Cooking is an art and food is its soul. Sohail Nath believes you must breathe souls into lacklustre recipes and create finger-licking food. Sohail started his passion project, @boy.eatsworld, a blog, to induce his love for food into easy-to-make authentic recipes from around the world. A foodie at heart, he grew up travelling and wondering at the marvel of local cuisines and recipes.
Furthermore, Sohail’s fulfilling trip to Europe left him hungry for more and increased his appetite for both travel and food. Thus, this unquenched thirst for palatable food charged his passion to make authentic food and share his journey of discovering and understanding innumerable ingredients with the world through his blog or rather “his happy place”.
Discover some cooking advice, tips, interesting trivia, and more from Sohail in this delectable conversation with Storiyaan.
Sohail Nath: For Food With Love
Interview
Questions and answers
What helped in shaping your love for food and trying your hands in making a variety of dishes from all over the world?
My love for food originated in my childhood when I travelled with my parents. Consequently, this travelling resulted in me getting introduced to a variety of cuisines from across the globe. However, it was only in the lockdown that I started trying my hands in creating dishes. Due to the closure of restaurants, I decided to learn to make food to satisfy my food cravings.
Tell us something more about your love for food and travelling.
I think both food and travelling complement each other; one can’t exist without the other. If you are a traveller then one part of exploring newer places is through food. Likewise, to live like a local or learn about a culture you have to indulge in their food habits and lifestyle. Therefore, I think you can’t inhabit a culture without tasting that said culture.
What acted as your major motivation during the initial journey and helped you stand where you are today?
My major motivation for cooking is my mother and to build my brand are my friends and my graphic designer. My mom helped me get the basics polished. Similarly, my friends helped me figure out my brand and aesthetics and guided me in launching the page. Thus, I couldn’t have done it without their support.
What inspired the name “@boys.eatsworld" and what significance does it hold for you now?
Initially, when the brand wasn’t even established I had these three words in my personal account bio. Later on, the words stuck as they meant food, travel and their connection. Since I am cooking cuisines from around the world, it meant I as a boy, am eating and exploring all these cuisines. Thus, it holds significance and sticks to the personality of the page.
Since you have grown up experiencing different cultures and food items, how is this versatility helping in your journey today?
I wanted my page to be a one-stop platform for everyone to get the recipes of authentic traditional dishes from different cities and countries. As today, we look up the internet to create new dishes, very often the authenticity is compromised as everyone creates their rendition of that dish. Therefore, my experience in travelling came in handy while curating recipes or modifying them for them to taste as authentic as they would in their native country.
In retrospect, what were some major errors that turned into unique ideas when it came to preparing new recipes?
Recipe trials are harder than people imagine them to be. I try to minimize food wastage and thus often experiment with the recipes when some errors have taken place. Recently, I am trying to bake cheesecakes but they have been utter disasters to date. Therefore, I decided to experiment and turned them into cheesecake jars and tarts. I still have to perfect a cheesecake, as it is on my list.
Could you share with us your story when you stayed in Europe and how it increased your appetite for more travel and experimentation?
My stay in Europe was the cornerstone of my culinary knowledge. I got to try western, central and eastern European cuisine, which gave me a lot of insight into their style of cooking, the differences in their dishes like how their sauces differ from one another and much more. Hence, my Europe trip inspired me to work on my food and also increased my appetite for travel.
Could you tell us how can one practise integrating sustainability in our kitchen and travel adventures?
For our kitchen, we should try and adhere to the recipes as this will ensure minimum wastage of food. Similarly, if you are learning or experimenting try to work in small batches. When it comes to travel, use e-ways, don’t print every ticket or information if the digital version works fine.
Since you are also a mental health advocate, how would you like to connect the importance of healthy food for a fresh and active mind?
Yes, healthy food is salient for an active mind. Having said that, I think sometimes you can also be a little indulgent. Nutritionists believe that having a piece of dark chocolate before going to sleep can help increase dopamine. Your mind is connected to your soul which is connected to your palate so eating healthy food and a bit of your comfort food would make you happy.
Would you share with us some recipes which will help our body to fight against the covid-19 and are also easily available?
I have uploaded some immunity-boosting recipes on my blog. This includes warm beverages made of herbs like tulsi, ginger, turmeric roots, apple sauce, and apple cider vinegar which will help prevent disease. Additionally, other recipes like avocado sandwiches, garlic dips, and protein-based soups are also available. Such recipes will help prevent covid-19 and are all immunity boosters.
Quick 5
1. Your mantra in life – Balance and Wellness
2. One food item you detest – Raw Tomatoes
3. One thing you want to change in the food industry – Competitiveness
4. What brings you ultimate mental peace? Good food and travel
5. Who is your biggest inspiration? My parents