Behind The By-lines: Priya Krishna (The New York Times), Anisha Rachel Oommen (Goya Journal), and Smitha Menon pull back the curtain on what it means to write about food today.

Amuse-Bouche: Food as a lens into caste, class, politics, and identity; and why the table is still one of the last places we can have hard conversations.

Main Course: The blurred lines of PR and journalism, maintaining professional boundaries as a food writer, and what “good taste” means when dining out becomes social currency.

Quick Bites: From Indian English prose to plastic tablecloths and dosa definitions, how language and aesthetics shape whose food stories get told.

In the Margins: On AI, the future of media, and why being a food journalist is less about hype and more about holding power to account, one story at a time.

This episode is fact checked, double spiced, and just the right amount of sweet, which means the Bombay Bhel Chikki by Bombay Sweet Shop was the only sensible pairing, really.

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Host: Smitha Menon

We’re on YouTube, Spotify, and wherever food memories live. Drop in to say hello at smitha@smithamenon.co or contact@maed.in

This is a Maed in India production.

Creative Director: Mae Mariyam Thomas

Project Manager: Shaun Fanthome

Producer: Meghna Gulati

Co-Producer: Rachna Sukuru

Animation: Alika Gupta

Video Editor: Kaval Chaudhary

Video Guidance: Jishnu Guha

Sound Mixing Engineer: Kartik Kulkarni

On-Location Sound Engineer: Nihar TemkarProduction Assistant: Natasha Vakil

Artwork: Jishnu Bandyopadhyay