Originally reported and written in April 2023, this story has been republished as part of our archival content.

Ask Delhi-based Shruti Taneja about her fondest childhood memories, and pat comes the reply. “Aam panna (a drink prepared with unripe mangoes) in the summer, and my mother’s homemade curries. Her recipes were always special.” 

Food was an integral part of Shruti’s childhood and so, when the marketing professional lost her mother a few years back, alongside the grief she was dealing with, there was also the bolt from the blue — that her mother’s recipes lay forgotten in time. 

This got Shruti thinking about how food often holds a deep sense of connection in Indian homes, and how it is more than one of the three basic needs of life, a piece of legacy itself. 

Her mother’s passing, she says, brought with it the realisation that in being fed her comfort food every day, she had never really learned how to cook. “A part of me was left thinking that, the way watches and saris are often passed on from one generation to the next, recipes should also be inherited, as they, too, are priceless,” Shruti shares in conversation with The Better India.   

This was the thought behind the inception of Nivaala in 2021. This is a platform that enables people to record and document recipes to last years. As part of Nivaala, Shruti has conceptualised a range of projects, one of them being the most recent one ‘Relish’. 

“I wanted to help families create a compilation of recipes into a journal, ensuring that their treasure trove of recipes could be preserved. Relish is an inheritance of love helping families gather, preserve and archive treasured recipes,” she shares. 

In her quest, Shruti was joined by Chinmayee Manjunath, a seasoned journalist and publisher, with whom the former had bonded over the loss of loved ones, and how food remains a connection to those who are no longer with us. 

The duo says a common love for documenting recipes led them to this initiative, as every family deserves to create a beautifully designed and well-edited heirloom to pass from one generation to the next. 

“It is not the privilege of a few, but a right that everyone should have,” Shruti emphasises. 

A chance to ‘relish’ the........

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