She was a foodie in the true sense, seeking new food experience as a hobby rather than simply eating out of convenience or hunger. Food blogger and travel enthusiast Seema Gurnani actively pursued new and diverse flavours of food for fun, not to simply fill her belly but also to share her passion through her food blog called Panda Reviewz. Born and raised in the city, Ms. Gurnani died recently in her battle with COVID-19 virus.
“Food has been a passion. I love travelling too. My job in the corporate sector did not give me enough time to follow my passion,” she had said in an interview to The Hindu MetroPlus, a couple of months after launching her blog, in 2016. Although not sure about how the public would respond to her new blog, she went ahead and did not regret at any point thereafter. “I know what is a foodie’s relationship with the food. There may be many others like me, wanting to try new cuisines but not knowing how and where. That’s when the idea of Panda Reviewz struck,” she had said.
Ms. Gurnani was excited and in a hurry to make her blog popular before food delivery giants like Swiggy and Zomato could set their eyes on Vijayawada. She started out in a small way, visiting the local restaurants as a customer, to be able to give an honest feedback to the public. But as Panda Reviewz gradually gained popularity, she started receiving calls from people asking for her feedback on a particular new eat-out in the city. Encouraged by this positive response, she expanded her horizons and started navigating through a riot of flavours not just in the food destinations across the 13 districts of the State but outside as well.
Seema’s last post on Facebook was on March 11, which was a review of the Trippy Tree Café in Vijayawada. She is seen talking about the food and ambience of the café in her video.
