Each month we profile a different Canadian Food Blogger who is part of the FBC community. This month we meet Ratna Roy, a vegetarian food and travel blogger that shares family recipes with her children.
Name: Ratna Roy
Blog name and URL: Cooking Sutra
Where were you born? India
Where are you living now? Alberta
Why did you start your blog?
A combination of keeping the family recipes for my children, showcasing vegetarian food and trying my hand at food photography. After all, we eat with our eyes first!
How did you decide on your blog name?
Well ‘sutra’ is the word for ‘thread’, ‘science’ etc. Since I was writing about Indian food ( mostly) here in Canada, I thought this would be a catchy name. Fun fact, I found out that people are drawn sometimes ( and maybe disappointed ), due to the similarity in names between this and Kamasutra ( Kama means desire, sutra means thread).
What do you blog about?
Vegetarian food that I grew up with or sometimes fusion food.
Is your blog your business, your hobby or something in between?
Hobby, hundred percent.
What post on your blog most encapsulates you and why?
I love to include a story with as many posts as possible . A story that reminds me of that dish Chocolate Sandesh: Chocolate Cheese Fudge, maybe from when I was little or maybe from another place….
Which post do you wish received more love and why?
Mango Matka Kulfi: Mango Ice Cream in a Pot. I love mangoes myself, and worked pretty hard for this dessert. Not sure why there were very few likes on IG.
Which post’s success surprised you and why?
I lost my 48 year old cousin last summer to COVID. I found it very hard to come to terms with it. I wrote about a very simple snack that we shared as kids at my grandparent’s house: Sweetened Flattened Rice: Mitha Poha: Mishti Chirey. This being such an everyday recipe, I was quite surprised at how much love was shown on IG.
What’s your biggest challenge as a blogger?
Lack of time. I always have so many plans for different recipes, different ways of shooting pictures etc, but life happens.
What is the biggest lesson you’ve learned as a blogger?
Not to get carried away by any algorithm. This is my happy place, I love what I do here.
What has been your biggest success as a blogger so far?
I consider the number of super dooper friends that I have made from all over the world.
Share a couple of your favorite food blogs to read. Why do you like them?
Amy blogs under “twiggstudios.com”. I was lucky to participate in one of her “Food photography workshops” a few years back. Her photography is awesome and her pies, I won’t say more, see for yourself…
Sonali is a blogger from Australia. She has Indian roots, like me. Her blog name is “sugaretal.com”. She is a master baker. I sometimes dream of her gorgeous pictures. I am a novice baker, that is all the more reason I get drawn to her blog.
What are you working on next for your blog?
There are many Indian festivals that are lined up. Sweets are very popular during these. I am working on “Modak”, a special sweet offered to “Ganesha”.
What else should we know about you that may or not be in your “About Me” page?
I have an addiction to buying props for my food pictures. I am guilty of carrying a 5 kgs grinding stone in my hand luggage all the way from India, bringing fragile china from an antiques store in Kennebunkport, Maine. There are more examples, but you get the picture.
What makes your blog unique?
I feel, people are still hesitant to be vegetarian. I love to highlight that vegetarian food can be something to die for, be it appetizers, mains, snacks or desserts. It is good for our health as well as for the planet.
How do you cultivate a sense of community around your blog?
I reach out to my fellow bloggers, comment on their beautiful posts, seek information on, be it some unfamiliar props say flowers that they have used, or can there be an eggless version of the recipe that they have showcased?
What part of the FBC site do you find most useful?
The blogging resource. I have bookmarked Meghan Telpner’s ‘Behind the scenes of making a cookbook’. I would love to write a cookbook one day!
Follow Ratna Roy from Cooking Sutra on Social Media
You can unsubscribe any time!
Leave a Reply