“This is one in every of a sort in that it is in a position to deliver collectively all the greatest expertise within the culinary house below one roof — clearly it is not a roof, however on one seaside!” laughs vegan chef, content material creator, and tv host Priyanka Naik. “It consists of not solely all the ‘conventional celeb cooks’ that everyone knows, however FoodieCon brings collectively the atypical celeb cooks.”
That consists of Naik, who began out as a meals blogger whereas working full-time in tech at main firms like Bloomberg, Condé Nast, and Twitter. Her nontraditional expertise informs one of many panels she’s on at FoodieCon, “Clocking Out, from Cubicles to Content.”
She’ll additionally sit on the panel for “Cuisine and Culture.” A primary-generation American whose mother and father are from Mumbai, India, Naik grew up vegetarian within the U.S., removed from prolonged household. “Food grew to become a really integral a part of staying part of our tradition,” she says. Both panels are “enormous defining elements of myself and why I selected this profession. And I feel they are often very empowering, particularly for youthful generations.” She desires to let folks know that there are a lot of paths they will pursue that would result in success as a culinary creator.
Naik might be doing a ebook signing at FoodieCon of her cookbook, The Modern Tiffin.
Priyanka Naik picture
Though she regarded into attending culinary faculty, Naik ended up foregoing it for just a few causes. One was as a result of she did not wish to should cook dinner meat. The different was that colleges on the time did not deal with Asian meals, and he or she did not wish to simply study European delicacies.
That resolution made discovering TV work extra of a problem. Television networks have been discouraged by her lack of formal coaching, and so they weren’t prepared for all-vegetarian cooking and the truth that she did not “look” like a typical chef. “I’m not a brawny, stern, tatted-up man. How are we defining chef? In my home, my mother is the chef, and he or she’s a good looking lady!… Why do now we have these boundaries?” she asks. “I’m not attempting to be a health care provider with out going to medical faculty.”
She ultimately gained wider credibility by successful a Food Network competitors Cooks vs. Cons. Soon after, she printed her cookbook The Modern Tiffin (she’ll be doing a ebook signing at FoodieCon), bought extra airtime, and landed massive model offers. “I feel the web has supplied an area the place we are able to truly exhibit our ability set with out anybody telling us no,” Naik observes of the advantages of beginning a profession on-line.
Six years in the past, Naik moved from cooking vegetarian to all vegan, “primarily for environmental and moral causes,” she says. She now has a column in The Washington Post referred to as “Ecokitchen” and a present on Peacock TV Today Table, targeted on sustainability, low-waste cooking, repurposing scraps, and composting. She would not deal with the well being advantages of cooking vegan however does take a holistic and ayurvedic strategy, referencing historic Indian drugs.
Naik is amongst, she says, all kinds of different proficient creators targeted on eco-living and believes there’s a whole lot of room for extra folks so as to add their voices to this rising house, together with as foragers and in vogue. “There’s a whole lot of males on the market advocating for eco-living and dismantling the everyday male persona…like consuming steak and potatoes,” she provides.
“When I began cooking all vegan, I began pondering again on all the meals we eat at dwelling, and a whole lot of it was vegan by default due to the kind of Indian we’re, and the place regionally we’re from. A variety of our cooking type would not contain dairy or meat or seafood. I used to be like, wait, we’re truly consuming vegan however we’re not calling it vegan, we’re simply calling it meals,” she displays. “So, I hope that the trade evolves in a method the place it is simply thought-about meals.”
One of her sisters is a long-time Miami resident, so she had some solutions on the place to eat vegan and vegetarian meals within the Magic City.
“I’ve seen the Miami meals scene evolve during the last decade,” she says. “Nowadays, there’s simply so many extra choices.” She suggests Planta in Coconut Grove, Hutong Miami in Brickell, Doggi’s for arepas, and for high-end Middle Eastern meals, Amal in Coconut Grove, Motek, and Byblos. She additionally by no means misses an opportunity to eat Latin American meals whereas in South Florida.
FoodieCon. 11:30 a.m. to six p.m., Saturday, February 24, on the W South Beach, 2201 Collins Ave., Miami Beach; sobewff.org.