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Nandita Godbole
Nandita Godbole is a food-writer and author based in Atlanta, Georgia. She has cultivated a global audience of readers and food enthusiasts who enjoy simple, holistic and easy Indian meals. Nandita uses her blog, dining events, speaking engagements, classes, and lectures to showcase the everyday aspects of the Indian food and culture, as well as the experiences of an immigrant, spouse, and parent. She has extensively used crowdfunding to raise the capital for her many books: A Dozen Ways to Celebrate: Twelve Complete Decadent Indian Feasts for the Culinary Indulgent (2014); Crack the Code: Cook any Indian Meal with Confidence, Foreword by Faye Levy, Second Edition (2016); Not For You: Family Narratives of Denial & Comfort Foods, Foreword by Neela Paniz, Book One (2017) and Book Two (2018); and Roti: Easy Indian Breads & Sides, Second Edition (2018).

Early Life and Personal
Nandita’s maternal grandfather owned a restaurant in Mumbai in the late 1950’s, and food was a big part of their home but Nandita was not always a food writer. She grew up in Mumbai, India, where she graduated from Bombay University in 1994 with a Masters in Botany, specializing in Pharmacognosy, Economic Botany, and Taxonomy. As a botany student, Nandita was also an active member of the Bombay Natural History Society (BNHS). She went on to work briefly as a botany lecturer for Mithibai College in Vile Parle, under the guidance of late Prof. V. M. Kumar, often serving as the illustrator for her academic publications.

Although she had applied for Ph.D. studies with BNHS with Prof. (Mr.) Almeida, in 1995, Nandita chanced on securing admission into the Master’s program in Landscape Architecture at The University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign. During her time studying landscape architecture, of the numerous graduate assistantships she held, two were of particular note. The first was when she worked for the Program for the Study of Religion, where she helped teach the essentials of Hinduism, Buddhism and other old-world religions as part of Religious Studies 101 under the astute guidance of Professor Rajeshwari Pandharipande. Upon completion of that assignment, she worked for the Robert Allerton Parks and Conference Center in Monticello, IL where she created several publications for Allerton Park under its then director, Mr. Jerrold W. Soesbe, FASLA.

Nandita moved to Ann Arbor, Michigan after she married fellow landscape architect R. Umashankar, and worked for a short while as a landscape architect (2000-2001). During this time, she also obtained a certification in wetland delineation from the Matthaei Botanical Gardens, and trained to become a volunteer docent.

In the post 9/11 era, Nandita switched gears into teaching Indian cooking for the Adult Enrichment Programs at the Ann Arbor Community Recreation and Education. Here, she established the brand “Curry Cravings,” representing an exploration of the multifaceted Indian cuisine.

Nandita and her family moved to Atlanta, Georgia in 2005, where she once again worked as a landscape architect and graphic designer, and continued to teach Indian cooking and host private events in her spare time. When her husband’s job took him to California in 2010, she only took her work to metro Los Angeles. Nandita has since become part of the food scene in Los Angeles.

Their bi-coastal life gave Nandita an opportunity to explore book publishing. In 2014, Nandita successfully crowdfunded her first book, and has since produced several titles that have included cookbooks, techniques books, and food fiction.

Given her experience as a graphic designer / print designer, Nandita multi-tasks as the writer, food-photographer, book designer and publisher of own books. Her shipping records indicate that these books have reached more than 35 countries, and has readers in all fifty states of the USA.

Nandita’s multi-faceted professional background and entrepreneurial ventures have paved the way for invitations to not only teach Indian cooking at illustrious institutions, but speak at career fairs, to professional development groups, and other food-related events. She occasionally serves as a reviewer for annual conference related submissions for the professional organization edra: Environmental Design & Research Association.

Awards and recognition
Nominee, Georgia Author of the Year Award, for ‘Not For You: Family Narratives of Denial & Comfort Foods’, Book One (2017)

Graduate Student Commendation, ASLA National Students Awards for the Masters’ Thesis: Understanding Social Dynamics in Neighborhood Parks in Bombay, India (2003).

Second Place, Masters’ in Botany, The Bombay University (1994)

Alumni Award, Mithibai College, The Bombay University (1994)

Media
Nandita’s newest food fiction: “Not For You: Family Narratives of Denial And Comfort Foods” appeared twice on NBC Asian America. In 2016, even before it was published, Nandita shared how mixed heritage subtly influenced the food in her family. In 2018, she was interviewed again, when she launched the book on International Women's Day, 2018, as a book dedicated to exploring how family dynamics shapes comfort food choices.

Nandita was also featured on the Road Warrior Segment of Fox News (Atlanta), in July of 2010.

Nandita’s crowdfunding campaigns have been frequently featured by Kickstarter under “Projects We Love,” and she is often approached to share her entrepreneurial experiences in using crowdfunding with business schools.

She actively speaks at various venues, a few of them are listed below.

2019 (upcoming)

 * The Culture of Food from India: The Place of Comfort Foods (Invited Speaker, OSHER, University of California Riverside)

2018

 * Layered Culinary Heritage (Upcoming, Invited TEDx Speaker, University of California Riverside)
 * Fearless Indian Cuisine (Invited Presenter, Orange County Fair, Costa Mesa, California)
 * Spices for Health (Invited Speaker, Ross Business School, University of Michigan)
 * Comfort Foods in Indian Cuisine (Invited Chef, Melissa’s World Produce, California)
 * Taste of Home: Authentic Indian Comfort Food on Campus (Guest Instructor, University of California Riverside)

2017

 * Ancient Cuisines: Modern Interpretations (Invited Speaker at Cultural Historians of Southern California’s Monthly Lecture Series, Los Angeles)
 * Comfort Foods & Us (Invited Speaker at Cultural Historians of Southern California’s Monthly Lecture Series, San Diego, CA)

2016

 * Lunch with The Chef (Cookbook Panelist, Second Annual Milton Literary Festival, Milton, GA)
 * Your Passion Project: You Can Dream It, But Can You Pay for It? (Panelist, International Association of Culinary Professionals 2016 Annual Conference, I, Los Angeles, CA)
 * Layering Spices & Flavors: The Basics of Indian Cuisine (Invited Guest Speaker, Le Cordon Bleu, Pasadena, CA)
 * Indian Breads (Invited Guest Chef, Le Cordon Bleu, Pasadena, CA)

2015


 * Layering Spices & Flavors: The Basics of Indian Cuisine (Invited Chef, Melissa’s World Produce, California)
 * The Hot New Genre of Food Writing (Invited Panelist, Indo-American Arts Council’s Second Annual Literary Festival, NYC, with chefs & authors: Suvir Saran, Vikas Khanna, and Saransh Goila)
 * Beyond the Degree: Shaping Your Future (Invited Guest Speaker, Career Guidance, Mithibai College, Mumbai)
 * Elements of Landscape Design (Invited Guest Lecturer, HR College, Mumbai)

2013

 * Hinduism & The Elements of Living Culture (Invited Guest Speaker, Chattahoochee Technical College, Atlanta)

2005

 * The Making of an Immigrant Home: Representation and Improvisation of Inherited Cultural Landscapes in Immigrant Homes (Invited Speaker, Partners for Urban Knowledge, Action and Research (PUKAR), Mumbai, India)
 * Title needed (Invited Panelist ~ Environmental Design and Research Association Conference, edra36, Vancouver, Canada)

2004

 * Experiencing the Sacred Through the Temporal: Seeking Boundaries and Interpreting the Mundane (Invited Panelist & Moderator: Environmental Design and Research Association Conference, edra35, Albuquerque, NM, pp.100-101)

1998

 * Bombay to Mumbai: Changing Landscape Perceptions (Invited Speaker, The Brown Bag Lecture Series, The Program in South Asian and Middle Eastern Studies, The University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign)

Essays & Articles
Nandita regularly contributes food-pieces, fiction, and personal essays for Atlanta-based Khabar Magazine, and has shared her work via The Bangalore Review (upcoming), Brown Girl Magazine, Wear Your Voices, Huffington Post Blog (India & USA), Times of Israel, Eating Rules, Entrepreneurial Chef, Planetizen, and others.

Select reviews:

 * A few of her projects are reviewed here:
 * Not For You – Where there is a beautiful story woven around food, Avatans Kumar (My IndMakers)
 * The Kings of Kickstarter XXVIII (Nubi Magazine)
 * Cracking the code to healthy elegant Indian cooking, Linda Kissam (examiner.com)
 * Illuminating Indian cuisine, Faye Levy (The Jerusalem Post)
 * Not For You, Linda Kissam and Adrianne Morrison (Pacific Northwest Tourist)

Interviews:

 * Nandita is frequently interviewed for her writing process, publishing experiences or perspective on Indian food.
 * Author interview, by Kalyani Deshpande
 * Audio interview, North Avenue Lounge, WREK Radio
 * Read Between the Racism: The Serious Lack of Diversity in Book Publishing (Broadly)
 * Super-commuters soar despite heroic schedules (Atlanta Business Chronicle)
 * Indian Supper Clubs Tickle the American Palette (The Hindustan Times, New Delhi, India)
 * Beetroot Raita (The Sunday Guardian, New Delhi, India)
 * Writer Nandita Godbole Talks to IWB about Curry Cravings, Comfort Foods, & Denial, Indian Woman's’ Blog (Jaipur)
 * Vegetarianism & Traditional Cooking: A Fad? (Little India Magazine)
 * The Indie Authors Guide to Organizing Author Events, Alex Palmer (Publishers Weekly)
 * Family Favorites, Kristen Castillo (Creators Syndicate)
 * Ingredients of a Woman (Profile by author Rona Simmons)
 * Unwritten Memoirs: 23 memoirs that haven’t been written (and totally should be), Ben Kassoy, (ReadItForward.com)
 * Cookbook Author Nandita Godbole Comes to SoCal, Mansi Motwani (India Journal)
 * Nandita routinely publishes articles on LinkedIn as well, from content generation for microbusinesses, marketing ideas for small businesses, and the experience of crowdfunding.

Publications

 * A Dozen Ways to Celebrate: Twelve Complete Decadent Indian Feasts for the Culinary Indulgent (2014) ISBN: 978-1-940957-12-8
 * Crack the Code: Cook Any Indian Meal With Confidence, Second Edition, Foreword by Faye Levy (2016) ISBN: 978-1-940957-08-1
 * Not For You: Family Narratives of Denial & Comfort Foods, Foreword by Neela Paniz, Book One (2017): ISBN: 978-1-940957-14-2, Book Two (2018): ISBN: 978-1-940957-15-9
 * Roti: Easy Indian Bread & Sides (2018, upcoming, ISBN: 978-1-940957-18-0)

Select External Links:

 * Audio interview, North Avenue Lounge, WREK Radio
 * How One Writer Started a Cookbook and Discovered Her Indian Jewish Heritage
 * Chef explores family narratives and comfort food through new book
 * Articles in Khabar Magazine
 * Illuminating Indian cuisine, Faye Levy
 * Not For You, Linda Kissam and Adrianne Morrison (Pacific Northwest Tourist)
 * Not For You – Where there is a beautiful story woven around food, Avatans Kumar (My IndMakers)
 * Author interview, by Kalyani Deshpande
 * Read Between the Racism: The Serious Lack of Diversity in Book Publishing (Broadly)


 * Super-commuters soar despite heroic schedules (Atlanta Business Chronicle)
 * Writer Nandita Godbole Talks to IWB about Curry Cravings, Comfort Foods, & Denial, Indian Woman's’ Blog (Jaipur)
 * Vegetarianism & Traditional Cooking: A Fad? (Little India Magazine)
 * The Indie Authors Guide to Organizing Author Events, Alex Palmer (Publishers Weekly)
 * Family Favorites, Kristen Castillo (Creators Syndicate)
 * Ingredients of a Woman (Profile by author Rona Simmons)
 * Unwritten Memoirs: 23 memoirs that haven’t been written (and totally should be), Ben Kassoy, (ReadItForward.com)
 * Cookbook Author Nandita Godbole Comes to SoCal, Mansi Motwani (India Journal)
 * Lies My Papa Told Me (Brown Girl Magazine)
 * The ‘Isms’ of an Immigrants’ Diwali (Wear Your Voices Magazine)
 * A Backyard Battle: Trials of a Garden-Variety NIMBY (Planetizen)
 * Rethinking Atlanta's Green Space (Planetizen)