About us
"Our story began with sharing my Maa's traditional Indian cooking in the form of Artisan Recipe kits. Our purpose morphed, naturally, into sharing the wisdom of ceremonies relating to food and drink. These rituals gained from my own traditions and those experienced from around the world that encourage mindfulness at the sacred time of eating for our well-being and as a means of maintaining a meaningful life." Arjun Thandi, Founder
Inspiration
Having to leave her education and village in Punjab, India when my Maa was just a young girl, she went from star pupil to a stranger in a foreign country when she moved to England to get married. She spent the rest of her life devoted to her family. After her children left home, one day she sadly told her children that she did not have anything else to share with the world. We began this website as a means to share my Maa's passion for cooking and food. As her son, my own contribution is to share her recipes in the same way I experienced her food growing up. My maa had a story for every ingredient especially the spices which we knew to have medicinal effects. She stirred the pot with loving attention, She showed us how to appreciate our food. Finally, we connected and bonded at the dinner table as we shared our stories of the day. I have come to call this 'The ceremony of food'. A ceremony is an intentional act to create a structure for a group of related events to naturally develop a stronger connection with our inner selves, with the food, and with each other. This we call The ceremony of food. All our cooking kits come with a Ceremony card with the intention to make each meal a positive experience.
The ceremony of food
There was more magic in my Maa’s kitchen than the sizzle and the intoxicating flavours , it took me years to be able to find the words, There was something about the mindful way my Mum stirred the soup and how she prepared the vegetables, and involving everyone into the experience from sourcing the ingredients to cooking them. We connected through our food, with ourselves and each other.
The secret ingredients that transform food into heartwarming food are intention and attention. We want to promote these ingredients by encouraging home-cooking, contrary to the takeaway and fast food culture. The fast foods fit in well with the stressful lives that many of us lead in but they have removed us from our former culture of food that helps us to create memories and bonds with one another.
We are coining a term to help visualise a movement back to our roots where we socially celebrate and appreciate food and cooking, ‘The ceremony of food’. Read this article to find out more about how ceremonies can be a part of our everyday live
Mother of Spices
We chose to call ourselves Maasala, deriving from two words, Maa meaning mother and Masala is the spice blend that is added to many of our Indian dishes for flavor and our health.
Maa is the source of our family, she nourishes and promotes our well being from the womb. Maa also refers to Mother Earth, the great provider, from which all beings come from and return to, Ancient sciences reveal to us that we are microcosms of our Earth, as we recognize its cycles so we recognize ours too. We must learn to look after our bodies with a mother’s love. That is why we are called Maasala.
Mission
We want to help disrupt the negative food culture. A time to eat is a time to feel connected with ourselves and to bond with others. Our well being is greatl enhanced when we make the time for this special time of transformation, .
We want our products to be in harmony with the earth, it’s taken us ages to source the right packaging, including compostable packaging for our ingredients.
Maasala recipes aim for a balance between healthy, tasty, and good value, many of which are deceptively easy to cook too! Not least we want to share authentic Punjabi recipes as cooked by our Maa today.
Blends like Gharam masala are made with select spices and proportions for this purpose. These blends go back thousands of years and link with the ancient knowledge of Ayurveda. We want to share the true value of these Spices and ancient knowledge. They can help to improve your health and save on the pennies and without sacrificing the enjoyment of food.
Indian cooking is an enticing alternative to meat-based food. In a world where we are increasingly aware of the pressures of meat farming and it’s global impacts we want to do our bit in promoting vegetarianism, that’s why we only have vegetarian recipes, we are not against meat, we are just really pro-vegetarianism!
Meet the Team
Maasala is a real team effort, each one of us driven by a desire to contribute something healthy and meaningful to our world.
