We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Debashis Bhattacharyya a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Alright, Debashis thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. How did you learn to do what you do? Knowing what you know now, what could you have done to speed up your learning process? What skills do you think were most essential? What obstacles stood in the way of learning more?

I am a food blogger and the primary skill you need for that is to be able to cook delicious finger licking dishes that your followers would love to recreate. But being a food blogger in the real world is much more than that, cooking is one thing but how you present it is another, also how well you can use SEO and other gimmicks to reach more people is probably the most important aspect of this arena which people tend to ignore. I was unaware of this fact too when I began, and I learned it the hard way. When you are on social media , every little thing matters, how appealing are your posts, the timing of your post, your schedule and regularity, hashtags, comments, your engagements elsewhere, whom you follow and who follows you, your target audience , your audience’s preferences , how well your feeds are serving them what they want, how easy it is to recreate what you make, availability of the ingredients, popularity of the dishes, use of schema’s and templates, thumbnails etc and the list is endless. Learning is a lifelong process is today’s tech savvy world and it would continue to be the same but as a creator it is very important to evolve and understand the pulse of the crowd.
I would encourage folks starting in this line to seek proper help from professionals, follow and learn from the best and consult with the ones who are already making it big out there, read online blogs and learn the tricks of the trade. One more important lesson – losers give up and hence you don’t. Rome was not built in a day so be patient and remember that there is no alternative to hard work , perseverance is one of the most important virtues to have in today’s world and it will take you places. Keep doing the good work and success will follow.

Debashis, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

I am a Saint Louis based food blogger and recipe developer, a software professional from 9-5 and a passionate cook 24 X 7. I have a cooking blog and an Instagram page which is growing day by day. I create new recipes amalgamating tastes from different cultures and cuisines and share them on my feeds. I collaborate with various brands and use their products for my post helping them in the process. I have written a mini cookbook for a spice brand. I write articles about food history and culture in lifestyle magazines. The story of my journey was also published in a book –“13 Months’ Salary Per Year “ in March 2021. I have also been featured in some podcasts streaming in Amazon music and Spotify. I was also featured in Hotstar & Voyage magazine.

I am of Asian-Indian origin, I am a big foodie and I have been cooking since I was a kid. When I first came to the United States in 2010, I was shocked with the perception of Indian food here. The biggest myth here about Indian food is – “It is spicy” and I really wanted to help break this myth to start with. Indian cuisine is vast as it is a mixture of a lot of different provincial and regional cuisines which were further inspired by factors like demography, travelers, invaders, traders, and colonial rulers. Hence not all Indian food is spicy or even uses the same set of spices and condiments. Just to cite an example – the folks from the state of Bengal use a lot of poppy seeds and they love it in their food. This is primarily because poppy seeds are a byproduct of opium which was grown in the area during the colonial era for trade and the poor farmers were forced to eat the leftovers.
As a kid, I was fostered to embrace the world as it is, and food is no different. I enjoy eating and cooking food from all parts of the world and I love experimenting with them by mixing flavors to create fusion. I used to cook food for my friends and family and talk about my fusion recipes with them. One fine day my wife (Sandy) asked me to think of an idea to spread it beyond the set of friends I had. I told her I do not have a culinary degree so what can I do?? She suggested me to leverage the power of Internet and share my recipes to a greater audience and that is when I thought of blogging.

I launched my blogging site and started my Instagram page at the same time. My experience in software aided me to tailor my blog and its web pages thereby being a catalyst to provide me a platform to promote my passion. I share meat-based, vegetarian, vegan, seafood and cocktail recipes in my site which are further classified into various subcategories.

This is how I made my debut with DebsCraftyCusine, a name that is popular on the internet today. Thanks to all the shoutouts and encouragement from my friends, family, the founders of several food and beverage companies and lastly my fans that has helped me throughout my journey.

I use my experience with Indian style of cooking to experiment and recreate a lot of classics. Such fusion recipes are a hit these days all over the world as globalization and Internet has brought the whole realm together and people are ready to taste global food. The idea is simple but needs a lot of precision while executing ,also I always ensure that the soul of the dish remains the same even while we make a fusion as “No one wants to ruin a classic”. Some of the delightful fusion dishes that you can find in my page are Scottish – “Indian Shepherd Pie” ,Turkish – “Kilbir” , Canadian – “Baked Veggie Poutine”, Caribbean – “Jerk Chicken Tikka Masala”, Thai – “Stir Fry”, Chinese – “Manchuria Chicken”, Mexican – “Habanero Chipotle Kebab”, Italian –“Indian Tuscan Chicken”, Greek –“Lemon Chicken”, Russian – “Bombay Mule” etc. The names would sound familiar to you, but I am sure you are able to spot the fusion component in them. These renditions are an ode to the world cuisine, and I relish the idea of people making them in their homes.

Any insights you can share with us about how you built up your social media presence?

There are many food bloggers out there so the biggest challenge was to make myself distinct and visible to start with. The next obstacle was to ensure I keep instilling creativity and innovation at my work, follow a schedule and ensure my followers get what they always want in my feeds. Not to forget, I also have a 9-5 job and hence time management was also one of major things that I had to take care of.

I strengthened my online hold by taking part in many recipe competitions which helps you establish your ability in your craft. I have collaborated with many brands that helped me place myself in the online ecosystem. I have judged, and hosted some competitions as well which helps in increasing your online reach. I also started a trivia about food facts and history which is very popular and my followers love it. I make one reel a week at the minimum as reels are a great way to reach to a greater audience. I also add relevant hashtags carefully ensuring the posts reaches the right sets of folks and caters to the needs of the followers of those hashtags. I am always out there in my stories , you would always find stories about what I am eating and cooking in my feeds that keeps my audience engaged.

The idea is to be there , always be there and making sure you are visible .

What can society do to ensure an environment that’s helpful to artists and creatives?

Society can be cruel sometimes and I see a lot of trolls attacking my fellow contemporaries. I have been fortunate in that respect but I am not alien to online bullying. We would be in a better world without trolls , I strongly feel society can do away with it. A friend of mine had posted a behind the scene video of making an omelet and how tough it was for her to flip it, the kind of comments it garnered was unfathomable. Here was a Real person sharing a real experience with all. She wanted to show the hard work she puts in everyday to come up with contents that we all love. But instead she was trolled for not being an expert of her craft and what not. This is just one example and I can think of many, we would really be in a better place without Trolls.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.debscraftycuisine.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/debscraftycuisine/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/debscraftycuisine
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/debashis-b/
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/debscraftycuis1

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