They met at a food writer’s table years back. He had a corporate job and was a food blogger in the evenings,  she was a renewable energy expert and a food researcher. They get married soon and started ForkTales Social Tables. An almost secret enterprise where friends and friends of friends came home to sample their ideas and experiments. A friend who became family joined in and the evenings were planned. The tables were based on little known themes, the discussions almost academic that degenerated as the night progressed.

The food ranged from mango recipes from Tamil Sangam literature to eleven varieties of heirloom rice in one meal to tracing 5000 years of Indian food history via ingredients and stories of traders and invaders. Soon, they were inviting people over for ritual participation in Kasundi making and pithe making for poush parbon. In between, they explored heretic ideas such as non-vegetarian food served to mother goddesses in East India. Across two years and some 20 pop-ups, ForkTales had a life of its own. Somewhere during the pop-ups, they had tied up with a restaurant specialising in food from Kerala to develop a Kerala- Bengal fusion menu. The pop-up lasted two evenings and 50 guests turned up for the set menu.

ForkTales’ first event outside was in a vineyard near Bangalore called Soma Bangalore. The theme and food was inspired by Shiva and Parvati’s wedding. It was a modern take on ancient food and paired with wine. The food was cooked by ForkTales and plated by team from Taj Bangalore. For this table of 25, 17 guests flew down from Delhi. Till date, it remains one of the most ambitious and lavish pop-ups in India.

Next, they booked a heritage property inside tea gardens in Jorhat, Assam. They developed a menu of planters’ food from the British era based on the diary entries of her 96 year old grandmother who grew up in a tea garden. Only 12 people are taken on the trip that tells them about the history, politics and culture of the tea gardens.

Now, they are exploring new destinations, new themes and also working on a book of their own. ForkTales is not a secret enterprise anymore but its doors will open to those who seek it.

Join us for the plantation food trip to the tea gardens of Assam in October. The details of the event are here.