Shweta Nag Joshi literally crossed three state borders – Uttar Pradesh, Delhi and Haryana – to drive all the way from Noida in UP to the We The Chefs Experiential Centre in Gurgaon for an episode of Food Talk centered around her cakes, breads and salads.
A self-taught baker, Shweta launched her company, Quarantine Bakers, as the name suggests, during the Covid lockdowns, and what started as a way to entertain friends and family soon gave way to experimentation and the seeding of a home entrepreneur. Inspired by her mother, Shweta was always interested in cooking and serving with passion.
It’s this very passion that enabled her to take the leap of faith and become a home chef with a fairly large following in Noida, a Delhi-NCR city that Shweta says is still not as “adventurous and experimental” as Delhi or Gurgaon.
Talking about her journey, Shweta advises aspiring home bakers to devour cookbooks and follow chefs on YouTube and Instagram in order to get ideas, but all this is only the first step. The next big step is experimentation, but not every attempt results in success, so an aspirant has to be patient and learn from every failed experiment.
For Shweta, it all started with a muted anniversary party that her husband and she hosted at their home. As the lockdown was in force, only their landlord’s family could join them, but the dinner spread, especially the cake, left the guests mighty impressed. Their landlord suggested that Shweta should start selling her cakes and the suggestion became a business proposition after a friend of hers created a WhatsApp group to spread the good word. Soon, Shweta started getting queries and orders – and a business was born.
Rewinding to her initial days, Shweta said a home baker has learn to wear a number of hats. “She has to be the baker, the order taker, the packer, the delivery person,” she said. In those days of the lockdowns, Shweta would deal with her supplier as well as her clients entirely on the mobile phone, the cakes (and later, breads and salads) would be picked up and delivered by services that were born during that time, and all payments made and received via PayTM.
Shweta’s cakes have a fan following because of not only the way they taste, but also the way they look. And the passionate home baker attributes this to her background in the arts and crafts, where, again, she has been a practitioner without any formal training. From making fridge magnets using plaster of Paris to shaping fondant into shapes that are treats for the eye, Shweta has put her eye for all things beautiful to the most creative use.
For a home baker operating out of Noida, it is very different from being active in Delhi or in Gurgaon. Shweta pointed out that her clientele is less receptive to speciality foods or to experimentation, but even Noida, especially the younger demographic, is experiencing the gentle breeze of change.
Home chefs, wherever they may be, enjoy an advantage, according to Shweta. They can do things that are unique, which hotels and restaurants don’t want to do because these are not commercially viable. Home chefs can take risks because they are dealing with small, albeit growing, numbers, Shweta noted.
She also answered with an emphatic ‘yes’ when asked whether home bakers can be a part of the global movement towards sustainably produced food. Giving the example of her cream cheese, Shweta pointed out that she makes the cream cheese that goes into it.
“As we all know, the quality of a finished product is as good as the ingredients that go into it. And the ingredient that is produced at home is always the best,” Shweta said, adding that even her pesto is prepared with basil she produces in her home garden and her hummus, too, is home made.
Of course, for an ingredient as exotic as black rice (which goes into her favourite salad), or if the process of making it is as time-consuming as in the case of the phyllo sheets required for puffs, Shweta has to turn to an online retailer such as Amazon.
Still, it’s all about making an effort. And putting in that extra effort comes naturally to Shweta because she says she saw her mother do it and that continues to inspire her. Her other inspiration if the popular YouTuber and cookbook writer John Kanell’s channel, Preppy Kitchen. “I have fallen in love with the channel,” Shweta said. “Each time I watch him, I feel connected to him … I feel he’s one of us.”
She concluded by advising other home chefs to connect with We The Chefs because of the biggest benefit this association brings with it. “By ourselves, no matter how well we cook, our biggest challenge is to reach out to a bigger market,” Shweta said. “WhatsApp groups and Instagram are not enough. There are too many of these around. We need an organisation like We The Chefs to give us that edge to stay ahead.”