Meet the
Food Forward Team
G
Garima Arora
Founder
“Hi ! Welcome to Food Forward India!
The last 10 years throughout my travels and stints at working in some of the top gastronomic cities in the world, I realised that people around me had a very skewed and unjust perception of India and its Cuisines. More often they were all feeding of a narrative that was a result of our imperial past. I took it personally to change their perceptions and give them a somewhat half-baked lecture on “Real” Indian Food when they asked if I could cook "curry". This is when I realized the difficulty in articulating an all-encompassing definition that truly relets the complexity and variety of the Cuisines of India and does justice to its 5000 year old history.
The last 10 years throughout my travels and stints at working in some of the top gastronomic cities in the world, I realised that people around me had a very skewed and unjust perception of India and its Cuisines. More often they were all feeding of a narrative that was a result of our imperial past. I took it personally to change their perceptions and give them a somewhat half-baked lecture on “Real” Indian Food when they asked if I could cook "curry". This is when I realized the difficulty in articulating an all-encompassing definition that truly relets the complexity and variety of the Cuisines of India and does justice to its 5000 year old history.
As time went on I hoped to create a platform to bring back a sense of curiosity and a more intelligent outlook on Indian food both for Indians and people around the world; and Food Forward India was born.
Our one-of-a-kind platform is to be a true and unique repository for all Things Indian Food. We strive to be a one stop source for ingredients, technique, innovation, cultural practices, history of Indian food and most importantly the people who are caretakers of its wisdom.
As a first step in this direction; our travelling non-profit initiative takes to the roads of every Indian state (28 in all) in order to find a fresh perspective on our Cuisines through the discovery of its rural, tribal and urban culture.
Free for all, the content generated from these trips in the form of stories, podcasts, interviews, videos and photographs will be available to access and explore through our website and social media.
Get to know India as it really is - complex and mouthwateringly beautiful.
Get to know India as it really is - complex and mouthwateringly beautiful.
Food Forward India is Garima’s brainwave and even though she relocated to Bangkok to set up Gaa, her award-winning restaurant, the love for homeland pushes her to change the narrative of the Indian food culture and promote it globally. Voted Asia's Best Female Chef 2019 and the first and only Indian woman to receive the Michelin star, G began her career as a journalist before she found her calling in the culinary world. She graduated from the prestigious Le Cordon Bleu and then gained her experience alongside world-class chefs including Gordon Ramsay, Rene Redzepi and Gaggan Anand.
E
Elizabeth Yorke
Assistant Project Manager
This young, incredibly talented chef, writer and food innovation researcher is our on-ground pilot for all India activities. Elizabeth overlooks new projects and collaborations. Besides Food Forward India, E is also the co-creator of Edible Issues, a collective to foster thought & conversation on the Indian food system. Her curiousness about food earned her worldwide recognition and two grants - for young chefs at the Oxford Symposium of Food and Cookery and for MAD in Copenhagen. She was also one of the 15 researchers selected globally for the Food Innovation Program at the Future Food Institute.
