Anjali Pathak

Carrying Forward The Pathak Legacy

Born and brought up in UK, Anjali comes from the renowned food-manufacturing family of Pathaks. She brings a little piece of Britain to India with Flavour Diaries, a spacious culinary studio in Bombay

Interviewed by Rddhima Pillai
Photographed by Vijay Barathe

Anjali Pathak was born with a silver spoon full of food! Being the daughter of the family which owns the global brand Pataku00b4s in London, food was an intricate part of Anjaliu00b4s life from the beginning. Recalls Anjali, "My grandmother bought me my first tiny rolling pin and board set when I was just three years old! I was extremely excited to be in the kitchen. My rotis would be uneven and dry, but my grandmother would still eat them," confesses the founder of Flavour Diaries. As the years passed, Anjali started cooking more and more in the kitchen. "My mother was very experimental in the kitchen. She would always try something new, whether it was a new recipe, ingredient or cuisine. It helped that various magazines and TV shows based on food were being launched around the same time, which opened up new avenues for us."

Surprisingly, Anjali never really considered food to be her calling as
she was growing up. The international chef, who has appeared on TV food shows in London, South Africa and New York, laughs when she recollects her initial years. "I never thought I will pursue food as a career. In my head, I thought I might join the family business in the managerial department," and thus she pursued her Business, Mathematics and IT degree in Manchester in 1999. But the closet chef never lost her touch with cooking.
After her graduation, she decided to go backpacking across the globe with her friends. Now people normally carry clothes, accessories and gadgets on their trips, but Anjali carried saucepans and ingredients with her! "As backpackers, we would always be on a budget. So I resorted to cooking in the dorms where we were staying. I would clean the stoves with hand sanitisers and scrub the pots and pans," she recalls. There, Anjali managed to make delicious meals with local ingredients even while being on a stringent budget. She travelled to Singapore, New Zealand, USA, Mexico and Australia, where she worked with Fostersu00b4 brewery in the bottling department. She claims that the world trip introduced her to new aspects of food, and global cultures and traditions which inspired her to pursue cooking.
Finally, after a year, when she came back to London in 2003, she decided to take up a course at a culinary school. However, she realised that the courses were expensive. You might think that the fact she comes from a renowned family wouldnu00b4t stand in her way of pursuing the course. But you are wrong! Anjali Pathak had her feet firmly planted on the ground. In her desire to be independent, she chose to sponsor her course instead of taking money from her parents. "I finally went to a culinary school in 2011," she admits.
So what was she doing between 2003 to 2011? She joined the family business in the product development section. "Thatu00b4s where all the magic happens, and I wanted to be at the centre of it." She also received her training from their in-house chefs. It was in 2007 that Anjali worked with her mother Meena Pathak to launch a cookbook. "I was just 25 at that time. And I simply loved the process of making a cookbook. We worked on everything, right from the testing of the recipes to bringing it all together," she states. Named Meena Pathak Celebrates Indian Cooking with Anjali Pathak, the book celebrates 50 years of traditional cooking while highlighting the changes observed in the methods of cooking.
It was around the same time that Anjali also launched her consultancy service. Named after her, the company  delves into recipe development, dietary counselling and more. When we enquire about her team at the consultancy,
she admits straightforward that itu00b4s a one- woman show, but it is still going strong today.
After graduating from Leiths School of Food and Wine, she worked with a whole roster of chefs. In 2013, she joined Jamie Oliveru00b4s cookery school called Recipease as a teacher. "The culinary freedom that I had while teaching the students was amazing. Unfortunately, I had to quit that wonderful job as I wanted to start working on my first solo cookbook." The book Secrets from my Indian Family Kitchen was launched in 2015. Post the launch, Anjali wanted to delve into the culinary studio business. Taking inspiration from Recipease, she wanted to bring the culture of luxury cooking to India, and thus, landed in Bombay to launch Flavour Diaries in 2015. Spaciously designed, Flavour Diaries has a welcoming aura with sunlight streaming in from floor to ceiling windows. Moreover, there are a varied number of cookbooks that patrons can relish. Beaming proudly, she says, "I wanted to create an environment where people can have fun while cooking easy but delicious recipes. Back in 2015, I was disheartened to see that so many people in India think that cooking is a lengthy and tiresome process. As a result, they end up asking someone else to cook for them, which can be unhealthy. With my culinary studio, I want to tell people that cooking can be stress-free, fun, interesting and healthy! If you take charge of your cooking, then you take charge of your health."
Leading a team of six, Anjali teaches every class that is held. We prod her on what the future will be like for her and Flavour Diaries, and prompt comes the reply, "I want to focus more on international cuisines in the coming months. As far as Flavour Diaries is concerned, I want to expand the brand in India and also the overseas markets." Best of luck, chef!