CULINARY CONNECTION

Aditi Dugar, CEO and founder of Masque, a wilderness-to-table restaurant in the heart of Mumbai, started cooking at the age of 16. The brain behind the multiple award-winning restaurant explains how culinary travel breaks barriers and builds bridges between people from different backgrounds and cultures.

-  Anubhuti Krishna

CULINARY EXPLORATIONS have been a part of my travels since very early on. As a child, when I travelled with my parents, much of our time was spent planning and eating the local food in cities we were travelling to. After I got married and started travelling with my husband, Aditya, on his work trips, I began experimenting with food even more. We planned all our meals to ensure we could experience the finest food in the city we were in. This paved the way for my food explorations around the world and I also signed up for short courses and internships. Whether it was working with a street food specialist in Southeast Asia or taking a baking class in Europe, I’ve done it all just out of interest and curiosity. At the time I had no clue that I would work in the food space one day. It is amazing how the dots have connected for me now that I am in the business.

Busting Myths

Food is a great way to explore a new place and understand its cultural nuances, and I see that more and more people are now opening up to the idea. Travelling busts so many such myths.

Over the years, I have also learned that it is not just fine dining restaurants that serve great meals; the lesser-known places that locals go to are sometimes the real gems. I remember discovering an entire area lined with sake bars in Shibuya that tourists had no clue about.