Homegrown brands will take you on a gastronomical treat

CHENNAI: Want some cashew butter with granola bars or pita chips with hummus? Twenty-one city-based home chefs and bakers have churned their best recipes to showcase at the second edition of Ministry of Home Chefs event by Eat, Pay, Love. After the grand success of the first edition held in September 2018, friends, food bloggers and founders, Munira Daniel and Batul Turabe decided to put together their second show on a larger scale. The compact space at the English Tea Room was packed with food.

“All the items are made of natural flavours and no preservatives. Out of 200 inquiries, we picked out these brands, of which three are launching with us. They’re all new to the market and are passionate chefs. They develop in all aspects holistically from branding, marketing to packaging,” said Munira.

The nut butters and granola bars from two-month-old Soul Food by Salman are sumptuous. The varieties include peanut butter, chocolate peanut butter, almond and cashew butter. These are Salman’s mother’s recipes. Their granola bars are made with handpicked almonds, dates, cranberries, oats and pumpkin seeds blended together with peanut butter and honey.  Some of the other brands include Drips and Drizzles by Rekha, Nutrilicious by Kavitha Bothra, Wholesome Rhapsody by Senthil Kumar and French pastries by Sabeel. Homemade traditional Bengali sweets by House of Kshir and south Indian delicacies by My Grandmother’s Kitchen are expected to be available for sale today.

One of the brands that launched at the event is AkiMi run by family friends Akhila and Midhila. They had samples of smoothies, energy bites and cheat bites. Cranberry almond bites, postpartum energy bites and cocoa pistachio are the highlights. 

Ministry of Home Chefs will be held at English Tea Room today from 10 am to 8 pm.