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Chefs toque with recorder in a marwari saree
Today, I bring to you a story of a mother, wife, daughter in law, an entrepreneur, very shy but super passionate chef, owner of the virtual community of 17000+ food bloggers and lovers on Facebook called Food Nation ~ Heart of Recipes and finally a YouTuber – Manju Jain. With her irresistibly yummy and easy recipes, you will instantly connect with her true self. Just like her softest and yummiest gulab jamuns.

I met her one winter evening in the small city of Bikaner. Trust me when I say she is the most humble YouTuber I have met. When we spoke at the garden she was just like a normal person we exchanged numbers and talked a minute about what we both did and she quietly joined back her group of walking friends wearing the Marwari sarees. A few days later I messaged and we were chatting on WhatsApp. Later I called her up and that is when she opened up after so many interactions. I saw the real her, the real Food nation in Manju aunty that day.
She must have been cooking for more than 3 decades now and every time a new dish or recipe comes her way the curiosity inside her spikes, the innovate in her bubbles forth and the curator works like a magician. She had always loved cooking and food but she hadn’t realised that her passion for food could never be contained by cooking for her family alone.
Read a similar story of passion about world-class crafter Niharika.

Life experiences are like jalebi it may be incredibly twisted but it tastes sweet and crispy only when we put it inside and let it melt.
A journey of evolution and discovering her purpose
Manju aunty has always known her love for food. A funny example she quotes is she practically has cooked everybody’s favorite dish just as they mentioned it without wondering what time of day or night is it or planning it for next day. Extraordinary and innovative just like her besan ka khasta and ghiya ki ice cream.

A few years back she thought it was teaching cooking that she could do at the most so she taught a lot of ladies in Bikaner. At a mere 200 rupees, she was teaching more than 40 dishes which including a vast range of snacks, breakfast, lunch, dinner items and desserts.
Let me tell you another fact the price of a cooking class those days were 1000 rupees for 5 dishes. So was she just doing it because she wanted to spend money on buying ingredients and spend time teaching others an art? A big no! Her love for food had taken it to the depths that money was not what motivated her. it was helping others finding that same love for cooking and easy recipes, to make food enjoyable for others.

A step into the future
Well, her business model as you can see was mostly dependent on her love and passion. Ultimately, earning wasn’t even anywhere in her consciousness. Then time went by and two years back in 2018 it was her children who found their mom’s passion for food very inspiring and motivating. They pushed and persuaded Manju aunty to create a page on Facebook called Food nation ~ Heart of recipes.
This was the first plunge into sharing her passion publicly and after that, there is no looking back. She started by sharing handwritten recipes on her Facebook page which eventually converted into a full-fledged YouTube channel ‘ Manju Jain’ which is now monetized. She very sweetly adds “Earning money was never my aim but now when I am able to earn money it gives me a lot of confidence and boosts my morale“. she continues “My goal and journey are to be an inspiration for all the young girls in age and heart who are immensely talented to share their many talents with the world”.

Care, compassion and gratitude
Manju aunty dedicated all her success to both her children because they saw the burning desire of her passion and did everything to support her at all the time from creating a Facebook page to shooting videos for her channel, from technical tasting new recipes to editing the uploads. Parents are always responsible for children’s career and success but for aunty, it is her passion for food and her kids love for her which has got her to this point where she has a following of 20000+ over all of her social media.
If you loved this story of Food Nation read this story of a new mom Raji whose love for her child knew no bounds of religion and faith.

Inspiration for the young world
Bringing her story to you all is with one goal – inspiration. Here are some pointers that we all can take from her story
- Be honest and keep the learning on at all times – Manju aunty learnt mostly by observing the ‘Maharaj’ or Rajasthani chef for weddings. She never missed an opportunity to learn
- Follow your passion – This is very much in all the stories I have shared. our true existence and inner peace lies only in following our passion. whatever we love if we do it, it brings happiness unbound. while if we do something that we don’t like we just sink deep in sadness and keep searching for peace.
- Trust and accept help – Many times we don’t do certain things because we don’t trust the person involved or we are not certain of the outcome. but the truth is success and achievements come to those who seek and accept help, those who trust people around them and those who believe in their mission
- Humility – You can be an Ambani but if you cannot show compassion then all the status quo is useless. That is the most important thing to learn from Manju aunty. She says be helpful, be genuine, be open to criticism, be vulnerable, be yourself and accept the rewards with gratitude
- Share – Share your knowledge, happiness and earnings with others who need it. Be generous and care for others whenever you can
Follow Manju Jain on YouTube
Follow Food Nation ~ Heart of Recipes on Facebook
I know there are more stories like this and probably it’s time to share them with the world. Change starts with one story. I want to make it a legacy of love and inspiration with all these stories. Share your inspiration in comments below or drop me an email urvashinenawati@yahoo.co.in about your story of inspiration.
15 replies on “Story of Food Nation and Manju Jain”
It is such an amazing story . I’m highly inspired .
This is very inspiring story of Manju Jain and I must say not only for young girls but for everyone. I will definitely going subscribe her youtube channel.
Thanks for sharing Manju’s story and good to know you are open for others also to share their inspiring story.
Would love to read.
Yeah. Real stories section on my blog is stories that inspire. I would certainly love to share this space with my audience who can bring in more inspiration for all of us.
Wow I did not know about Manju Jain. Thanks for sharing the story as now I know about her story. Her story looks very inspirational. I will have a look at her YouTube channel.
Hope you enjoy and try few of her recipes
Thank you for sharing such an inspiring journey and often we see coverages of food but not the creator..so thank u for that.
Good to know about Manju and her culinary journey through your post. It’s an inspiring story.
This is inspiring… Age is not a limit when you want to do something with passion… I loved reading this post!
What a wonderful, heartfelt story! Manju’s story has yet again inspired me to follow my dreams and never give up, no matter what the situation is 😊
You too are an inspiration for us.❤
This is so inspiring. Indeed passion has no age and all u have to do is peruse it.
It’s like everyday is a new start
What an awesome story it is ,it is definitely inspiring everyone to accomplish their dreams and overcome their fears.
Absolutely