My Love For Food Brought Out The Blogger In Me

I am a food stylist, food photographer, a recipe developer, an artist and a travel blogger. I hail from Mumbai - the city of dreams. Born in a Gujarati family, with an inheritance of a sweet tooth and serious food addiction, my love for cooking is simply justified. I’m married to a foodie, I’ve stayed in 3 culturally and gastronomically different parts of the world and being a mom of 2 extremely picky eaters has just added diversity to my lifestyle and cooking.

When Did It All Begin?

One fine day in 2014, I was browsing through Facebook, came across some food pictures and was amazed to see food presented in such an artistic way. So, I decided to give it a try and started posting my food pics on Facebook and got a wonderful response from my family and friends. They all liked the way I presented and garnished the food. Many of them suggested that I start a food blog.

I started liking the whole process of cooking the dish, presenting it, garnishing it and finally photographing it. Here is a girl who was never ever interested in photography earlier, started clicking pictures of food and it not only surprised everyone else but me too! I started clicking food pictures and styled it in a very creative way. It was as if the hidden talent, that I was unaware of, came to light. To be honest, it was a vent out for my creativity. After giving a thought for a while, I decided to step into the world of blogging.

I was not aware of how to start a blog, edit pictures or post a recipe. It took me a while to understand everything and I realized one thing - blogging is not going to be as easy as it sounds. But I was game for it as it gave me the solace and also kept me occupied while giving a nice platform for my creativity. Initially, I started blogging on Blog.co.uk, wordpress.com for a couple of years.

After lots of hardships, ups and downs I finally reintroduced and came back with my website Hetal Kamdar. My website has a collection of over 250 recipes of Indian and International cuisines that are traditional, authentic, exotic and palatable. Along with cooking, I am also passionate about sketching and paintings that reflect in my art section. My love for travel reflects on my travel stories and blogs.

What I Love About Blogging

It was purely out of my passion for cooking, writing and my skills for presenting food in an artistic way that I indulged into food styling, food photography, recipe developing and finally dived into the world of blogging. My blog is liked and appreciated by many and finally, things have changed and in a great way!

Blogging is a full-time job and it’s your own baby. You are the boss and that is what I love about it the most. The high points in my journey have been the credibility, trust, name and fame that I have earned from my readers who love, adore my work, follow my recipes and read and take tips from my travel blogs. I believe if you work hard and follow your dreams, one-day, luck will surely favour you. I have won many cooking, recipe, food photography and food styling contests and have some of my recipes published in magazines and cookbook.

Above all, I got to live my dream of meeting Chef Vikas Khanna and Chef Ranveer Brar at Master Chef Promotional Event and was one of the top 5 contestants amongst 100 participants. So, all these appreciations, growth and faith keeps me going.

My Blogger Journey

Blogging has actually been a roller coaster ride for me. I have self-learned a lot during my journey as a food and travel blogger. Right from cooking new dishes, to photography, styling, creating my own food props and boards, editing pictures and finally posting it on the blog - what started off as a passion has eventually become a profession.

Now that my blog is growing, my husband helps me in handling all the back-end, technical and promotional aspects. The biggest struggle that I have faced and overcome during this journey was to be consistent because of many reasons like the health of my children, hectic schedules and social life.

Advice To Fellow Bloggers

Blogging is a full-time profession so learn to be passionate, determined and focused. A lot of effort and time goes towards one single post. So be patient, consistent and never give up. Always be real, authentic and candid with your readers and followers, and everything else will just follow. Finally, if you think you can, you will. If you want to achieve something start it today. Take baby steps, have a vision, set goals and give your best towards achieving it. Life is what we make out of it.

My Success Mantra

Believe in yourself and all that you are. Know that there is a fire inside you that is unstoppable. Follow your dreams and keep telling it to the Universe. It will surely come back to you if it's meant to be.

This personal narrative is written by Hetal Kamdar who is a professional Food, Art and Travel Blogger. Click here to go to her blog. To join our community on cooking and much more, click here and strike a conversation!