Slurrp Exclusive: A Tete A Tete With Aarti Madan, Ex Advertising Professional Turned Home Chef 

Women are meant for kitchen, but high-end kitchens of restaurants only demand men. Men in uniform, with fancy chef hats, doling out the most exquisite dishes. These are men who are appreciated for their skill and years of expertise, whereas the women...well, when was the last time you appreciated your mother’s home-cooked food? The gap is startling, which is why even though little Aarti always dreamt of opening a café while growing up, she made sure to complete her schooling in advertising. Soon, she was also a successful advertising professional. However, Aarti Madan’s love for cooking was far stronger to quit on her, so soon she quit her stable job to pursue her passion as a digital creator. The social media sensation, who has millions of views on her cooking videos is not only cooking in her home kitchen but is also getting appreciated for the same by her followers from the whole country.  

We caught up with Aarti Madan for an exclusive chat where she told us about her journey, the role of Facebook in boosting her growth and plans ahead.  

Q1. When did you start shooting food recipes? What gave you the idea?

Growing up, I always wanted to open a café where I could serve good food. Even as an advertising student, and later as an advertising professional, the desire to serve good food was always there. However, as I learned more about the F&B industry, I realised that not only does it require a lot of investment but there are other aspects such as licenses, permits, logistics, manpower etc., which I wasn’t ready for.

Around the same time, India was being swept over by a social media revolution and I thought if I can’t serve people good food then I can surely share my recipes and help them recreate the same magic in their own kitchen. And that’s how my journey began.

Q2.  You reach out to millions today with your recipes? Did you expect to be so big? What are your future plans?

Honestly, I always believed that I would garner a wide reach but the velocity with which my audience has grown over the past year has surprised me. I never knew that social media could change my life so radically in such a short span of time. The love and support that I get from people is unmatchable.

Thanks to the growth, even my husband has left his corporate job, and now we’re working together. The future plan is around diversifying the content. Also, e-learning is a great avenue for us to explore.

Q3. How instrumental has social media platform like Facebook been in your journey?

Facebook has been a monumental part of my journey. Being the largest social media platform in the World, it has given my content a tremendous reach and people from all over the world are trying out my recipes. I feel connected to the world through my recipes and it’s because of the platform provided by Facebook.

Q4. Take us through your day, right from conceiving a video idea to actually shooting it. What is the process?

My process begins with finding what people are looking for. So, it depends on which season we’re in, which festivals are around the corner, and what are the ongoing trends. I also track all the recipe requests that I receive via comments or DMs and try to incorporate them into my plan as much as possible.

Once I prepare the calendar, I start testing all the recipes and start perfecting them. Additionally, I look for ways to simplify them so that even a newbie can try them. After the recipe has been finalised, we shoot and edit them in a span of few days and go live immediately.

Q5. A recipe of yours you didn't expect to get so popular?

White sauce pasta. I used to take it to my office when I was working with an ad agency and my colleagues used to love it. So last year when the pandemic stopped all of us from going out to our favourite food joints, I thought of sharing my ‘White Sauce Pasta’ recipe with my audience. People loved the recipe and started tagging their friends and family members. It touched 1 million views in just a few days and today it has more than 17 million views.

Q6. A recipe video you wish had more likes and views?

I recently shared a detailed video on how to make Filter Coffee. I expected it would garner a lot of likes and views. Even though Filter Coffee sounds simple, there are a lot of things that influence its taste. I explained things like choosing the coffee blend, preparing the decoction, getting the perfect froth on top, etc., but it still didn’t become as popular as I had expected.

Q7. What are the challenges of being a social media content creator? Especially in your realm?

Today, there are thousands of food creators who are sharing recipes every day. The biggest challenge is to differentiate from them. Like why will someone who is searching for a pasta recipe come to watch my video and not someone else’s? So, creating your own niche is the most important factor.

Like in entertainment, creators have their own style but in food, the recipes are almost the same. How you make yourself stand out is what decides whether or not you have a strong community.

Q8. Your go-to recipe?

It has to be namak-ajwain paratha, topped with butter with aam ka achar on the side. Followed by garam-garam masala chai. I can have it every single day!

Q9. Who are your cooking inspirations?

I love Sanjeev Kapoor. As a kid, every Sunday I used to be glued to the TV and watch Khana Khazana. I believe he entered every Indian kitchen and made us fall in love with food. He made cooking easy and fun for all of us.

Q10. If we only had 10 minutes and basic ingredients, which recipe you would recommend us to cook?

Vegetable Masala Khichdi with a dollop of ghee on top, along with some raita and achar. Nothing can beat this wholesome Indian meal. It’s quick, healthy, and delicious.

Q11. The most useful cooking hack or tip that you would like to give a beginner

Always start with simple recipes if you’re a beginner. Once you get hold of them, you will build more confidence and will start loving the entire process of cooking. If you directly start with something that’s complicated and requires tons of ingredients then you might lose interest easily, especially if it doesn’t turn out the way you wanted.

Q12.  Some tips for creators who are starting out

Be consistent. No one starts off as the perfect content creator. As you consistently upload more content, you iron out your mistakes and become better over time. Consistency also sets the expectation right for your audience, so they’re aware when your video is going live and are eager to watch it. Another tip that I would like to share is to not lose hope. You will upload 99 videos and none of them work, but the 100th one may get a ton of views and reach. So don’t give up and keep creating content to the best of your abilities.