Ruchi and Khushi
The Instagram game was changing. Everyone started uploading videos & I was clueless about it. So my younger sister came to the rescue. Without any editing course or professional training, she was already a pro at it! That’s when I knew, she has to be on my team. Just like any other siblings, we too are poles apart. In terms of our personalities, we both are completely opposite individuals. But one thing which we bonded over was FOOD & this is how Foodchronicles became “Foodchronicles by Ruchi & Khushi .”
Tell us about your background and Journey
Ruchi: I am the elder sister, a graduate, CA final drop out, founder of Foodchronicles, born & brought up in Mumbai, who loves travelling, shopping & cooking. Also found the love of my life & got married to him in February 2020.
Khushi: I am the younger sister, a BMS graduate from SK Somaiya College, born & brought up in Mumbai, co-founder, manager & editor at Foodchronicles, can’t stand my sister but because of her I get to eat free food so I try to get along with her (just kidding)I am a Traveler, foodie & dog person.
We have a 7 years age gap so there’s always a difference of opinions, but we do try & work it out because there’s no point in growing alone. We believe in synergy & teamwork. Because ‘Sisters who work together stays together gets paid together’.
After 4 consistent years of hard workups and downs, perseverance we are a family of 20,000+ foodies on Instagram, our videos and reels got re-posted by Llb. Mumbai, Mumbai bucket list several times, we have collaborated with reputed brands, we also received a certificate of appreciation for our work from Quaker oats and recently we were featured by Instagram as a “rising star”, we received a cash prize of 10,000 INR from born on Instagram (BOI). This is just the beginning for us, we’ve got a lot of interesting future plans for our page & YouTube channel, we’ve amazing content lined up for food & travel, we definitely want to see ourselves in the top list of bloggers, onward & upwards.
Which is your favourite cuisine and dish?
For a food blogger, there can never be one favourite dish or one favourite cuisine. But since you asked for breakfast we like South Indian cuisine, for lunch- North Indian, snacks - Mumbai ka street food, dinner - Italian because as Rocky & Mayur quotes it " Khaana toh bahut pada hai kyuki India bahut bada hai.
Should food blogging be just a passion or can it become a regular career?
We started food Chronicles out of sheer passion and love for food we absolutely had no idea that Instagram food blogging existed and then started the real hustle we kept learning failing to explore but never stopped creating thus after four years we finally see a difference and now we have become full-time bloggers your passion can definitely be your career all you need to do is be patient persistent consistent hard-working and to stand out in this ever-growing industry - try to be your true self, stay grounded to your roots.
Which restaurants/food joints would you recommend to food lovers?
Instagram : @_foodchronicles_
We are not more of restaurant lovers but to recommend we would say Parimala and Bhagat Tarachand food joints we recommend would be Achija & amar fast food centre. Although Udupi hotels have our hearts & we are more into street food of Mumbai, you can always visit khau galli of Zaveri Bazaar, the food there never disappoints.
What makes you appreciate a particular dish or a restaurant and talk about it on your blog?
The first and foremost factor has to be taste and quality of food not to forget the price (brownie points for pocket-friendly places) followed by prompt service and & humble hospitality - if the dish or restaurant stands out in all these departments we feature it on a page.
Is there a dish you particularly associate yourself with?
It’s a very interesting question & as I said earlier we both are 2 opposite individuals & so are our food choices.
Khushi - I associate myself with Kutchi Dabeli because It is spicy, tangy & sweet just like me! (popular food snack in India, originated in Kutch region of Gujarat.)
Ruchi - I associate myself with Rajasthani Daal baati churma, royalty served in a plate, it depicts my state & culture, though I’m born & brought up in Mumbai, my roots belong to Rajasthan (a popular dish in Rajasthan).
Eating food & getting paid for the same, isn’t that crazy?
Never knew our journey from passion to profession will be this exciting & interesting. I always use to watch my Mom creating impeccable recipes where my friends, relatives & outsiders whoever use to taste her dishes went crazy & kept on asking how you made this? What’s the secret ingredient or magic? This irony kept me curious & always dragged my heart & soul in her kitchen helping & learning every minute step about home cooking. Thus Love for cooking, tasting, creating developed in me. And this is how foodchronicles was born on 13th June 2018. I started clicking pictures & uploading them on Instagram. I never knew about food blogging or influencing existed on Instagram because I was still learning my favourite thing - cooking from celebrity chefs.
I used to upload step by step recipes on my stories where I got a good response from the audience & that lit a spark in me that my passion can be turned into a profession that will make me happy & not bored. By the way, I am a CA final dropout. Though I chose CA as my profession I was never content & to feel connected with food I use to always keep on thinking that I could have done something related to the hotel industry.
The Instagram game was changing. Everyone started uploading videos & I was clueless about it. So my younger sister came to the rescue. Without any editing course or professional training, she was already a pro at it! That’s when I knew, she has to be on my team. Just like any other siblings, we too are poles apart. In terms of our personalities, we both are completely opposite individuals. But one thing which we bonded over was FOOD & this is how Foodchronicles became “Foodchronicles by Ruchi & Khushi .”
Which is your favourite book and why?
We have multiple favourites “ Ikigai the Japanese secret to a long & happy life “ because it helps you realize the value of a purposeful life & find your purpose; Sudha Murthy is our favourite and go to author; we also love to read autobiographies & inspirational books.
How do you deal with trolls?
Every coin has 2 sides, social media has its own pros & cons, you can either be bothered by the trolling keep thinking about it & let it affect your performance or you can ignore the comments of the faceless people who are cowards & choose to stay behind the screen & troll. If there are 90 people talking bad about you, there’s always those 10 people too who are appreciating you, so choose to focus on the good the positive & keep creating content for those who really appreciate!
Do numbers really matter?
Initially yes, we were bothered by the number of followers & insights of our content. Big reputed brands always fall for the number blunder game & this used to upset us. Patience is the key. Later we realized & learnt that numbers are just numbers. Our real treasures are those who joined us in this journey & choose to stay till the end, we consider our audience as our Instagram family, If you are unique in terms of your content you will definitely stand out and the brands will reach out to you.
What do you think about content creation and the latest trends?
No one wants to see monotonous things on Instagram. Content is the King and it is the only thing that will make you stand out, we started experimenting with our content & finally learnt what our audience wanted. But again trends keep on changing & we catch up with new things to match & compete in this rat race.
Interviewed By - Lakshme Priyaa Chandrasekaran
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