A Peek into the World of Food Blogging -
In Conversation With “Theetapandarams”!
Take a few well shot pictures, add a dash of wonderfully sincere reviews, and top it off with a side of sublime passion for food — and we have the page of “Theetapandarams”! (@theetapandarams ).
With over 16K followers, the engineering students Allen Sunny and Aman Heider have definitely made an impact on the food blogging market, leading many to happy content tummies and wonderful food experiences.
In a world where food blogs are in every corner, what does it take to really stand out?
Here with us to talk about his experience with “Theetapandarams”, one of Kochi’s favourite food blogging pages, we have Aman Heider- a fourth year Engineering student, event manager, RedBull brand manager, and one of the two founders of the page!
Hi! It’s great to have you here! So first up, Theetapandarams is a great name! What made you guys decide on it?
It’s a pretty simple story, actually. Back when college first started, Allen, my partner in the venture, and I had a group — and we were the ones who ate the most in it. We used to hog all the time!
One day he was like “Buddy, why don’t we start a food blog? Like, take and post photos for self satisfaction, just to know that we’ve gone to these places.”
So I was like yeah, why not! It’s not like we had much to do anyway — this was second year college.
We eventually ended up forgetting it. So one day, I randomly thought of it, and asked “Bro, what happened to our blog?”
He immediately said “First give me a name, and then we’ll start it right now.”
So, see, Theetapandarams was something people, especially our close friends, described us as- because we ate that much. So it stuck!
It came out pretty randomly, but he immediately made a gmail account, an instagram account, and there it began.
That’s a really cute backstory! Did you guys expect the page to get so big, with the amount of followers it did?
Oh honestly, no. It began initially with no editing involved, no captions, nothing. We posted around 10 photos and made all our friends follow it — 150 followers in the first 2 weeks. That was it! And we thought it would reach max 500 and all.
Then, I slowly started writing captions. First it used to only be the names of the food items, then I started giving honest opinions about what it was, where you get it, how good it is, certain specifications and everything. That, maybe, caught on — because people like honest opinions, that’s what I’ve understood.
We then started editing our pictures — we both take good quality pictures, in terms of food.
So it was gradual, and we never expected this much. We got a lot of support from our friends too.
Yeah, I can imagine. And that’s what sets you guys apart — the pictures and the really really honest opinions. You guys definitely don’t hold back on that!
Definitely. I don’t see the point in taking photos and not giving honest reviews. Even if a restaurant calls us for a tasting session, which is basically free food, I obviously don’t eat and then randomly complain about it, because then it would be pointless for them! They call us to know how the food is and for the improvements — so even if I don’t like something, I make sure I tell them, like — these are the faults, if you could make this better, it would be amazing. And all the items that I really really like, I definitely post those. I don’t post the negative ones, I’d give them a chance to improve, because they called us for the session.
Yeah, that makes sense. Have you ever faced backlash, though, for the bad reviews you’ve given?
No no, but we’ve had restaurants call us. We had a very small experience at a particular restaurant. The food was alright, but the service was really messed up. That ended up being a bad review, and I tagged the place.
But honestly though, the branch (manager?) was really amazing. He emailed us, called us up, apologized, and called us in for a tasting session, which was very nice! Because in the end, if they want to improve, that’s really what it’s all about.
So technically that was like, the opposite of a backlash!
Yeah! We’ve never really gotten backlash backlash as such.
Maybe this one time, I said a particular juice brand did not live up to its hype, and the owner’s son and friends got mad and started creating a fuss on the post. We didn’t really pay much attention to it, but our friends were there to back us up through it.
But now the owner of this chain is a good friend of mine!
Wow, those tables turned! Okay, so. What’s your favourite food related experience?
In general or with Theertapandarams?
In general, it’s really hard to say. I’ve been a foodie all my life and food just brings me happiness, so any experience with food is an amazing experience.
And if you’re talking about Theetapandarams, I would say our best experience so far has been Hyatt. We got a tasting session there, and that’s definitely been a proper benchmark! The feeling that we’ve reached it — it’s a good feeling.
These tasting sessions sound like fun!
It’s a lot of fun. The whole menu is basically at your mercy. They bring in all their suggested food items, and then we get to pick too. It’s definitely a very good way to get fat, though. But it’s a great experience! Who doesn’t like free food?
So, amidst all this, how much do you end up going out?
See, that’s the thing. During second year, we used to put in a lot of effort to go out and put content into the page. But after some time, with my part time job and all that, we got a little busy. We don’t really go together anymore, unless it’s a tasting session. For casual outings, we just never forget to take pictures. We don’t go there with the intent to improve the page — we go there as a foodie and to enjoy the food, and that definitely helps Theetapandarams. It’s that mindset.
Have you ever considered being a food critic in the future?
Nope, never a food critic.
The food industry, however, is my endgame. Whenever I go to a restaurant and try different food, I keep thinking of ways I could market it better. After going to a lot of places, you begin to understand what makes people go there, or what you could do to make something better.
Writing reviews for me is mostly a hobby, I like writing. But no, not as a food critic.
There are many things I’d love to bring to Kochi- I’d like to start a franchise. It’s a long shot, but it’s definitely a dream.
Can’t wait for it! What would your restaurant be like, ideally?
I would want to start off with something mainstream, like Shawarma, for example. It’s basic, but it’s always sold out. It would be nice to gain experience before taking risks. Invest a little, and then innovate. Bring in new food experiences gradually.
Do you personally enjoy cooking? What’s your favourite meal to cook?
I’m not home much, so I don’t generally have time for cooking. Cooking is something I want to start properly soon — if you’re going into the restaurant field, you need to know a thing or two about cooking.
Allen does it more — he loves making shakes. Allen is a big time foodie — food is his life! He’s purely in love with it.
So the both of you getting to work together on Theetapandarams must be really great.
Definitely. He has a lot of passion for this. When I get busy and the page gets inactive, he’s usually the one who brings us back on track. He keeps reminding me that hey, this is something we’ve created, that we’ve brought in, so we should keep working on it.
And Allen is a traveler, so he loves to travel for food too — he goes to Calicut to try something and comes back! He gives me all my main suggestions.
That’s so nice! But travelling is hard now. How did the lockdown affect your page? Do you manage to keep it active?
No, it’s been a little inactive lately. Like, Quarantine doesn’t seem like the right time to post pictures. Loads of people are sitting at home, and I don’t want to make them crave food. I initially had an instagram poll to ask my followers if they want food pictures — 60% said no. So I was like okay teekh hein, peace. Let’s leave it at that. Let Quarantine get over and I’ll try to double the frequency of our posts.
So is there generally a lot of interaction with the audience involved?
Through the page, definitely. They ask us for suggestions, and there are always story replies asking us where the food is from — no matter how many times we tag the location on the story! It’s really nice. Occasionally, there are people who come and tell us the page is amazing and the reviews are honest. Those compliments actually keep us going. It’s very nice to hear that we actually help people make decisions and find good places.
What’s your personal favourite place to eat out in Kochi?
So I’m basically a Shawarma boy. I turn to Shawarma at any point, I can never get tired of it! I go anywhere and everywhere for it, no preferred place.
If you mean restaurant, my personal favourite is Tandoor, in M.G Road. That’s been a place I’ve been going with my family for years. It’s great food, the taste hasn’t changed for over a decade, or many decades even — it’s one of the best places in Kochi, hands down.
I’m quoting you on Shawarma Boy™.
Haha, go ahead!
Have there been instances where you guys took too long to take pictures of the food and your friends ended up getting annoyed at you?
Have I been a nuisance? Yes, all the time!
Allen and I get cursed out so much for taking photos. Most of the time when we go out, maybe after a movie or something, we’re in a group of people who are extremely hungry. The food will anyway take a while to come, and then we’ll start our photo session. And everyone looks at us like, please. Many of them don’t even let us take photos! They get mad and they’ll be like, മതി!
And finally. Do you have any message for the food blogging enthusiasts out there?
When we started, there were only a handful of blogs — who are still around — and some of them are now really good friends of mine. There’s the Cochin Food Blog (@thecochinfoodblog), Hungry Cochin (@hungrycochin), Bite Me Kochi (@bitemeup_foodvoyage) and all — and they’ve become very close friends of ours over the years, because we get called for tasting sessions simultaneously. So meet, we talk, we get together, and it’s always real fun.
But nowadays, there’s a food blog in every corner. If you search “food” and “Kochi”, you’ll get at least about 150 of them, with many of them having surpassed our followers. Kudos to those blogs though, they’re posting some really great content!
For people who want to start their own blog, I would say go for it. There’s no one stopping you — you have a phone, it’s your food, you take photos, you put it up!
And if the photos are good and you write honest opinions, then why wouldn’t people follow you?
That’s great advice! Thank you so much for your time, and good luck in all your ventures!
// So there you have it; through the minds and methods of these lovely food connoisseurs, an insight into their friendship, and their journey towards a world with lots of free food!
And be sure to follow @theetapandarams on Instagram to check out delicious delicacies, tasteful reviews and more!
