How a 29-year-old's farm-to-fork videos from Khijadiya in Jamnagar is earning million subscribers all over the world
Listen carefully," Nikunj Vasoya tells us leading to a patch of military-green methi (fenugreek). We step over the row of cabbage heads, past the bright red tomatoes, purple aubergines and stand a few steps away from where the 29-year-old is bending over to pluck the greens. He catches hold of the bunch, and twists it. There's a sharp crunch. He takes his knife and chops it, leaving a few inches in the ground to grow back.
"This, is the sound of fresh," he smiles standing in the middle of a 2,000 square feet farm patch in Khijadiya - known for its bird sanctuary that boasts of 300 species of migratory birds - in Jamnagar, Gujarat. It is 7 am and the sun is a tiny red speck in the sky, marked by an arrow of cranes flying past.
Freshly harvested fenugreek and tomatoes
In 2013, a different sort of flight took off when Vasoya, then 24, dropped out of the final year of company secretary course to start a YouTube channel to share traditional Gujarati food recipes from regions of the state including Kathiawad, Saurashtra to the world. From the midday meal of vagharelo bhat (tempered rice) he loved as a child to sev tameta (tomato), olo (mashed aubergine) to poodla (gram flour pancakes), all ingredients are grown, plucked and cooked on the farm.
Interestingly, when you turn on the volume of the video, you can only hear the sounds on the farm, no talking. Seven years on, last week, his channel, FoodonTV won the Talent Track Award 2019, which recognises digital-content industry players - for best food content. Vasoya puts on his glares and bends over a makeshift brick kiln, airing the wood sticks to catch fire. "Viewers think I am wearing the glares as a style statement, but it is to keep the glare of the sun out, and the smoke from the coal," he laughs.
Nikunj Vasoya nurtures 25 types of vegetables on his 2,000 sq feet farm patch
Just like one of his videos, we are privy to his vegetable plucking, drawing water from the well to clean them, chopping them on the concrete pedestal and then sitting by the fire to cook. His moves are well planned, and used to the camera angles and it is like watching a performance.
What's cooking
Vasoya grew up in a family of eight. Both his parents would toil at their cotton farm. At 13, one day, Vasoya came home hungry to no food. "I prepared a meal of rotli, khichdi, and bateta nu shak (potato vegetable). The roti was like papad but it was great to satiate my hunger. My mother was so happy," says Vasoya, who has today built an office set up on the top floor of his house where a full-time video editor from Ahmedabad, his brother and him work out of.
First upload
"I didn't have the resources, nor the know-how of video editing or shooting. I asked my uncle to give me Rs 10,000 to buy a camera and tripod," he tells us, adding, "Back then, I had a S5200, which cost me R7,000. Today I use an 1D X Mark II which costs Rs 5 lakh."
In the early days, Vasoya would throw a cloth over his dadi's pataro (trunk) to shoot and would assign his ba (mother) to stand behind the camera to check for frame. "Hoon dekhao chu ne (you can see me, right)? I would ask them," Vasoya laughs at the distant memory. After shooting a couple of videos wearing his old shirts, he borrowed a new shirt from a friend. The entire first season of 25 episodes posted over eight months was shot wearing it. "I am a believer of long-term goals. I was not in a hurry to get a lakh views, I knew my reality. But I knew, one day I would do it."
During the time, Vasoya started a travel show where he visited cities to document their street food with his bhangelu (broken) English. On a budget of Rs 2,000 per week, he started with Jamnagar, Rajkot, Bhavnagar, Morbi, Wakaner. When he had money, he did Haridwar, Rishikesh and Mussouri, Bangalore, Kolkata.
Interestingly, most of his viewers were from out of India, because the Internet quality in the country was poor. "I was among the first to do an original show on street food." Today, most of his videos have two to three million views.
Long-term vision
Today, FoodonTV has eight channels, and aspires to be India's premium food network. From learning to handle a server, learning the ropes of coding and SEO, Vasoya today applies a corporate vision by providing aspiring YouTubers resources and support on the channel.
"My cooking is with very minimal masalas and oil. Now, I also offer modern touches to traditional dishes and some are my own inventions." Like sev tameta nu shak with making the sev from scratch. "I make the sev from scratch and without frying. I cook the tomatoes and let them simmer in water and then use a frying spatula with holes to pass the gram flour paste. It cooks beautifully, like boiled noodles," he says. His food philosophy is simple: "Food is the cheapest source of happiness in the world. It can bring at least three smile a day."
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