Unlike many traditional cookbooks, the book is a collection of not just the author’s recipes but also of friends and family members she holds dear, of people whose table and company she has shared over her rich seventy years. Written and collected by a world travelling food lover, these recipes have memories and micro-histories coded within.

Each lovingly preserved recipe, from a 5-minute salad to a 5-hour biryani to a 100-year-old recipe for chai masala, evoked a specific time, location and emotion for the author. The unforgettable life moments unfolded over a table full of food. From this arose the name FEAST, a celebration of life and connections built around sharing recipes and food.

The collected recipes sent from around the world over Whatsapp, email and handwritten scraps were missives, long lost love letters. Many of them were barely recipes, just a set of approximations. We worked with the author to complete the recipes and then rewrote them in the global standard. We also honed each recipe’s emotional story to accompany the recipe.

We worked with artist Tanvi Bhat who lovingly created illustrations using coloured ink for the book. The illustrations were created in appetising jewel tones to capture the joy of cooking and sharing food.