J&K bloggers date with food
Post by on Sunday, October 17, 2021
Social media platforms have changed the trend of marketing globally and played a vital role in helping bloggers and small business start-ups. Currently, food bloggers and vloggers can earn a good income by promoting and reviewing restaurants and cafes.
Nowadays it’s like a need for every new cafe or restaurant to call food bloggers for reviewing their food and service. People also love food bloggers as following food bloggers, instagrammers and youtubers help people to stay updated with new places and food items available at various locations.
Mohsin Fazili and Surya Slathia are both food bloggers and vloggers who are best known for their food blog, ‘Kashmir_Eats’ and ‘travel n burp with surya’. They have gained massive popularity for their food Vlogs.
Mohsin Fazili, the name behind famous food blog “Kashmir Eats” and a successful social media food blogger, vlogger/youtuber from Kashmir has been promoting Kashmiri food globally through social media platforms.
He is an MBA graduate from the United Kingdom, government consultant by profession and a food blogger by passion. His Instagram and youtube channel consist of numerous videos exploring delicious food places with detailed reviews of that particular eatery. With a whopping 38.5 thousand plus followers, his journey over three years has been truly inspiring.
Mohsin is one of the top food vloggers & bloggers on social media and is also the first vlogger from Kashmir. From sharing the recipes to reviewing food places, Mohsin has always been a big-time foodie. For Mohsin, food blogging is quite unique.
“Stating your opinion about food on a social platform isn’t easy. You give out your perspective, to which some may relate, and some may not,” said Mohsin.
His journey has been nothing but a beautiful trip to better days.
“I was quite nervous in the beginning. But based on my honest reviews, I got an enormous amount of support and appreciation. I never had a plan to become a blogger. But my eternal love for food was something I wanted to express,” he said.
Mohsin started food blogging & vlogging randomly three years ago on a social media platform, where he used to share his personal experiences of visiting a certain place for a tasting session and sharing his experience about food.
“I started sharing my food experiences on my personal account and my friends really loved it,” he said.
He said, “My passion for food really got ignited when I was based in London and Dubai, I left home to stay in a hostel and desperately began to miss my mother’s food”
Mohsin was always passionate about food and photography and to fulfill his passion he decided to do something which will let him stay connected with the love for food.
“I started from scratch by reviewing small restaurants and it was really hard to gain followers and attracting people to my profile. But slowly everything fell to the right spot,” said Mohsin.
Mohsin’s Vlogs are known for giving honest and reliable reviews and the food shots which make one drool are taken with utmost care and expertise which showcases the smallest of details.
He started his blog “Kashmir Eats” a few years ago in Dubai. His Blog is all about exploring places across the globe. It consists of anything and everything related to restaurants, street food, food courts, star hotels, etc. The audience of Mohsin’s blog is usually the people between 15 to 45 years of age.
Kashmir Eats promotes and endorses all kinds of Kashmiri cuisine globally and believes in spreading the different varieties of food to people worldwide.
“There has been a widespread belief that Kashmir has nothing to offer other than its special cuisine “Wazwan” and Kashmir Eats has been focusing on sharing the different kinds of food along with the recipes. It also provides a learning experience to a large group of people globally and displays the varieties of cuisines of Kashmiri origin,” said Mohsin.
From Europe to the Middle East and India, Mohsin has been travelling to explore food.
“My vlogs cover all the aspects of food which are helpful for the audience when it comes to choosing a food place around you,’ said Mohsin.
Mohsin promotes his blog via social media platforms like Facebook, Youtube and Instagram.
“Instagram and Youtube are the best platforms to promote your stuff nowadays. I post 7 days a week but when it comes to Vlogs I shoot and post 3 to 4 food Vlogs in a month,” he said.
“I am a part time blogger, So I carry on with my blogging during weekends,” said Mohsin.
He mostly prefers to visit the places instead of ordering the food online.
“I try to see the ambience, staff and their serving manner too. My goal is to keep my blog quite updated, which makes me try new things on a daily basis.”
He usually gets invited from restaurants on weekends for a food reviewing session.
“The review sessions are all about tasting the new dishes which restaurant management wants to add to their menu. I have come across and discovered some dishes that were unheard of like Lal Mass, Geela Kulcha, Pizza Omelette etc,” said Mohsin.
He said, “Depending on what kind of food you want to try. Some of my favorite food spots in Srinagar, J&K are Wazwan Thali at Ahdoos, Kabuli Pulao and Turkish Grill at Goodfella Café, Cakes and Pastries at Le delice, Pizza and Shakes at Pier15, Chinese Cuisine at WoktoWalk and Lhasa, Traditional Kashmiri tea at ChaaiJaai and Shawarma & Tandoori chicken at Grillz.”
“In Jammu, I like Veg and Non-Veg Buffet at Kohinoor Restaurant, Pizza and Mocktails at Hideout Café, Continental food at Zone by Park and Kashmiri Wazwan at JKTDC and Mughal Darbar.”
Mohsin believes being a food blogger isn’t that easy. “Stating your perspective on a platform where everyone has their own opinion and taste buds is really difficult,” he said.
Mohsin’s family and friends have been his ultimate support since the day he started food blogging.
“They were there cheering out loud when a lot of them were pulling me down. Managing blogging along with a job was really tough. I used to plan to quit as I lost all of my strength. I found my family and friends holding me tight during those days. Promising me that things are going to be fine and eventually they were. They didn’t want me to let go of my passion,” he said.
Mohsin advises aspiring food bloggers and vloggers to stay true to themselves. “Post about what you love and create your own content. Don’t focus on followers, Focus on quality of the content.”
Surya Slathia, a food blogger and vlogger from Jammu has done her master’s in public policy and public administration and becoming a blogger was never her plan.
“I am a big foodie, I love eating and travelling and there was not a single outlet that I had not visited, be it newly opened cafes, restaurants or street food,” she said.
Surya has never planned on becoming a food blogger. People always used to ask her to review the cafes and the food for them but she never documented any of it.
“I started my career from YouTube and my journey started from Instagram. There were not many bloggers at that time. So, I followed my passion and turned it into my profession which I truly love doing,” Surya said.
Surya loves her work from making videos, writing content and anything and everything regarding food and travel. She started her YouTube channel in April, 2018. Surya started with blogging at first but became a vlogger later on.
“Initially I started writing blogs but couldn't continue as it was really tough to balance both vlogs and blogs (video making & writing) together,” she said.
She said, “My passion itself inspired me but once I started, I saw many big bloggers/vloggers working in different fields (fashion, travel, lifestyle), it inspired me more to do good. I was feeling very confident.”
The uniqueness about Surya’s vlog is suggested by her channel's name itself " travel n burp". She travels and eats while traveling.
“I not only travel and explore places but I explore food as well. Recently, I was on my trip to the golden triangle. I traveled by road, starting from Delhi then Delhi-Jaipur-Agra (golden triangle) and covered loads of local places and local food,” she said.
For Surya travel and food go hand in hand. She believes working on content is the most important thing for a vlogger because you mainly need huge content to post.
“There was a reel of mine on Instagram regarding Jammu and Kashmir food and it got really good reach as in a single reel I shared loads of food places, used trending songs,” she said.
Surya started vlogging only to follow what she loved, but there was something that never stopped her from doing this, she had this feeling that she will do something in this field.
“Even today, when I feel low there are so many people and followers who are always there to support. But when you truly follow something with your heart there's nothing impossible,” said Surya.
Besides being a vlogger and reviewing other cafes' food, Surya is a good cook herself. “I love cooking and I got this from my mother and brother. They both are really good chefs.”
Surya said, “During the lockdown when everything was shut, cooking at home was the only content I was left with, including trending food (e.g., dalgona coffee). I love baking and I made birthday cakes for my cousins and friends and tried many other fusion dishes too. I also did loads of food challenges.”
Initially Surya got no support from anyone, no moral support and not even financially. “My family wanted me to focus on studies more but as they got to know I am doing well in it, they started supporting me and were happy as well.” she said.
Surya thinks every food outlet has something different and special in them.
“I am a big chai lover, Randhawa tea stall supwal Jammu serves one of the best chai. Drool delivery and there's a small shop at sainik colony chowadhi road that serves the best momos. Pandit ji ka kaladi kulcha, moti bazar, is best for Kaladi Kulcha. Every place has some specialty and there are many other food outlets serving yummy and delicious food,” she said.
