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1. Tell us about your background and journey.
I am Abanti Banerjee, a student of zoology, currently pursuing my Master's degree from Dinabandhu Andrews College. Apart from being a student, I'm also a social media Influencer from Kolkata, under the niche of Food.
I started my food journey on Instagram almost 1.5 years ago. I was always passionate about food and food photography because of which I started an Instagram page that goes by the handle name "misss.banerjee", which is related to food.
My mentor Avijit Biswas, influenced me a lot through his work and has been supporting me constantly since day one. After starting my food journey, one day he gave me the opportunity to be a moderator of a Food group called "The Food Avengers" on Facebook which also helped me a lot, to grow and learn new things related to food.
My journey as a food influencer has been very special to me. When I first posted on Instagram, I was afraid of people not liking my work, but then luckily, I received tons of love.
In these 1.5 years, I have got a family of 11 thousand members on Instagram, received lots of love from many people for my work. Their support and love mean a lot to me because it gives me more strength and power to create new content.
2. Which is your Favorite cuisine and dish?
It’s quite tough for me to choose a particular cuisine as I love to eat and try new dishes from different cuisines. Among all the cuisines that I have tried till now, I love North Indian cuisine so much, for their rich flavors.
My favorite dish is the typical Kolkata style Chicken Biryani, which is a specialty of our City of Joy.
3. Should food blogging be just a hobby or is it a good career option?
Becoming a blogger is not easy. There are many new people coming into this industry every day so it’s quite tough to make your own identity. In this blogging industry, there will be many ups and downs, many rejections.
But if you're passionate about your work and have self-confidence you can make your own identity one day for sure. At present blogging can be a good career option but you just have to stay focused, calm, and give your best because hard work pays off.
4. Which restaurants/food joints would you recommend in your area?
Now many new restaurants are opening, but there are some that I like very much. I would love to recommend, Momo I am for their Tibetan and Chinese dishes, Oudh 1950 for their amazing Biryani and kebabs, The Coastal Macha for their great coastal foods, and Shawarma Nation for their amazing Lebanese foods.
5. What makes you appreciate a particular dish or a restaurant and talk about it on your blog?
I usually look for the ambiance of the place and the way people enjoy themselves in that place, it’s all about the place, food is secondary. About the food, I obviously would like the way that it is being presented.
6. Is there any particular food you feel deeply connected with?
I miss homemade food which my mom cooks because I have to eat outside almost every day. Sometimes for some food testing sessions or for some events, so homemade food is very special to me.
At the end of the day, a home-cooked meal gives me the real happiness and pleasure of eating.
7. Your favorite book and why?
My favorite book is "Byomkesh Samagra" by Saradindu Bandopadhyay, which is basically a Bengali book. I love to read and watch detective stories so this book is my favorite.
- Abanti Banerjee
IG: misss.banerjee
- Interviewed By: Sai Priyanka
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