In recent years, many homecooks have gained a massive online following for their simple but tasteful cooking and approachable personality. Many of these cooks have popularised local cuisine and easily available ingredients and equipment. One such self-taught cook is Rajesh Rawani, but unlike other cooks who operate out of their home kitchens, Rawani cooks from inside his cargo truck. Rawani, who is a long-distance truck driver, makes his cooking videos while he is en route to his destinations across India. One can say that Rawani’s appeal lies in making elaborate dishes such as mutton curry, fish curry, and mattar paneer fried rice with minimum resources. Additionally, his simple instructions and hyperlocal way of speaking endears people.
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Rawani’s cooking tutorials routinely rake in lakhs of likes on Instagram. In the comments, many people refer to him as “MasterChef" and “the best food vlogger". The netizens adoringly call his truck a “five-star restaurant" or “chalta firta dabha", meaning movable dhaba.
Currently, Rawani has four lakh Instagram followers and 12 lakh YouTube subscribers. His son Sagar accompanies him on several truck journeys. Sagar also edits and films videos for his father.
Another recurring comment on his Instagram videos is people asking him to hire them for a job at his truck. Commenting on one of his videos, an Instagram user wrote, “Sir, will we get internships for hotel management people?" Echoing a similar sentiment, another person wrote, “Day 37 of asking: apke truck me ek aur bande ke liye jagah hai kya??", this loosely translates to, ‘Day 37 of asking: do you have a vacancy for one more person in your truck?’
Not all videos posted by Rawani are about food. Recently, Rawani shared a clip in which he posted a drone shot from his truck that showed a massive traffic jam on the way from Hyderabad to Patna. This clip gathered over five lakh likes.
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Rawani posts longer videos on YouTube that capture many of his adventures. These videos document his interactions with other drivers, experimenting with ingredients of different states as he passes through them, and how truck drivers have to face issues such as bad roads and repair work when their truck breaks down at a deserted spot. Rawani made his YouTube account in April 2021. His account has over 675 videos so far while his Instagram account boasts of 110 posts.
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