Vidya Balachander is a writer, editor, and curator whose work sits at the intersection of food, culture, and identity. Based in Dubai, with roots in India and years spent in Sri Lanka and the Philippines, her storytelling is shaped by a deep engagement with place, migration, and memory.

I am an award-winning journalist and editor with over two decades of experience in international media. 

I have always had a voracious curiosity about food. Over the last eleven years, I have honed this into a career writing not just about what we eat, but also why it matters. My work, distinguished by an anthropological approach, has allowed me to explore food in relation to communities, gender, identity, war and reconciliation. 

I have won international recognition for my writing, including the American Society of Journalists and Authors (ASJA) Award for Food & Drink Writing in 2021 for my story on asafoetida in Whetstone magazine. In 2023, I launched RASA, the first magazine dedicated exclusively to South Asian food to be published in the United States.

I also thrive on building ideas from the ground up. I was part of the launch team at BBC Good Food (India), and helped build new media products for Roar Media (Sri Lanka), and Whetstone Media (United States). 

My research has increasingly focused on food and migration, shaped by more than a decade of living outside India. Through my writing, I hope to eventually build a community that serves as both a culinary and cultural resource for South Asian migrants worldwide.

I have lived and worked in India, Sri Lanka, the United Arab Emirates and the Philippines. I am currently based in Manila, Philippines.