Nandita Godbole

Interview with Authority Magazine:

"Whether it is making a cup of tea (or interacting with someone), we must start by “seeing” what we are interacting with. Appreciating the moment for all its beauty, or even finding small and noteworthy things to admire at that time goes a long way in being present."

Nandita Godbole was raised in Mumbai in the west of India, and grew up watching Indian cooking shows, along with American stars such as Julia Child, Martin Yan, and Graham Kerr. When she came to the United States in 1995 to get a master’s in landscape architecture from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Indian ingredients were hard to come by. But she figured out how to create Indo-American dishes and find substitutes for what she needed, using her cooking show knowledge and a st...

Magazine > Features > MyTurn: Post-Covid Anticipations
"Registering for my vaccine the minute it became available to me filled me simultaneously with fatigue and gratitude. I was scheduled for my first shot on April 1. When the day came, I was distracted and anxious, lacking the focus to make even my morning cup of cha. "

Sleep is an essential, restorative part of daily activities. Still, many people have trouble getting enough.
Before the advent of modern medicine, ancient practices, such as yoga, meditation, and tai chi, offered stress-reducing techniques that also indirectly aided sleep.
These practices included mudras, or hand gestures meant to stimulate certain energies in the body, mind, and spirit.
Can mudras be a useful complementary practice to help you sleep more deeply? Read on to learn more about t...

A guest post by Nandita Godbole
Recipe writers and content creators frequently struggle to understand cultural appropriation. To some, cultural appropriation challenges the old ways of doing things. Others wonder why food writers lose their jobs over it. They question why it is important. Is it?
Here’s my understanding of cultural appropriation and how to avoid it as a food writer:

Sandalwood is a much-loved fragrance across the world, often evoking soft breezes, restful spaces, and a sense of peace and calm. It’s commonly used in aromatherapy and meditation practice around the world.
The wood and oil is prized in many religious sects, including Hinduism, Islam, Parsi, and many East Asian traditions.

As Americans get vaccinated, COVID-19 climbs in India. Inequity is at work.
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This reported piece offers first person perspectives from Indian expat families touched by the Covid-19 crisis. It also includes a list of charitable organizations that offer grassroots support to the country.

Many Indian mothers and grandmothers have traditionally pampered their children with oily, herbal head massages. Afterward, they might apply sudsy reetha, also known as soapnuts, and rinse with fragrant water.
This care and attention is believed to lead to thick, lustrous, healthy hair.

Seven Pots of Tea is the first cookbook of its kind that allows readers to explore Ayurveda through tea, and vice-versa through dozens of simple recipes. Seven Pots of Tea combines holistic wisdom and health goals an easy, accessible format to improve readers’ perspectives on their favorite beverage. It highlights many easy to make herbal teas, tisanes and brews that can integrate into existing routines of self-care to promote overall wellness. Designed as an informative reference book with practical tips, Seven Pots of Tea is just as much for beginners who want to make subtle changes to just

When I was a child, the festival of Diwali meant having permission to draw flowers and swirling designs with chalk in the doorways around our apartment block, and dressing up the entryways with brightly colored garlands. I would peek over my mother’s arched body as she hovered atop a new floor pattern she had crafted from scratch each evening. Sometimes she would use a chalky paste, rice powder, or flower petals to create the freehanded design.

A young channel showcasing cooking videos with tips for easy and effortless Indian cooking.

A cooking showcase of some recipes from "Seven Pots of Tea: an Ayurvedic approach to sips & nosh"

My research contextualized the brews that my mother and grandmother had made me with care and attention as a child. I learned it was nuance, detail, and the relationship to culture that made exceptional teas and chais.

Throwing a handful of ingredients into hot water didn’t make a good brew. Tea deserved more of my time and attention than that.

Outside India, a simplified barista ‘Masala Chai Latte’ does not represent its complex possibilities. Fortunately, many online tea retailers offer a representative sampling of India’s complex chai culture for the chai connoisseur.
Chai has followed me everywhere. It was the reason to wander into my grandmother's garden looking for herbs. It was always the end-goal at her house while we sat at her long, black mahogany dining table to slather salted butter on fresh bakery bread for dunking into...

Turmeric, black pepper, rice, and daal come together in a simple nourishing bowl to soothe away and relieve daily stresses.
Different kinds of trauma set in after the burglary in 2018. We couldn’t sleep without having nightmares. We doubted everything, including our identities as brown immigrants. We disengaged from all, even our backyard garden. We lost our appetite, and for me, the motivation to cook. No dish excited me; cooking, eating, and sharing felt like a joyless, tedious routine.