Story Time

Welcome to the story of how it all started,

My love for cooking began at a very tender age. I’ve always loved food—never a fussy eater and endlessly curious about everything that went into making it. As a toddler, my favorite playtime was pretending to be a chef, using scraps to whip up something funny, and proudly making my sister taste my creations. My passion only grew as I pleaded with my aunties and mum to let me roll out rotis or to hand me some dough to make pitha.

Then came the day I cooked my first dish—dim bhuna—at the age of 9, heavily seasoned with turmeric, yet I relished every bite.

My culinary exploration continued, although I wasn’t allowed in the kitchen very often, only a few times a week, and only if I had finished all my homework and had been good at school. I started with safe dishes for beginners like snacks and noodles, not knowing this was all part of my culinary journey.

Fast forward to my teenage years; I was already cooking for 15 people at once. Coming from a big family, I learned great recipes from YouTube, my mum, and aunties. I would ponder deeply, and then create something new and even more exciting. I’d cook all night on chand raat and serve the food all day long on Eid. I truly loved cooking and sharing my food with others—it felt good and made me very happy.

Then, like many, I finished school and decided to move to Australia for higher studies. Maybe it’s a bit of a brag, but I was a good student and managed to move to Melbourne on a scholarship. Life took a turn, and as much as I enjoyed my independence, I realized that if I wanted a tough life, I had to be okay with working hard, missing my family, and accepting everything that came my way. I started cooking more and more traditional food as I missed home. It was tough juggling study and work and trying to make ends meet, as I decided not to take any help from my parents. I was starting from scratch.

Occasionally, I found time to cook for my friends and loved ones. Everyone at my university loved my food and me.

One night, just laying in bed, I thought, ‘Hey, I cook a lot and my food looks so good—I should have a portfolio to document all my meals.’ So, without overthinking, I immediately started an Instagram page. Being the ‘little cook’ to most of my friends and acquaintances back then, that’s where the name came from. I signed up as ‘Your Lil Cook’ in 2019. Initially, I wasn’t sharing recipes or videos, nor was I regular. It was just whenever I cooked and had some time to take pictures. I still remember hitting my first 700 followers, then 5000, and then 100,000 and more.

I was still in uni when COVID hit. Life was tough. No work, no school, no family to be with. I cooked a lot with whatever savings I had and shared with my housemates and my sister. That’s when I realized I was really good at this, and I enjoyed working in the hospitality industry. So, deep down, I decided I wanted to go to culinary school, but I didn’t dare to drop out or disappoint my parents. But I did—I dropped out immediately after and decided to pursue my dreams. Trust me, it wasn’t easy, but it felt like a smooth road, and I was just following my heart.

I got every job I applied for since then. Every chef I worked with loved me. Every employer appreciated me. I was passionate about food, cooking, and everything related to it, and it was visible to others. My life was perfect. At 22, I was a young chef, passionate about what I did. I was finally happy and successful.

Everything changed when my mum passed away out of nowhere. My whole world collapsed. I left everything behind and went back to Bangladesh to be with my family. I stayed there for 6 months, and during that time, all I thought about was how I hadn’t spent enough time with my mum, how I hadn’t learned enough from her. I would often cry, thinking how everyone would forget our family traditions and traditional food if I didn’t learn them and pass them down—since nobody else in my family cooks or likes to cook.

One morning, I woke up and went to my fuppi (aunt), bawling my eyes out, and asked, ‘Could you please teach me everything you know in the next couple of months that I’m here? I have a feeling one day you’re gonna die too, and I will regret it forever if I didn’t learn my favorite dishes that you cook for me.’ That’s where my true love for my own food, my own cuisine comes from. The more I learned from her, the more I heard all the stories behind it, the more I fell in love.

I came back to Melbourne with a lot more confidence and a dream in my heart that I didn’t want to work for anyone anymore—I wanted to work with my own cuisine and represent my own culture.

I had quite a lot of savings from my previous jobs and private cheffing, so I decided to quit and open my own small restaurant where food would feel like home. Later, I went all out, just like I always do, and opened a restaurant in Melbourne, which was less of a project and more of a baby to me. From decor to menu to deciding the plates and service—everything was done by me. My vision came alive a few months after, and Melbourne people had a beautiful cozy place to come to for some delicious Bangladeshi food and a good time over cha and nashta.

I ran ‘Your Lil Cook’ restaurant and bar for one year before I started having health issues, and a lot of mental health problems started seeping in. There was a lot of responsibility with no support or help. I cooked, I managed, I was like a superwoman. It was a hard decision to make, but I decided to take a break and focus on my health. I had to prioritize myself because I had bigger things to achieve. I continued my journey with cooking, creating, and growing my knowledge.

It’s 2024. I’m a proud chef, a recipe developer, a food blogger, and a content creator whose dream is to share Bangladeshi cuisine and its glory to all. Inspire others to work with our own food, and appreciate our food culture. And so we too can have our own professional chefs specialized in Bangladeshi cuisine and most importantly proudly own Bangladeshi restaurant businesses.

I dream of writing books about our food heritage and history. I dream of inspiring young generations to learn to appreciate the food our ancestors passed down to us, our rich traditions, and lastly to learn basic cooking skills to survive (cooking is not a gender role).

If you’ve read this long, I just want to say I love and appreciate you for putting your time into reading about my story. I hope this inspired you, and I hope whatever you do, it makes you happy and fulfilled at the end of the day.

With love,
Kumkum