What should your pantry staples be?
Sreepathy Paliath, a writer, chef-in-the-making tells you!
Hello! 👋
Welcome to Over a Coffee, where we talk about small businesses, fashion, and everything gorgeous.
If you've read one of my older posts (a conversation with Paulami Sen), you know I intend to interview people (read tastemakers) who shop, experience and discover Indian lifestyle brands. Today's newsletter is one such conversation with Sreepathy Paliath, a former colleague-turned-friend.
Sreepathy and I have worked together to build some fabulous stuff at LBB. His Instagram profile is worth envying, though; I love ramen, and he whips incredibly gorgeous bowls every week.
So, for this edition, I decided to chat with him and find out what his staples are — and also to find out if he has fancy food every day. Actually, that’s the only motive! 🤭
Sunaina: Tell me about yourself and what you do.
Sreepathy: I'm a serial snacker, professional noodle hunter, and cookbook hoarder. Oh, and I'm constantly manifesting living in Thailand, Vietnam, Japan, Taiwan, Mexico, or South Korea for the rest of my life. When I'm not doing all that, I'm a freelance lifestyle journalist/writer, a marketing consultant and coach, and a trainee chef. I'm currently associated with an F&B brand called Foodsta Kitchens, where I'm a marketer and doing my culinary training in their Southeast Asian restaurant. I'm an SEO consultant, though I haven't been consulting in a while, but I'm an SEO coach, and I work with an edu-tech company where I train folks on all aspects of SEO. I'm also a freelance lifestyle journalist/writer; currently, my words can be seen on LBB (I was a part of LBB for nearly six years).
Sunaina: You know I've meant to ask this for a while now! Do you eat fancy food every day, or do you eat staple Indian food too?
Sreepathy: Hahahaha, you're not the first one who's asked me this! Okay, so honestly, I do eat regular food. My breakfast is always South Indian during the work week, and that's almost always idli or dosa with some chutney, pickle, or fresh chilli paste. Yeah, I do like my chillis. The lunches that I take to work are primarily Asian, and that's the kind of food I enjoy eating the most. It's also something that I can whip up quite easily. You'll find that my lunch boxes always have a lot of Thai and noodle elements. For dinner, once I'm back from work, it's almost always roti with either a basic sabzi or kachumber salad.
My motto is to have at least one meal at home. Because I cannot have all three meals outside, and even though my work involves tasting food regularly, I balance it with eating at home. It's during the weekends or those random days I work from home that I end up cooking what everyone calls "fancy food". It isn't to me, though, haha! Fancy food, probably for me, is the French cuisine.
Sunaina: How do you discover small businesses now?
Sreepathy: I think a large part of the discovery still comes through the freelance work I do with LBB. I'm constantly attending pop-ups, flea markets, farmer's markets, and events. I'm always talking to folks, and it's like you speak to one brand, and then you have a whole discovery, which leads to many other discoveries. Plus, networking. I'm constantly meeting people and talking, so there's so much information you get from those conversations.
Sunaina: If you had to recommend 3 Indian food brands to help beginners to chef it out, what would they be?
Sreepathy: Sprig: okaay, so this is one of those sauces and condiment brands that have got it right. I love their sauce range, especially the Bhut Jolokia and the Jalapeno ones.
Three One Farms: I've been a fan of their flour ever since they launched during the pandemic and have been shopping from them since then. They have such high-quality flour that I use to make fresh ramen noodles, pasta, and, of course, chapatis and pooris. Plus, they also do seasonal drops that include a variety of potatoes and corn.
Ishka Farms: Another pandemic find! They sell only capers and caper-based condiments, but omg, the amount of capers I have been adding to my food has just been up. Plus, their rock sea salt and caper hot sauce are so good!
Sunaina: I love watching your ramen videos. Do you remember the first time you made ramen? What was that experience like?
Sreepathy: Thank you so much! So happy to hear this. I honestly don't quite remember when I did because I used to eat a lot of instant ramen. Still, when I did make my first ramen, well, that was a tedious nightmare because it took me some eight hours to make the broth. The clean up and storing away afterwards was another problem because I did not have a fridge.
So, I ended up drinking nearly 1.5 litres of broth in one day because I didn't want to throw it away. But in retrospect, I realised I enjoyed the whole process; just because I was such a beginner, I made rookie mistakes that made me feel like I was doing everything absolutely wrong.
Sunaina: Two pantry staples and where to get them?
Sreepathy: Kikkoman Soy Sauce from Amazon and Rock Salt/Himalayan Pink Salt from Ishka Farms or Amazon are absolute game changers when it comes to flavouring.
Sunaina: From writing and leading SEO to cooking and content creation on Instagram — your journey in the last 6-7 years has been fascinating. What does the future hold?
Sreepathy: Honestly, my goal is to study in a culinary school. This has been my number-one goal since 2010. I was particular and adamant that culinary school and not hotel management is what I wanted even back then. Everything I've been doing is to get into a culinary school. It's not that it was difficult, but parents and their expectations, then work and responsibilities, and, of course, the greatest threat to anyone wanting to study abroad — a visa. Essentially, I want to finish culinary school, work in a few of my favourite kitchens around the world (if they hire me, lol!), and then consult and keep cooking. I see myself doing a marketing-consulting role in the F&B space.
If you’ve enjoyed reading this, you’ll love Sreepathy’s content. There’s lot of great food and ramen making videos. Follow him on Instagram and LinkedIn.
Sunaina, thank you so much for doing this! I’m so glad I could share my thoughts and whatever ramblings were going on in my head! A bowl of ramen when you’re in Bangalore next 🍜🍜🍜