Puneeta Varma: Maple & Marigold

I love everything about Puneeta Varma. She is a foodie, blogger, world traveler, activist, and a game changer. Puneeta left her high powered marketing job to become a stay at home mom. That changed soon and today she blogs about food, family and brings a global vision and palate to cuisine which I love and admire about her. Puneeta talks about food like a purist with different layers of taste which I admire. When you get two foodies talking about food, umami happens.

Puneeta,  a pleasure, and honor to have a food blogger on my blog. Please tell my readers about yourself and your blog? What is your story?

I am a writer and mom of two based in Toronto. My blog MapleandMarigold.com is my love letter to India and Canada. Maple represents Canada and our life here, while marigold with its color and significance in Indian traditions represents my roots and heritage in India. I grew up in India and as a result of my dad’s career in the Indian army, we moved homes and cities frequently. That life of a nomad continued even after marriage. Shortly after my husband and I got together, we decided to move to Dubai. What started off as an adventure to explore living life outside of India saw us moving across the world from Delhi to the Middle East to Toronto then Calgary, and finally a few years ago back to Toronto. It’s been a lifetime of moving and Canada finally feels like home. We just may be here to stay.

On the way, we have had two kids, both of whom had their first plane rides when they were just a few weeks old. Today, at 13 and 8, they’ve accumulated more flying miles than many adults I know. People who knew me before the kids came along are shocked that I traded in my beloved and totally high-stress marketing career to be a stay-at-home mom. That didn’t last long when I started blogging and it opened the door to a brand new journey. Blogging helped me have flexibility and be around more for my kids. Through my writing and connecting with readers around the world, MapleandMarigold.com has opened my eyes and provided me with immense creative energy and entrepreneurial challenges.

Did blogging change you? How?

When I started writing my focus was on family, food, and wellness all with a multicultural flair. My life was about sharing ways to make life healthy, happy and delicious and that was reflected in my writing and on social media. Over the years through research and food writing I have become more invested in raising awareness of how important good food and nourishment was for us, our communities and the planet. My blogging journey has evolved the way I think and talk about food, and it has helped me understand how important it is to our very existence.

What is your opinion on good food? What is it?

Good food is about what tastes good and is good for us. But Jerry, food is about more than just flavor and nutrition, right?! It has to be.

Good food tastes good, yes, but it has to also be good for us and our community. It has to always be about more than just us.  Somewhere along the line, in this time of misinformation and overconsumption, we are making choices that are harmful to us and the planet. This became my motivation to start a new initiative, NourishbyNumbers.com. This is a social movement where people come together to demand change in the way we grow, raise, talk about and consume our food. Check out the hashtag #1000waystoNourish to follow along.

How important is homecooked food and eating meals together as a family to you?

On a scale of 1to 10, maybe a 24? I believe the heart of the family beats in the kitchen and making a homecooked meal for your family while it may be an old-fashioned concept, is so important. At the same time, I am not a fan of spending long hours in front of the stove– if there’s a shortcut I’ll find it and since I’m a blogger, I’ll even share it! Sunday evening meal prep, meal planning, grocery shopping with the meal plan in mind, those are all tips that work for my family and help us spend time together at the dinner table.

What is your favorite weeknight meal?

DIY Food. Sounds crazy I know but it’s the one way I know my kids feel some control over what they are eating, and at the same time are making choices that I am happy with. Let me explain!

DIY food is assembling your own dinner, choosing the condiments, how much, what flavor, soup or rice, etc. Think tacos or rice bowls (pho is popular with us). My kitchen is a little bit complicated and runs between food sensitivities, general pickiness and my need to have a side of green chilies with EVERYTHING, DIY works perfectly even on a crazy weeknight. Vietnamese style pho with tofu, rice noodles, bokchoy and crunchy peanuts is a good example, where I cook and cut up everything and the kids take it out to the table and pick and choose.  For tacos I make chicken and red beans, the kids chop the vegetables and lay it out.

Help me understand three ingredients you consciously avoid or eliminate even when the recipe calls for it?

I avoid wheat, dairy, and soy in my cooking as much as possible. I avoid the wheat for my own wellbeing, and I have found good-enough replacements for dairy and soy in most dishes to manage my kids’ allergies. Having said that, I do believe that the nutrition in a bowl of yogurt and the comfort I find a cup of milk at the end of a long day – those are just irreplaceable.

What three ingredients you love using in your recipes?

My cooking is real-world food. Even though I am a blogger, my food isn’t always Instagram-worthy or even pretty. In fact, if brown food was a category, I would probably ace it. I use real ingredients with herbs and spices that render big flavor. You’ll often find me chopping ginger, working with turmeric and coconut milk in my kitchen.

You do not like a particular dish at your favorite restaurant, what will you do?

I will micro-analyze it to death. My husband is quite used to seeing me chew slowly and work my way around trying to guess what exactly it is that I don’t like about the dish. If there is something actually wrong with the dish – burnt milk in the curry base, too much salt, undercooked, etc, I will mention it to the waiter. Staff at restaurants though have a hard enough job as it is and I don’t want to make it harder for them but if that cream in butter chicken is burnt, it has been left on the stove far too long and it deserves to be sent back!

What’s the one superpower wish you had?

Remove all the plastic in the world. When I was little, I used to dream about waving my hand and magically removing all the garbage on the planet. Sadly, magic doesn’t work, we have to actually work together to make it happen.

How important is food faith finance and family in your life?

My family is the most important to me and along with faith. Faith that we can all do better and be better in our lives. We have only a few years to have an impact and influence change and wouldn’t it be amazing if we just worked together for the good for all people?