I have been a culinary instructor and celebrity chef for almost 25 years, teaching my students to cook authentic Punjabi traditional recipes in my cooking classes and TV shows. 

This project is a journey to the awareness that we need to save traditional generational recipes so we are aware of the coming years. 

On a personal note, I have lost my loved ones and never got a chance to preserve my ancestors' recipes, anecdotes and secrets. 

I have beautiful memories of sharing the beauty of having those unique recipes dictated to me on the phone of my mother-in-law and typed in Punjabi font when computers were not that much in fashion, I printed it, and anytime I look at those, open the recipe, book, Beeji is right there cooking with me. 

I recently lost my sister in law who was my mentor and professor in nutrition and who always guided me, I always thought I had lots of time to get all the knowledge from her, but she was gone too suddenly, and that is where I made this decision to make it a mission as a chef to work on this topic. 

I always post in our family groups to let us collect recipes, but people seem too busy to share, which is a sad part. Each family Carry heritage of those unique recipes which are family favourites, so why don’t we collectively save and preserve the tradition just as much crucial as it is to preserve artifacts and history? Let’s record those recipes of family and friends as it will always bring special memories when one cooks the same recipe and travel to time travel of yaad. I have a passion for preserving and testing recipes and sharing them with my students to showcase the wealthy cultural diaspora of traditional recipes.

 

People interested can reach out to me with their stories and share recipes. Please email us. I encourage people to record voices and recipes of family members and friends and leave this legendary binder with children to carry the heritage by cooking those recipes. 

If my project of the long lost recipes community cookbook do well, who knows, I will give project long lost recipes more limelight in creative ways.