By Arundhuti Banerjee

Mumbai, Jul 29 (IANS): From gaining 12 kgs for her debut film 'Dum Laga Ke Haisha' to losing all the extra pounds for her next film 'Toilet: Ek Prem Katha' and changing her shape with her each film, actress Bhumi Pednekar is on a long journey with food and healthy diet.

As the actress recently tried her hand at cooking pasta for a digital food show, Bhumi opens up on her best food destination, memories and why her relationship with food is a crucial part of who she is.

Bhumi will appear in the finale episode of 'You Got Chef'd - Season 3' that releases on Gobble, the lifestyle channel of Pocket Aces, as well as on YouTube.

Sharing her cooking experience Bhumi told IANS : "Well it was a virtual episode in which I cooked with Chef Ranveer Brar and I must say that even though I thought cooking is such a tough task, if you are guided right, it actually is not! I am not a cook at all, I am a super foodie! But when I started cooking the pasta, of course, the chef guided me, but I ended up making a portion of good pasta.

"I think I am not as bad a cook as I assumed I am. We cooked pasta as the theme of the episode was Italian food memory, it was delicious. Can I say this, that combination of few things could never go wrong, and our pasta was one of such things. We cooked a portion of pasta in butter, garlic, mushroom and asparagus sauce...it was mouthwatering! I must say that pasta is one of the versatile dishes, with so many easy tasty combinations that if you learn to cook one of them, trust me, you could impress all your friends and family with one meal of pasta! I was so excited when eventually I made it..yessss!! (she laughs)"

So, what is Bhumi's favorite food destination?

"Food destination would be Mexico and Japan. But I am always game for a food trip to Mexico because, in India, we do not get the best variety of Mexican and South American food. When I started travelling internationally and I went to Mexico I was just so in love with their food and culture. Japanese food and pan-Asian cuisine we still get here in India. I love Japanese food too, tasty, flavourful yet so many healthy options one can get with Asian food."

Asked about narrating her best food memory and Bhumi recalls a story of one of the bylanes of New York.

"New York is one of my favorite cities to travel. Whenever I am there, I take long walks. I love pizza and in New York, every block has a pizzeria. You won't believe that I am one of them who would go to all the best pizzerias of every block and eat one fresh slice with a different topping! I feel like a child then really and my friends would laugh at such madness. But those toppings are so good, how can I miss them? (laugh)" recalls Bhumi.

Since there is a lot of body transformation Bhumi has gone through and constantly working on herself to look good and stay fit, which is a part of the beauty business, the actress explained how her mind is trained to a healthy lifestyle.

"Initially, for me, it was to do with gaining and losing weight to look in a certain way. But from the time I started my journey as an actress, I realised, our look is a combination of food, exercise and healthy habits that we can sustain for life. For instance, my trainer always focused on core strengthening and increasing metabolism and immunity. I think during the pandemic we all have understood the importance of immunity.

"In my diet, I always maintain a great combination of protein and carbs. Of course, I am guided by experts but I think there is no shortcut that offers a lifelong result, it is always a gradual process. My relationship with food has evolved with time," Bhumi signed off.

Bhumi has an interesting line-up of films that includes 'Badhaai Do', 'Mr Lele' and 'Raksha Bandhan'.