Putting the ‘wow’ in food

HYDERABAD: Winners yesterday, judges now. Hyderabad-based cookery channel Vismai Food has not only won the hearts of millions through their recipes, but also the #TikTokChef Season 1. Now, along with six other chefs, the team has been judges for the season 2, which ends today. Interestingly, the man behind the channel is not only a consummate chef, but a dubbing artiste too.

Speaking to Express, Teja Paruchuri from Vismai Food said: “Vismai means ‘wow’ and that is a quality we try to bring in the recipes we share. My mixed background in hospitality and film industry have helped me present authentic recipes in an attractive way across social media platforms. Three generations of my family have been in the hospitality sector and am a dubbing artiste. I have dubbed for Tom Holland in the Telugu remake of Spiderman. Therefore, I grew up with food, and have good knowledge about camera work.”

Vismai Food, which has 1.5 million subscribers on YouTube, has a dedicated team working behind the scenes. What sets them apart is that the recipes are simple that can be made with readily-available ingredients, but yet bring a twist to the mundane. Caramel Payasam, Poha Laddu and Coconut Lassi are a few of the fusion items that have been a hit among cooking enthusiasts.

The channel started out in 2017 with YouTube. “Viewers liked my voice, my presentation style and the fact that most of the videos were not longer than three minutes. For the TikTok contest, I concentrated on healthy recipes that can be made easily and will boost your immunity. My recipes are authentic where I try to put in my creativity, and viewers love that.”

#TikTokChef Season 1 saw celebrity chefs such as Sanjeev Kapoor, Kunal Kapur, Ranveer Brar and Saransh Goila sharing their easy-to-cook recipes, and choose seven winners. The season 2 kickstarted on June 1 to put lockdown cooking expertise to test and ends today. Users were asked to share a video with the hashtag #TikTokChef along with any of the sub hashtags #easyrecipes, #3ingredientsrecipes, #healthyrecipes. The top seven recipe videos will be chosen and the winners will receive a prize of `70,000 each.

— Kakoli Mukherjee
kakoli_mukherjee@newindianexpress.com
@KakoliMukherje2