“Cooking has allowed me to be creative in my own space.”

Vidya Chimata: “My love for cooking started from my love for eating. As a kid, I always would watch Food Network, and would always want to try so many different foods. As I grew older, I realized that making them at home would be so much more affordable and customizable. I got the urge to start cooking myself from using TikTok, after seeing so many young influencers the same age as me making four-course meals – I wanted to do the same. One of my personal favorite recipes was vegan chocolate cupcakes. Funny story, I actually ran out of eggs and had to make these for my culinary class, so last minute I had to find an eggless recipe – which happened to be vegan as well. They turned out so moist and perfectly sweet! I love strawberry-flavored sweets, so I decided to make a strawberry buttercream using leftover strawberry compote from a cheesecake I made. It turned out so amazing, and the flavors balanced each other so well!

I find almost all my recipes and inspirations from TikTok. Sometimes I’ll see a viral food on social media, and really want to create it myself at home. I usually then search TikTok for a recipe, because of how accessible it is. It’s so helpful that the videos are short, and being a very visual learner – watching videos works best for me. 

Cooking is something I enjoy because it allows me to use my creativity to the max and because it is so therapeutic and calming. I love being in the kitchen by myself, experimenting with different recipes. I also love cooking for others, and seeing the joy it brings them!”