My Journey Begins

Hello Readers.

This is the first post on my new blog. As the name says, this blog will be all about food & travel. I have been a food lover for a long time, but never had I thought that I will write about it. I was inspired by many people to write up a blog. So, here it goes…

My name is Ritobrata Choudhury, but people usually calls me Rito. I am from Kolkata, West Bengal. My father had a transferrable job, so, I had the opportunity to live in many cities in Bengal. I am currently pursuing my MBA from Symbiosis International University in Nashik. I have done my under graduation from KIIT University, Bhubaneswar. After my graduation, I worked in Accenture, Hyderabad for 3 years. After doing my daily job, I used to feel lot of stress. And that brought me closer to Food and Travel.

Since childhood, I am very much intrigued by food. I was always a foodie and loved to explore new delicacies. My journey for food started at a very early stage. I used to take money from my father to buy sweets & savoury street food from local stalls. I loved to try out the munching crackers in various shapes and tastes. After school, while returning home, I used to visit nearby vendors and ask them what new things they have brought to their stores. I loved to try out the different flavours of Chuskis(ice popsicles), pickles, fryums, and more. Ah! Those were the days. Life was simple.

In my teenage, there was a boom of fast food chain restaurants coming up. Brands like Dominos, Pizza Hut, KFC were popping up on every corners of the city. These retail stores had huge hoardings which were attractive enough to pull in foodies like me. Though these were pricey items for a student like me, but to get the taste of every flavour I used to go out with my friend and take a bite. My motto was to get a taste of everything, not just for the sake of filling up my stomach, but to appreciate the difference in taste. Apart from branded restaurants, local food was still a passion for me. I used to travel to places if I heard something special was being served.

During my graduation, I was able to mix up with people of different states. This opened up another set of doors to other cuisines. People from Bengal, Bihar, Maharashtra, Odisha, UP, Kerala, Tamil Nadu, and more were staying in the same hostel. Hostel life brought it different culture and cuisines to my table. I was lucky enough that I had friends from different states and was able to try out home-made authentic dishes from them. Few of my friends were also food enthusiasts like me and I was lucky enough to see the diversity. Hostel life also gave me the opportunity to travel. We had enough free time to explore the new city and its nearby attractions. My friends and I used to go on weekend trips to get rid of our monotonous life.

Hyderabad was the arena where I explored more on my personal food experiments. I was staying with my friends in a rented flat. Since I was homesick and the dearth of Bengali cuisine, I was introduced to my skills in cooking. My mother, over the call, helped me with the traditional recipes. I used to pen down the ingredients and walk through the street markets to collect the varieties. My friends and I used to follow the exact steps and recreate the traditional cuisine. Sometimes we used to mix and match ingredients to make a fusion for our parties. Also, this was the time when pubs, clubs, buffet, brunches are getting the hype. So, twice a month we used to target a restaurant and experience the latest food trends.

In this blog, I will try to create my vision and perception on food. I will give my reviews of restaurants, food habits, and cultural changes affecting local delicacies, local attractions, and more. If I visit someplace new, I will pen it down for you to get a fair idea about the place. Apart from these, I will also try to share some traditional Bengali recipes which anyone living outside Bengal can make and feel homely.

Travelling is also a part when you explore food. So I will also share my experiences of the places where I have visited. I will give you a picture of how extensive I went in search of food and traditional cuisines. I will paint the North Bengal & Sikkim through my eyes in front of you. Hyderabad and its nearby places has been a big part of my life, so I will try to capture the hostel life and hacks to live alone in Hyderabad. Nevertheless, it will be fun to come along with me on my journey. I will also recommend you good youtube videos on food vlogging and travelogues.

If you are a food enthusiast like me, you will definitely like my blog. If you like travelling on your own in search of food heaven, you will like the blog. If you insist on getting along with different cultural and traditional cuisines, you will get enticed to my blog.

So, here it goes, my first blog! I hope I have given you a background to my pathway. Hoping to stay connected over this. Happy Blogging!