Isn’t it funny how some seemingly insignificant things have a way of making a profound impact on our lives? Allow me to share an important instance while I was flying from London to Paris.

Give good vibes, get good vibes while in-flight

It was May 2019, and I was bubbling with excitement on an EasyJet flight from London Gatwick to Paris CDG. I’d recently moved back to Mumbai after living in San Francisco for several years, having recently quit my job as manager at Candytopia. You see, I’d specialized in entrepreneurship while pursuing a Master’s in International Business, and I was ready to follow my decade-long dream of becoming a food designer – and I was newly appointed as the Food and Space Correspondent for the reputed Dutch Institute of Food and Design *pinch me*.

Let me explain. While I excelled academically at the Academy of Architecture, I truly always wanted to work with food. But in 2012, the only option I thought I had in this case was to work in a kitchen, as a cook. With business acumen and some upfront money, I could venture into becoming a Restaurateur. I had neither.

In the summer of my 3rd year at Architecture school, I decided that I’d have enough. So, I interned at the Pastry kitchen of the Sassy Spoon in Mumbai. Long story short, it wasn’t for me – I lasted all of four-and-a-half hours. Embarrassing, yes. So much for following my passion. So in June, I obediently went back to Architecture school.

When I left for my apprenticeship at a boutique architecture firm in San Francisco towards the end of that year, I experienced a life-changing journey. I was away from home, from friends, from family, and had the time to really discover myself, be independent and grow. Something I did discover was that my “passion” still burned within me. I cooked for myself, ate out at some of the coolest places in San Francisco, worked on hotel/restaurant projects, worked out, and extensively developed my architectural dissertation and experimental research “Gastronomy and Architecture: Multisensory Experiences” – which culminated in an Edible Architecture presentation.

Back to on board and into the pages of the magazine

You see, I always believed that my location was a disadvantage – If I wanted to make it big in Food Design, I just had to work in Spain, Italy, the Netherlands, or the UK. India and the US just didn’t understand the kind of food design I wanted to practice. So when my dad connected me to a friend who produces his own Champagne in France, I had my suitcase packed and my savings ready to spend in order to become a trained sommelier *MORE PLEASE*.

It’s a short flight, just slightly over 1 hour. And obviously there’s no digital inflight entertainment. So when the glistening egg yolk on the cover of EasyJet’s in-flight magazine met my eyes, I was more than happy to glance through it. If you’ve followed my page on Instagram, this should make complete sense to you. Sugar + Space = Food + Architecture = Things I ate in beautiful places as I travelled. So when I turned to page 18 of EasyJet’s TRAVELLER magazine and saw this, my heart was raaaaaacing. Immediately followed ALL the accounts.

 

As I continued to read through the pages, and tried to level my excitement to publicly acceptable levels I discovered Carolien Niebling’s take on Sausages of the Future, How Pici pasta is saving a whole village in Tuscany and Why most DJs are really into food.
”Mesdames et messieurs, nous commençons notre descente.“  It was time to land. And then I came across this:

 

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Love & Lollipops,
Jashan

P.S. – I’m all set to launch my brand new course on Future FoodTech. If you’re curious about How Technology Has Taken Over Our Food Systems and how this Affects Our Eating Habits, then you might want to check it out.

P.P.S. I’d love to hear what you think about the ideas I share – just comment below.