples, you can sell more groceries. A lot of big grocery stores use that technique today!