The creators of this blog:

1. Tushar Trivedi graduated with Chemistry/Physics from St. Xaviers College and post-graduated from the Institute of Chemical Technology (ICT), Mumbai – formerly UDCT – specializing in Food Technology. There were several academic distinctions. This was followed by over four decades of quality professional experience in  processing and managing, including 7 years as the Head of a Manufacturing Unit. Conversion of defunct batch deodorisers into efficient working ones, conversion of an old batch plant with mismactching sequential stage capacities into a continuous plant, rationalization of elaborate and haphazzard piping system into a neat and efficient one, launch of ‘vanaspati’ into tetrabricks, a project to convert a bought-out edible oil refinery into a larger vanaspati plant and its conversion into a staedy state mfg plant were some of the highlights.

 During the 20 years of following independent consulting, the main contribution was creation of a 60 TPD refinery from scratch with all the responsibilities was a milestone. It had several distinguishing features in terms of plant selection, building in ‘expandability’, layout, operating ease and efficiency and product quality. As planned, later took up doubling of the capacity with minimal downtime and expense. General management, HR management, mfg management, efficiency focus and team building were the running theme.

A relatively rare case of being an innovative, foodie food technologist he has also collaborated with his wife Preeti in the kitchen for the last 20 years. A firm believer in ‘kitchen is the pilot plant’ and cooking is ‘domestic food processing’, he has combined food science and technology with ciulinery art. The result has been a series of innovations in domestic food processing and product development, with emphasis on material, energy and time efficiencies. Natural interest in human anatomy and physiology and proximity to  medical professionals all his life have helped develop insights in what food does and can do for health. Several differentiated health-foods on the ‘lab’ scale have been the result, with broad scale-up details worked out from the aforesaid plant scale experience. He will be the writer of all the blog posts and nothing will be derived from ‘open sources’; this blog is straight from him – this is who he is.

2. Preeti Trivedi is Tushar’s wife and a post-graduate chemist with a good academic record. Since marriage, for the last 40+ years, she has been a full time home-maker with focus on her family’s health and happiness. As Tushar’s collaborator in the lab called her kitchen, she sterilized glass bottles some 20 years ago and has, since then, (i) frozen mango and strawberry slices and pulp, versions of Shrikhand,   tomato puree’, ginger extract, lemon juice, gooseberry juice, shelled peas and green beans, (ii) made highly differentiated and value-added Chyavanprash and rose syrup and her own versions of individual spice powders, compounded spice powders (like multi-purpose garam masala and immunity boosting kahwa masala) and tomato ketchup, (iii) made dehydrated bitter guard (karela), fenugreek leaves (methi), gooseberry, ginger (sonth), mint leaves (pudina) and rose petals at home using minimal energy and with miniumal wastage and  (iv) steadfastly avoided artificial preservatives, colours and flavours. On the anvil: a nutritive tomato ketchup substitute without added sugar, salt and preservatives and, eventually,  a ‘cocoay’ bar product to challenge the increasingly expensive moulded chocolates. 

Her family has started the day with lemon water/gooseberry juice laced with a pinch of fenugreek seed powder for over 6 years and Tushar’s gout has vanished; he has no ‘mainstream’ conditions like hypertension and diabetes. She has been incorporating their specially formulated and processed ‘powder’ in all her cooking for over a year and her family has enjoyed experientially better gut health and freedom from disease.  Serum glucose lelevels have dropped and there is no health event on the horizon. She is particularly proud of their development of a new way of cooking mixed vegetables with the aforesaid powder into a juice so loaded with benefits that an entire blog-post is planned on it.

3. Shubhra Trivedi is Preeti and Tushar’s daughter, a total fitness enthusiast and confirms having been a beneficiary of her parents’ food innovations. She is a Chemical Engineer from the Nirma University with distinction and holds the reputed CFA (USA) Charter. She has 14 years of professional experience in the areas of Specialty Chemicals and Banking. She helps out with product development whenever possible but her main contribution is the conversion of all the written text into this blog as you experience it along with its maintenance. 

4. Ananya Trivedi, after graduation and 2 years’ quality engg. experience in India, left for the USA to pursue MS in Electrical and Computer Engg. at University of Michigan, Ann Arbor in August 2017.  After a 2.5 year stint as a Software Engineer at a reputed car automation company in the US (post MS), he has been pursuing PhD in Robotics enabled by AI in the US since January 2022. He recently presented a research paper and two ‘workshop papers’ at an international conference in Japan. A fitness enthusiast (daily 100 pushups are a part of routine), he contributes to this blog thru his experience of writing research papers and of American cooking ingredients and processed foods. Relatively deprived of his family’s ‘health and happiness innovations’, he still enjoys his mother’s special spice powders in the US.