They might not run fancy restaurants, boast of flashy marketing strategies or wear starched white coats, but home chefs sure know how to whip up a delicious feast. In Mumbai, as in several other metros, an underground community of home chefs is growing stronger, often going beyond the tried-and-tasted. Amid the pause and play of lockdown restrictions, Leeann Dsouza and Divya Rani, who were shuttling between Bengaluru and Mumbai, discovered a range of such local tastemakers, offering everything from elaborate cheese grazing boards to house-cured meats and East Indian meals. Realising that the only way to access this community, and their eclectic treats, was through word-of-mouth recommendations, they decided to join forces to set up an app — The Nommers — that shines a light on home chefs of Mumbai and Bengaluru.

A previous pop-up by the platform