Hidden in a corner of the Internet’s archive is a tasty secret — one sautéed in cold-pressed oils, and enhanced with sendha namak (Himalayan pink salt). A secret is only as good as its keeper. And so, we took it upon ourselves to trace Shyamlata Sihare down over three decades, two continents, and numerous cities, intent on discovering her journey of building ‘Old Fashioned Gourmet’, also known as ‘Aravali Foods’ — a secret hinged on traditional Indian spices and time-tested cooking methods.

The brand’s pickles, papads (fried Indian snacks), squashes and mangodis (green gram fritters) have been breathing life into the dining tables of India since 1993.

A browse through Old Fashioned Gourmet’s fascinating repository of pickles — think lemon ajwain, lal mirch Banarasi, gajar gobi shalgam — makes one thing clear: the flavours are zesty, adventurous and not afraid of breaking new ground. As I learn from Sihare’s daughter, Vasundhara Jhunjhunwala (50), her mother was the same.

Vasundhara’s anecdotal accounts underscore how Sihare loved pushing the envelope, never letting circumstances dictate her fate.

Widowed at the age of 16 — “We’re talking about pre-independence when girls were married off young” — Sihare was blamed for her husband’s untimely death. “Her in-laws started ill-treating her,” her daughter shares, adding that her mother was spared this harassment by her maternal grandfather, who brought her back to her parents’ home. But here, she was relegated to a life of white saris and short hair.

© The Better India