Amrita Kaur’s Instagram bio reads ‘Food blogger. Food stylist. Teaches Cooking. Dances in the kitchen. Buddhist Practitioner. Believes in Veggies.’ What it doesn’t mention, however, is that this Indore-born blogger, who is now based out of Mumbai, is also a social media celebrity – she has over 22.8k followers and counting on Instagram (@amritaoflife) and her website lifekirecipe.com is a hit among food connoisseurs too.Her popular posts are a cornucopia of colours, often involving different kinds of food, restaurants and friends she met along the way, with a selfie casually thrown in. In a chat with Amrita, who was in Chennai last week to conduct a summer salad making workshop in association with The Farm on the OMR, we find out more about her ‘life ki recipe’.
From journalist to RJ to food blogger. Tell us your story.
I was born and raised in Indore, a complete food-obsessed city. I started my career as a journalist in a city news-paper and then as an RJ for five years. After my marriage, I moved to Mumbai and that’s when I created my blog, which eventually expanded into taking cooking workshops, developing new recipes, food styling and home cheffing. I started the blog to document my crazy new experiments in the kitchen. My husband is a DJ and hence we hosted plenty of house parties, inspiring me to try out a lot of recipes. At one point, I just became the queen of party food — more like bite-sized foods, dips and chips.
Why the name ‘amritaoflife’?
My darji (my late grandfather) named me Amrita, which meant holy water or essence of life. Back in my college days, there was a poetry writing contest and I used it there once. It has stayed with me since.
What was the one post that catapulted you to fame?
More than a post, one product that really worked for me was when I created OMG Bacon Jam. It was
relatively unheard of, was delicious and people loved it. It trended on Twitter once, it got that popular just when I started it. I made it for two-and-a-half years and then decided to stop making it when I turned vegetarian last June.
From a bacon eater to a vegetarian. What changed?
The whole of last year was about this journey I took within. I became very aware of what I was feeding myself. I turned vegetarian back in June, and then I went to Kerala in October for a month to study Ayurveda Nutrition. So now I love eating clean.
Some tips to eat healthy this summer?
Drink lots of water, juices and chilled infusions like tulsi water. Have lighter meals that you are used to eating. Avoid spicy and fermented foods — it all increases the pitta (heat) in our body.