“I understood that no dish is difficult to make if you are genuinely interested and really want to cook it from your heart.”

For 20-year-old Visista, that lesson came from a kitchen, not from a classroom.

At four, she stood beside her grandmother Lakshmi as she made chapatis for lunch every day. She did not know how to knead the dough or roll it properly. She only knew that she wanted to try.

“My grandmother was making chapatis every day for lunch, and I used to see her and wanted to try,” she recalls. “So I just joined her.”

What began as a childhood love for cooking gradually grew into an interest in traditional dishes, especially recipes that people rarely make anymore. Visista began exploring how these dishes were originally prepared, the ingredients they used, and the stories behind them.

Over the years, she has documented more than 250 recipes. She shares her work through ‘TRUE FOOD’, a recipe section on the website of Aikanthika, the farm in central Karnataka where she grew up. Here, she recreates traditional dishes using ingredients and cooking methods passed down through generations, making it possible for others to try these recipes in their own kitchens.

Her curiosity about food was nurtured by an unusual upbringing, where she had the freedom to explore whatever interested her.

She has never attended a conventional school. She followed Swashikshan (self-directed learning) at Aikanthika, where education was part of daily life rather than something confined to a classroom.

She learnt through questions, books, the internet, conversations with her parents, farm life and the freedom to try things herself.

“I have liked food and tasting new dishes since childhood. I liked doing the whole process of making a dish myself, from beginning to end, and then eating what I had made,” she explains.

That instinct to understand something by doing it has stayed with her. Today, when she comes across an old recipe, she wants to know where it came from, why certain ingredients were used, and whether it can still be made.

Lessons from a farm, books and everyday life 

Aikanthika was founded in 1996. Visista lives there as part of the Aikanthika Tribe, helping with the day-to-day life of the farm and events around natural farming and natural living.

“My learning process has always been part of daily life rather than something that happened at a fixed time,” she says. “I learnt about things that interested me and also things that I felt were necessary to know.”

If she had a question, she went to her parents. If they knew the answer, they taught her. If they did not, they helped her find it through books or the internet.

Her younger brother Varchas (17) grew up in the same environment. He also follows Swashikshan and helps with the farm, natural building, and other activities.

“For us, Swashikshan was just normal life,” he says. “We learnt by doing things instead of just studying from textbooks.”

He remembers his sister as a child who hardly ever wanted to remain a spectator.

“She was always keen to learn and liked........

© The Better India