Thiruvananthapuram-based Anjana Gopakumar offers virtual gastronomic delight through her mouth-watering food videos posted under her blog/vlog title ‘Thank God I am Fat’.
Her journey as a food blogger began rather unexpectedly, after she dropped out of a culinary school. “The first food blog I wrote was in 2017, about biriyani and chaya. I was just figuring out how to make a WordPress site at that time,” she says.
“Subsequently, I progressed into vlogging as the digital world was expanding. I wanted to stay afloat. I am glad that I did that because I find joy in making videos on food, culture, history, global nuances, and places to eat.”
Anjana arrived in the vlogging scene with a video on the GP Hotel at Sasthamangalam in the capital city, about the outlet’s pazhampori and beef combo. “It garnered a lot of attention,” she says.
An ardent traveller, Anjana has created many videos on food culture, easy recipes and her thoughts on the food across the globe.
Her favourite? “I absolutely love sushi,” she says. “I went to an all-you-can-eat sushi place once, and tried sushi with fried shrimp and ripe banana. I was super sceptical about how it would taste. But it blew my mind away. I was too quick to assume it would be a disaster. Valuable lesson: do not ‘assume’ things about food from a foreign culture.”
Paying attention to details has helped Anjana carve her own foodie niche. “I would like to talk more about the things that are usually left unnoticed, such as the authentic manner in which a preparation is consumed. This has helped me reach out to like-minded people.”
Vlogs: www.thankgodimfat.com
Mathi porichathu
(sardine fry)
Mathi porichathu by combining her mother and brother’s recipes.
Ingredients
Sardines -5-6 pieces (cleaned)
Ginger - crushed - 1 inch
Garlic - 3-4 cloves crushed
Red chilli pwd - 1 tsp
Kashmiri chilli pwd - 1 tsp
Turmeric pwd - 1/4 tsp
Black pepper pwd - 1/2 tsp
Salt, coconut oil for frying
Preparation: Marinate sardines with the above-mentioned ingredients and keep it aside for 10 minutes. Heat the oil and fry
the sardines until the raw smell of the
masala goes away and the fish cooks.
That’s it, garnish it with whatever you like.