Cooking through loss, loving through food: The Anika Chowdhury story
From family kitchens to the PBS stage, Anika Chowdhury is redefining what it means to represent Bangladeshi cuisine abroad. Through her heartfelt storytelling, traditional recipes and creative twists, she carries forward a legacy of memory, loss and belonging
When Kishwar Chowdhury cooked panta bhaat and aloo bharta on Master Chef Australia, she stirred a global conversation about Bangladeshi food and identity. Soon after, Elora Khanom, a Bangladeshi-Canadian baker, brought a similar sense of pride by winning The Great Canadian Baking Show, baking her way into the hearts of viewers.
These stories matter because, for a long time, Bangali cuisine has been underrepresented in the global food spotlight.
This year, another such story is unfolding, this time on PBS's The Great American Recipe, where Anika Chowdhury, a Bangladeshi-American home cook, is bringing her roots to the forefront.
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Anika enjoys experimenting with unusual flavours by adapting them into traditional Bangali dishes. For example, she has created sardine bharta, a personal twist on the classic bharta, which is widely eaten in Bangladesh with various fruits and vegetables.
Currently in its third episode, the season airs weekly and will conclude on 15 August. Anika has already made her mark with dishes like Phuchka paired with a New York-style egg cream and luchi with chana dal, both now published on the PBS food website.
But long before she found herself cooking on national television, Anika was just a college student learning her way around the kitchen, driven by homesickness and a deep craving for the food she grew up with.
At that time, calling her mother back home was expensive, and unlike today, YouTube tutorials were nowhere near as accessible. Instead, before she left, her mother gave her Siddika Kabir's cookbook, hoping it would make things easier. But that wasn't enough.
"As you know, every household has its own way of cooking," Anika explains. The cookbook helped her grasp the basics, but the dishes never quite captured the flavours she remembered. So, during vacations, she closely observed her mother in the kitchen, took notes and gradually found her own rhythm in cooking.
Her father, Abdul Munim Chowdhury, was a wonderful cook too, something Anika takes immense pride in. "He learnt to cook while living in the US, just like I did," she said. She fondly recalls that he makes the best BBQ and chicken curry.
When she asked him for the chicken curry recipe, he told her there was not really a recipe but offered to teach her how to make it. She learned by closely imitating him in the kitchen. As she puts it, "Bangalis don't rely on exact measurements in cooking; instead, we're guided by our instincts and senses."
The love for food runs in her blood. Her maternal grandmother used to jot down recipes in a diary, recipes that Anika still uses today. She comes from a big household and continues the tradition of hosting and sharing food with those around her, which she loves doing.
Her mother, Zarina Chowdhury, cooked with equal heart. Together, they shaped Anika's deepest food memories.
Red amaranth (laal shaak) was her childhood favourite."Every time my father went to the bazaar, I'd tell him to bring laal shaak," she said. "I missed it so much that I eventually started growing it myself in a community garden here in New York," she laughs.
Anika enjoys experimenting with unusual flavours by adapting them into traditional Bangali dishes. For example, she has created sardine bharta, a personal twist on the classic bharta, which is widely eaten in Bangladesh with various fruits and vegetables.
In the past, she also used green garlic to prepare shaak, blending unconventional ingredients with traditional recipes. As an avid traveller, she often tries new cuisines and makes an effort to recreate those dishes at home.
After she lost both of her parents to cancer, Anika went through an emotionally devastating period. Grief-stricken and longing to hold onto what they had passed on to her, she turned to food. That's when Kitchen Gatherings was born — a blog that became her way of preserving the memories, techniques, and love that lived in her parents' cooking.
Anika says, "I don't have children of my own to pass this legacy on to, that's why I started the blog. To keep the stories alive."
Her blog, Kitchen Gatherings, is not just about recipes. At its heart, it is a place for storytelling. Anika shares not just recipes, but actively shares the memories it holds, and how it connects her to her roots with her audience.
Her blog is filled with warmth and intention, such as featuring her father's special recipe, shared as "Munim's Bangladeshi chicken curry," alongside comforting classics like laal shaak.
It was this poetic storytelling that caught the attention of PBS. The producers found her and were deeply moved by how beautifully she represented her culture through food.
Now, on The Great American Recipe, Anika proudly introduces herself as a Bangladeshi American, one of many voices on the show representing unique regional and cultural backgrounds.
Coming from a family with roots in Sylhet and Rajshahi, Anika grew up surrounded by a rich mix of Bangali flavours, where food was always at the heart of celebrations. But in the West, she noticed, many Bangladeshi restaurants still label themselves as Indian because that feels more familiar to the diners.
Through this platform, she hopes to shine a brighter light on Bangali cuisine, which she believes has not received the recognition it deserves.
She recalled that once upon a time, sourcing Bangladeshi ingredients in the US was a challenge. But now, thanks to growing immigrant communities, local shops carry everything you need.
Her blog offers recipes that are approachable, detailed, and easy to follow, even for someone trying Bengali food for the first time. She proudly shares that her friends from Germany once told her they tried her recipes and urged her to post more. That's when she realised her mission was working.
"I felt heard," she said. "Like maybe I really am an ambassador of Bangladeshi food."
Today, apart from her blog, Anika also shares her culinary journey on Instagram at @kitchengatherings, where she posts snippets of her life, recipes she's cooked, and updates from her time on The Great American Recipe.
And when asked what's next for her, she simply smiled and said, "We'll have to wait and see. Maybe a cookbook someday. I have dreams for sure."
