Love for food is the most divine. That’s what this young Instagrammar believes and hence she created a page dedicated to food.
Deepthi Atluru (23), currently working in IBM and also pursuing her Master's degree in BITS-Pilani, who dreams of owning a restaurant shortly, is celebrating a big milestone this week. Her Instagram page @Justtt_food recently touched 100K followers. "Traditional Indian food recipes, especially simplechutney and dal recipes get the most traction," she says. All the recipes she has shared till now are her mom's.
"All thanks to her for being so patient in teaching me recipes. Without my mom this response would have never been possible. But If I am trying out any new recipes I source from YouTube and Google," says the foodie. She believes that social media and video sharing apps are the future book of recipes.
Excerpts from the interview.
Considering there are so many pages dedicated to food, what was the idea behind starting one more?
I create the @Justtt_food page on Instagram in February 2018 , right after I got job as a run up my dream to start a themed restaurant with my money before I turn 30. Before starting a restaurant, I felt
having some background knowledge by exploring places and sharing reviews would help me in future.
What do you think is the uniqueness of your page and why do you think it has garnered so many followers in such a short time?
Indian recipes. There is no fancy editing or kitchen setup, I just hold the phone in my left hand and shoot while cooking. During the lockdown when I started sharing our favourite family recipes, people started loving the page and I was overwhelmed with love from them. From 3,000 to 10,000 followers in 10 weeks in something I never imagined. Because my goal was 10,000 before I started a restaurant.
So what do people like to see on food pages?
It’s definitely recipes. Not sure how many people love cooking, but watching how food is made itself is creative and a major stressbuster. People also love watching street food videos.
There has been a wave of food pages in the last one year on social media. Does it really lead to revenue generation?
So, the only way to generate revenue on Instagram now is through brand collaborations or promotions. Also, it is heard that Instagram is launching the monetisation of videos in India by end of 2021. After @justtt_food hit 100K, I have promised myself to spend 40 per cent of earnings from the page on social activities. Now that this success is all because of people, I have decided to do something good on behalf of them.
What kind of recipes do your followers ask you?
The most requested recipes are Andhra style recipes. Top three dishes are Andhra Pappu, Chicken Kebab and diet -friendly food.
So far, which video has got the maximum number of views?
Recently I have visited a restaurant in Bengaluru and have uploaded making of Kerala famous kizhi
parotta. It now garnered 80 lakh views. The video of Chicken Biryani has 56 lakh views and Pesarattu has 54 lakh views
Have you planned anything special for Hyderabadis who seem to be among your followers?
I am all set to visit Hyderabad in March to do a Food tour for justtt_food.
What are the most popular Telugu recipes that you have featured on your page?
Nellore Chepala pulusu , Sambar, Bottle guard dal, Avakaya Chicken biriyani , Muddapappu, Chilli chutney and many more. A majority of the recipes I have shared are Telugu recipes.
(The writer can be contacted at kalanidhi@newindianexpress.com)