“What I understood growing up in a poor household was that irrespective of a person being rich or poor, what keeps everyone happy is good food,” says Nikunj Vasoya.
With this thought deeply entrenched, the 35-year-old developed a deep affinity for cooking and food. Growing up in a cotton farmer’s family in Khijadiya village of Jamnagar district in Gujarat, every day was a struggle.
At the end of a hard day’s work at the farm, when Nikunj’s mother would prepare food, the young boy would help her. What started with cooking meals for his family 20 years ago has blossomed into a thriving career today.
While pursuing Company Secretaryship in 2013, he found that his heart was in cooking and dropped out of the course.
“Right from childhood, I always had this dream of running my cookery show. When, how and where; I had no clue about how to go about it. Then it struck me, starting my channel on YouTube would be a great idea,” says Nikunj.
He started by cooking authentic Kathiyawadi dishes using fresh and local ingredients from the farm. What attracts viewers is the fact that he takes us through the process of sourcing the ingredients and cooks them on the farm itself.
His channel ‘Crazy For Indian Food’ has over 5.9 lakh subscribers, with the most popular video having a whopping 9.1 million views! Besides cooking food, he also reviews popular street food joints and restaurants.
Starting with one channel in 2013, he has expanded to running a network called Foodon TV, which runs six channels and four websites in six languages.
While he rose to fame, he also battled with personal problems as he got divorced. However, not one to lose hope, he focused on his career and found love again in 2021.
His authentic Kathiyawadi food found fans in the Ambanis too, who invited him to cook at their New Year’s dinner, catapulting him to fame! He also cooked for Anant Ambani and Radhika Merchant’s pre-wedding ceremony in Vantara and wedding in Mumbai.
The dishes included Jamnagari Sev, Mamra Lili Chutney, Desi Sev Tamera Shaak, and Bajra Rotla and more.
“Never give up, dream big, work on it, and it will happen,” says Nikunj.
Edited by Padmashree Pande
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