What happens when you decapitalize your time in a self-directed culinary residency with a new bestie in a foreign land?

You get Thanks Auntie, an exploration of ancestral Indian food and a series of stories that reconnects you to your memories of times past.

Food always tells a story and we find so many hidden and forgotten aspects of our own ancestry as third-culture kids raised in Canada.

Over these 11 episodes, you'll hear how Parul and Marlon took an idea dreamed up while floating in a pool in Costa Rica in the first year of the pandemic into a series of sold-out pop-up dinners.

And as always, you can hit us up with your comments on IG @thanksauntie

(Recorded on June 2, 2021)

In our first recording Parul and Marlon, talk about what inspired us to start the Thanks Auntie concept and set our container for the food residency.

We address whether we're related after getting that question A LOT!

Hint:

Marlon grew up cooking with his grandmothers in their kitchens in Goa and seeing how much love and labour went into each dish.

Parul's family found community with other Punjabi immigrants to Canada to find imported ingredients during her upbringing.

Retracing our roots reminds us about how our impressions of Indian food were formed and the many women (many lovingly called Auntie) that cared for us throughout our lives.

Noticing this also invites us to make Auntiehood a concept of care, rather than a gendered term, and helped us name our food residency.

For many, the impression of Indian food is that it is hard on the belly.

We're challenging ourselves to deliver something that feels good in the body and that features the richness of the local Costa Rican harvest.

Our meals aim to be paleo and vegan - nearly unheard of in traditional Indian cuisine and still rare in modern Indian restaurants.

-- Hit us up on IG at @thanksauntie

(Recorded on June 3, 2021)

Indians form the world's biggest diaspora and contains 38 distinct regional cuisines.

So, how are we going to represent the richness of Indian cuisine for the local Costa Rican and immigrant population?

In this episode, we dive into the brand that will represent us for the remaining 26 days of the residency.

We nerd out about how we're going to show up and design menus from our separate memories and upbringings.

Marlon nerds about how our brand creates the expectations of our patrons.

Parul nerds out about oral tradition and its potency to translate intention without rigidity.

This creative tension is going to make our residency great as we teach each other and our community about our individual interpretations of Indian food and the stories behind it.

We also crack the lid on how we're going to design the menu for a well-educated audience from North America and new palettes from the local Costa Rican population.

Parul also kicks off her coconut yogurt empire. Stay tuned to future episodes to hear how that plays out.

It also starts raining halfway through so you can't miss the sounds of nature behind us :)

-- Hit us up on IG @thanksauntie with your comments and to stay in touch!