Esther Mary Sahu - a little, chubby, mischievous, affectionate, touchy, emotional... but out and out a performer. After her hit series on weird foods, we were flooded with queries as to who this ‘usually unusual’ person is - a chef, a housewife, a cookery teacher, or just a blogger?





How has it been working at Instablogs?



Working with Instablogs Network has been a learning experience. The guys are so sweet; they work along with you, converting all your weaknesses into one of your potentials. I really thank the Instablogs team, especially Nandini, for giving me an opportunity to project my perspective of the food world...I was not alone, she and my editor Nirmal explored all the possibilities with me to create the Foodmall magic.



Who is this Esther peeping from the global kitchen window?



Well, nothing secretive about me. Peeping from the global kitchen window, she is not 10 percent of what she actually is...magician reveals magic in spurts!! Okay guys, Esther is a very God-fearing person, extremely extrovert, very loving and a wee-bit ambitious. When Esther doesn’t do anything, she talks to herself and this is the only time when she tries hard to be different from others...but never for the heck of it.



How did you get into food blogging?



I got lots of accolades for my culinary skills. Honestly, my friends talk to me about the nitty-gritty of cooking and we drift into culinary conversations. This conversation includes ‘efforts to make food a functional part of living and not just cooking anything new’. Believe me, we were not a group of food scholars, but we were food explorers. So, that just tells you about my inspiration, and Instablogs Network has loads to tell you about the platform that it gives to explorers like me. My journey has just begun and via food blogging, I’ll try to make food as varied perspective as in case of techno fields.



What are your other hobbies?



First one is cooking, and the other two...ummm...are also cooking. The rest to follow are counseling of my friends and the loved ones. Generally, I love to ensure that the world around me is perfectly intact, peaceful and happy.



Tell us something about the just-concluded ‘Weird Food Week’ on Foodmall.



In the first place, I would like to thank Amit. The Weird Food series was Amit’s idea...and you see, it has worked out well. The rest of it lies in the fact that I looked at the term ‘weird food’ as an outsider...’the foods that appear weird to me should appear the same to my readers as well’ was my sole concern. Feeling weird about a food is a relative term. That’s why, while putting down my weird feelings for the foods across the globe, I had just this in mind: ‘Things inedible for me might be absolutely edible for somebody else.’ But I thank Lord God Almighty, for He has used me for ‘His Glory’.



What else do you plan to cook at the Foodmall?



Presently, I am blending Foodmall with the food industry sector and seasoning it with core culinary dimensions. In the days to come, I would come up with more series on top cuisines of the world, health foods, expensive foods, etc, and also with the series that friends and my readers want me to focus on. Apart from these, I am also planning to review the best food sites in the cuisine category, breakfast category, gift and gourmet foods, so on and so forth.



Coming from a richly diverse and spicy country like India, how come you provide such rich description of foods around the globe?



Are my descriptions really rich? I didn’t know that! Well, that’s for the readers to judge. But as far as describing non-Indian food is concerned, I would say, basically it accounts to the environment which I was brought up in. In eastern India, there’s a lot of influence of German and American missionaries. And whenever these missionaries came to India, they were made to feel at home.



I still am a great fan of the New McCalls Cookbook by Mary Eckley, published way back in 1973...this book was gifted to my mom on her marriage by aunty Beth, from Florida. And as I grew up, I saw my mom treating the German missionaries the delicacies from that book...and they liked it. So, you can say that the acquired knowledge of foods that are not Indian is handed down by generations, Christmas get-togethers or during welcome bash for people from far off lands.



How many other projects (blogs) you are handling right now?



I am looking forward to create a convergence between food and health through a possible series on yummy health foods. Apart from that, I will be talking up certain health topics to blog about in future.



What are your favourite food blogs other than yours?



I love reading the posts of Cooking Diva - Melissa, and my favourite wine blog is Spittoon blog. As far as seafood is concerned, Chef Shane and Food for the Fish blog presents you the rarest of the delicacies. Besides, Chefs.com gives me the most updated and excellent reviews from the food world.



What are the five most essential things everyone must know to cook?



If a person, who can manage only with a burger, must know to do the following things:



1. Scramble eggs

2. Saute sausages, ham and bacon



If you want to cook the bare minimum,

1. Boil noodles

2. Prepare the proper accompaniments to go with the noodles

3. Make a simple tomato puree for saucing up your noodles



What’s your take on the obesity epidemic?



Obesity epidemic can be tackled only when people change their lifestyle. Believe me, it’s got very little to do with any drastic changes in food habits. I am saying this because food giants like KFC, McDonalds and Burger King are formulating foods with healthy supplements.