Indian Cooking

Bringing people together.

Dr. Bidisha Nag, founder, owner, and instructor at Create Your Curry draws inspiration from her family and friends, and from her diverse and interesting life experiences. Her love for food, travel, and culture developed as a child when she often sailed with her marine engineer father, mother, and sister to faraway lands. It also came from her family where radical hospitality was practiced and everyone—friends, family, and strangers—were welcomed with open arms. 

It seemed only natural that as an immigrant woman in the United States, Bidisha would pursue her doctoral studies in Cultural Geography. Through her PhD dissertation she was able to connect with and explore the journeys of female migrants from India, finding hope and voices from stories “across the black waters,” which she wove with a deft understanding of the ambivalence of acculturation and assimilation.  

She enthusiastically embraced the new experiences, new sights, and, of course, the new food, while remaining a proud advocate of her own culture and traditions. As in her childhood home, in her new home too, old and new friends and acquaintances of varying ages, genders, races, and ethnicities were welcomed generously to savor the warmth of the Nags’ hospitality and nourishing, healthy, home-cooked food.  

Bidisha is a proud believer of the fact that sharing food is a way to build relationships and bridge differences. Create Your Curry is the platform she created to share the traditions and cultural aspects of Indian food as a means to bridge differences and dispel the fear of the unknown. Food, the “single great unifier” of cultures not only feeds the body but also the soul. Create Your Curry “unifies” people from diverse walks of life, building relationships and building community, one meal at a time. 

Through Create Your Curry, Bidisha demystifies Indian cooking by sharing her knowledge of recipes and cooking methods and blending her techniques with fresh, locally sourced western ingredients to create meals that are healthy and tasty. Be it comfort food, or food for celebrations, be it daily food, or food for special occasions, there is something for everyone at Create Your Curry. 

Bidisha and Create Your Curry have been featured in Columbus Underground, The OSU Lantern, Apple Podcast on Culinary Diplomacy, Radio Cherry Bombe and Dublin Life.