When chef and cookbook author Rushina M. Ghildiyal first started her cookbook club in November 2015, she already had a clear perspective of what she wanted out of it — a space for foodies and cookbook lovers to get together and interact. Unlike traditional book launches, where readers can only interact with the author of the cookbook for a couple of minutes, Rushina’s APB Food Book Club ensures that you get to chat with and even cook with their favourite authors. The one-year anniversary is being celebrated with great aplomb and a few panel discussions at Title Waves Book Store, on December 11.
It is the love for books and food that led Rushina to first establish the club. “I have bookshelves at home dedicated to these books. I don’t believe that the demand for good books on cooking has decreased in any way with the digital age. People in India still love to read,” she claims. However, it is not just cookbooks that the APB Food Book Club has launched.
Rushina is quick to clarify that books on food history, and food and travel are also talking points at the bookclub meets. “We are also working on a book that is a tribute to culinary authors,” she adds.
When the chef first came up with the idea for a book club, she had no idea that it would grow to this scale. “I just marked around 20 of my friends and told them I was coming up with this plan,” she recalls. The club has almost tripled in size since then, and now has around 60 members.
Since its genesis last year, the club has launched volumes by several well-known chefs, including Ranveer Brar and Varun Inamdar. “When we launched Varun’s book, we had an entire cooking session with the chef where he taught the rest of the club members how to make tarts,” Rushina recalls, adding that although launching authors has been a major part of their activities, they have also curated other events. “Once we had a potluck party where everyone prepared something according to a recipe from their favourite cookbooks,” she says.
When asked why she has waited till December to celebrate the event, Rushina says, “I didn’t want to rush it. Besides, I wanted to be surrounded by books and not an enclosed studio,” she explains. However, the panel discussion on this Sunday is only the beginning of some of the plans Rushina has for the upcoming month alone. “We are doing a number of food walks and are also trying to partner with publishing houses for our future cookbook ventures,” she says.
The one year anniversary of the cookbook club will take place on December 11, 10.30 am onwards, at Title Waves Book Store, Bandra (W). For more information, contact 42152799
