056: Kankana Saxena | Playful Cooking

Kankana Saxena is a self-taught food photographer, stylist and recipe developer. Her debut cookbook, Taste of Eastern India, is now available worldwide. Originally from Bengal, India, Kankana currently lives in California with her husband and son.

Kankana Saxena‘s craving for food started while she was traveling a lot for her job and so, at a much later stage in life than most bloggers. Visiting those many different places, meeting new people, eating together with them and sharing stories worked some kind of magic on her appetite. Eventually, she surprised herself and her family when she realized that cooking was the stress-buster she was looking for!

Kankana’s Playful Cooking blog came into existence eight years ago. She had moved to US after marrying the love of her life. Back then, her visa didn’t allow her to work. But this turned out to be a blessing in disguise because that’s how the blog started. Since then, the blog has been featured on several websites including Saveur, Huffington Post Taste, BuzzFeed Food, The Kitchn and eHow.

Kankana also collaborates with different food brands to create recipes and photograph their products.

Kankana’s blog covers a mix of cuisines from all around the world but her native Bengali cuisine has always been closest to her heart. Through her cookbook, Taste of Eastern India, she shares various Bengali dishes, from street food to daily meals and from the most popular to some long-lost dishes. She hopes to bring more awareness to this vibrant cuisine through her book!

Kankana Saxena Show Notes

Contact:

Playful Cooking
Portfolio
Pinterest
Instagram
Facebook

Books:
This post contains affiliate links, which means I get a small commission, at no additional cost to you, if you click the link and buy something . You can read my disclosure here.

Taste of Eastern India – Kankana Saxena
The Flavor Bible – Karen Page & Andrew Dornenburg
Bombay – Cyrus Todiwala

Camera & Lenses:

Canon Mark II
50 mm f/1.4
24 -70 mm f/2.8

Kitchen Favorite:

Dutch Oven

Questions:

What did you do before you became a food blogger?
What did you go to school for?
Why did you start flood blogging?
Was it scary leaving your homeland and moving to the US?
When did you start your blog?
What was it called?
Did you lose any readership when you went from Sunshine and Smiles to Playful Cooking?
—Did it take a change in mindset too to let go of the people that you lost?
When you first started, how many times a week did you publish a post?
How many do you post now?
What day did you decide to post?
How many drafts do you have in place to be published right now?
Do you have anyone that helps you wit the blog?
Once you started, how long did it take you to make money?
From start to finish, how long does it take you to photograph a recipe?
What is the hardest thing you find about blogging?
Do you belong to any FB social media sharing groups?
What do you love about blogging?
Do you have a favorite social media platform?
Is there any advice that someone gave you that you wish you had heeded?
Can you explain how you got your cookbook deal?
What do you use for backgrounds or backdrop?
Do you use natural light or artificial?
What kind of camera do you have?
What is your favorite lens?
What is your biggest food failure?
What is your favorite cuisine to eat?
What would be your last meal?
What can’t you live without in your kitchen?
Do you have a favorite cookbook?
Can you explain the difference between Bengali and Indian food?