Namita Nayyar:
You were studying for my CA finals in 2018 “when I realized that this was not what I wanted to do. I often spent my study time cooking and experimenting in the kitchen.” Share your early experience with cooking? Has this field lured you from the beginning? How did your family respond to the same?
Natasha Gandhi:
Cooking has always been something that I was interested in since a kid. I have grown up in a Punjabi house where everyone is a great cook, be it my Dadi, Nani, Dad, Mom, Bua, and Masi’s, and I have eaten stunning food made by them.
And I have this knack that once I taste something, I can recreate the same dish without a recipe. So whenever I would eat something I would start thinking about how it’s made and how I would make it different.
As a kid I would love watching Cooking shows and at times In the kitchen helping my mom I would pretend to be on one and say dialogues in my head too, this is very vividly remembered. And everyone in the family has always been supportive and I feel I am blessed to have gotten so much motivation and love from them.
Namita Nayyar:
What motivated you to start House of Millets where you cook very Healthy and Gluten-free recipes. How did you go about it?
Natasha Gandhi:
House of Millets was born after I realized the need for Affordable Healthy Desserts in my own family and in the area I live in. Also, my dad was advised to control his sugar and I took it upon myself to find a solution as there was nobody catering to it and if they were then these were super expensive. I had already learned how to make regular cakes, I just had to apply my knowledge and science on how to adapt those recipes and make them healthy. And as we are making healthy maida and wholewheat are out so naturally, they are gluten-free, millets are affordable and the sustainable way to go forward, but it took 6 months of trials when I finally nailed the recipe.
Initially, I sent out desserts to friends and family to taste and in less than a week they started posting about it and recommending me and I finally made it a full-fledged business venture.