Litti chokha, masala dosa, fried hilsa: 5 desi YouTube influencers share their food memories

India is truly the land of diversity. From art and culture to food and language, the things that bond the country are aplenty.
As India celebrates its 75th Independence Day, ETPanache Digital reached out to top Indian YouTubers to share their best food memories. These creators with millions of followers not only make content that resonates with the people, but their videos have also helped many during the pandemic.

Kabita’s Kitchen
If you have ever tried looking for an Indian recipe (just like your mom made) on YouTube, you must have come across one of the most popular food channels on the platform - Kabita's Kitchen. With nearly 12.4 million subscribers, the host of the channel Kabita Singh recreates recipes with easily available ingredients.

Born and brought up in Kolkata, she has an inclination towards Bengali food. Maach bhaat (fish curry with rice) is her favourite dish. "I love dum biryanis and street food too. My favourite street food is chowmein with Manchurian," she says.

Calling food and cooking her passion, the 44-year-old shared that she loves almost all types of Indian cuisines, but her favourite food memory is of litti chokha - a popular dish that originated from Bihar and is now loved by people in Uttar Pradesh too. "Whenever I visited my village in Ballia (Eastern UP), we used to cook litti chokha in a group. Most family members participate in the preparation process of litti chokha. Recalling the moment when my family sits together and cooks this delicious food makes it memorable to me," she shared her emotional memory.

Based in Pune, Singh completed her graduation in Commerce from the University of Calcutta. After having worked with companies like ICICI Bank, IL&FS, HSBC Investsmart and Microsec Capital for years and being an at-home mom for the next few years, she finally found her calling.

In 2009, she moved to the UK with her husband. After being there for five years, she decided to focus on her family when they returned to India in 2014. When her son started attending school, she had some free time. This is when she decided to focus on her passion - cooking - and named it 'Kabita's Kitchen'.

Although her video that went viral came as a pleasant surprise, she slowly studied what type of videos work well on social media - with the help of the feedback she received in the comments section. Thanks to a supportive family, she started incorporating viewers' feedback in her newer videos to keep the engagement going.

M4Tech
Love for do-it-yourself activities and crafts, conducting technical experiments, science and cooking inspired Kerala-based Geo Joseph and his friend-cum-business partner Praveen Joseph to start M4Tech, which now has 8 million subscribers.

Joseph, the face of the channel, shared that he loves to explore new places and different types of food through his channel.

His favourite dish is karimeen pollichath (roasted Pearlspot fish), a popular dish in Kerala. He is also a fan of masala dosa with coconut chutney, a well-known healthy breakfast option in India. "I can eat Masala Dosa at any time of the day. Home-made Vermicelli payasam is my favourite dessert," he added.

Sharing his favourite food memory, Joseph said that masala dosa is his all-time favourite food. "My best food memories come with masala dosa. As a child, the cooking style and the presentation of masala dosa and ghee roast always tempted me. In Kerala, a ghee roast is served in the shape of a cone, which is thrilling to see for a little kid. The tall, crispy, cone-shaped dosa and its aroma could never be forgotten. I still remember the mouthwatering taste of the potato filling inside the dosa when paired with coconut chutney and hot sambhar," he shared.

For people planning to indulge in South Indian food, the 25-year-old suggested trying Saravana Bhavan Restaurant's masala dosa, which is premium in quality and quantity. "City no bar. One can get the same taste and goodness at any of the Saravana Bhavan outlets at any time, which is the biggest plus point about this restaurant chain."

However, homemade dosa remains an instant mood-lifter for Joseph. "Home-made dosa makes me and my tummy happy," he said.

M4Tech's first viral video was a Coca Cola-Mentos reaction experiment, which currently has almost 60 lakh views on YouTube. The video became a viral sensation in one day which fuelled their future content. The idea was to provide educational videos to help students understand basic science experiments.

The Urban Fight
What happens when a robotics process automation engineer turns into a digital content creator? The Urban Fight. Taskeen Fatima Basha now runs a successful YouTube channel, which has 2.99 million subscribers, with her business partner, Sugandh Rakha.

After working in the software industry for eight years, Basha decided to simplify career and finance for the people of India through her YouTube channel The Urban Fight.

Hyderabad being her home state, the 33-year-old lists biryani and haleem (a type of stew) at the top of her favourite foods list. She also loves Rajasthani thali and Hilsa fish from Bengal.

From fine dining to street food, the YouTuber duo make it a point to explore the different types of food a city has to offer. "From going to Gunjing across Hazratganj in Lucknow to trying katori chaat and Sharma ji ki chai to enjoying Teppanyaki at Novotel restaurants in Vizag, we like trying all kinds of cuisines," Basha says.

However, one of her favourite food memories is from the Eid celebration at her aunt's place with sheer korma and biryani. To recreate these special childhood memories, she has been using her aunt's recipes to prepare these dishes herself for the past couple of years. "Every Eid, we visit and share the sheer khurma with our neighbours who are from Telangana, Bengal, Maharashtra and other cities. It’s the whole vibe of getting together with them and breaking bread that makes Eid what it truly is," she shared. She said she loves the fact that food brings all her loved ones together, regardless of region or religion.

Taskeen and Sugandh decided to start The Urban Fight as a Health and Fitness channel after noticing people's sedentary lifestyles and uploaded their first video in 2016. "It has been a challenging as well as a rewarding journey ever since," she shared.

Basha was determined to provide original content to her viewers, so she started attending classes organised by physiotherapists, doctors and fitness trainers. Then, she appeared for the American Council on Exercise (ACE) certification exam, got Zumba Certified and became a PN (Precision Nutrition) Certified Nutritionist.

When their subscribers were stuck at a count of 2000, they decided to go offline for a bit to conduct free workout sessions in parks across, be part of roadshows, events etc. This is when they found their niche and shifted their focus to being a career and finance-based channel. The duo has 20+ years of industry experience (combined) to share with their audience.

Wonder Munna
Indrani Biswas, fondly called Munna by her 1.51 million subscribers, is a content creator from West Bengal who has been entertaining people with her video for the last five years.

Inspired by famed creators like Lilly Singh and BB Ki Vines, Biswas has formed three YouTube channels with over 28 lakhs subscribers (combined) through which she shares funny videos in the Bengali language. "I like to make people laugh and my mantra in life is simple - 'make it big and work hard for it'," she explained.

When her first video went viral on Durga Puja, she knew that she wanted to pursue video creation as a profession.

The Kolkata-based creator loves Bengali foods such as hilsa paturi (fish wrapped and steamed in banana leaves), prawn malaikari and hilsa fry. When asked about her favourite food memory, the 22-year-old recalled her mother's shutki bharta (dry fish bharta). "The smell, intolerant for many, brings back a lot of my happy childhood memories. It is a delicacy that many Bengalis love," she shared.

Simple Tips Anwesha
With 1.04M subscribers strong, YouTuber Anwesha Mukherjee helps people with vlogs on health, fitness, beauty and lifestyle. She is a certified nutrition coach and helped several women with healthy transformation over the years, powered by her diet and weight loss consultation.

It took Mukherjee five years to hit the 1 million subscriber-mark on the channel, which she first started in November 2015. It all started with her inspiring weight loss journey and she has never looked back. She believes her body transformation journey has been crucial to building her channel.

Based in Gurgaon, this Bengali social media celebrity has a soft spot for staple Bengali cuisine - which includes rice, aloo posto (potato made with poppy seeds), bhaja (fried) masoor dal with gondhoraj lebu (big-sized lemon), ilish macher jhol (Hilsa fish curry), bhetki paturi (fish wrapped and steamed in banana leaves), and luchi (puri/fried bried) and kosha mangsho (dry mutton preparation). She also enjoys North Indian dishes such as butter chicken with garlic naan and chicken/mutton biryani with raita.

However, her favourite food memory comes from one of her Goa trips with friends. "I went on a trip to Goa with friends and tried out Goan cuisine, especially the Goan prawn curry. I still remember that delicious taste. It was yummy," she said.

What's your favourite food memory?