The Business of Recipes Story Cookbook

It's here! Hot off the press. Our 1st Edition of The Business of Recipes - Hardback Story Cookbook is now in stock! Limited copies available.

You can also visit our crowdfunding platform and donate to support this book going into learning institutions and be available for public access, click HERE

The Business of Recipes is a story cookbook that goes beyond recipes. It documents how Indian immigrants used food and property as a business model — turning food and bricks into sustainable livelihoods: homes, shops, hotels, and bed & breakfasts, food stalls & markets!  

The book shares practical insights, (wrapped around 40+ traditional recipes) into the pioneering nature of immigrants, entrepreneurship, property, hospitality, and food business, while also exploring culture, parenting, nutrition, conflict of east and west, and the crucial and overlooked role of the contribution and status of women, who make the heart of the family.  

Each chapter ends with 4 'Food for Thought' sections on: 

• Business & money
• Immigrant & British perspectives
• Culture, family & parenting observations
• Nutrition & health notes...

...inviting the reader to consider opposing eastern and western perspectives and differing viewpoints.

It’s an autobiographical story cookbook, a guide and a celebration: part cookbook, part business memoir, and part cultural history.

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Beta Reader feedback from three Beta testers has come in with the following reviews:

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"...this is a stunning idea - an autobiography and cook book combined - unique - so you arouse the reader’s curiosity on two or rather three counts, basic things - food and life and business. The recipes and the photos are stunning - mouth-watering. And the essential simplicity plus depth of the recipes, which you emphasise, is a real selling point as well as really authentic. And actually it is the authenticity of these recipes that is a winner … it is frankly business  orientated - as your culture makes you - and this is a new angle.

I loved the way that your family life and culture emerges slowly  as you read - never being hit (wonderful  - and I bet you didn’t hit your own children either - goodness gets handed on) - your father’s character - the intensity of the love. How lucky you were.  

The written style. it is lively and intense and very alive. I love it. I think your English is very vivid and very you. 

This is such an original VIVID book". 

Professor Isobel Armstrong, Emeritus Professor of English, Birkbeck, University of London, a Fellow of the British Academy and International Scholar of the American Academy.

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"This is far more than a cookbook.

The Business of Recipes blends stunning food photography, deeply authentic Punjabi recipes, and a powerful family story into something genuinely memorable. Yes, the recipes are exceptional: rich, generous, and rooted in tradition. But it’s the story behind them that gives this book weight.

Surinder Hothi tells the journey of her immigrant family with honesty, humour, and heart. What unfolds is a story of resilience, entrepreneurship, identity, and love shaped by the influence of her remarkable mother and her formidable father. The dynamics, struggles, and small victories are shared in a way that feels both personal and universal.

There’s a warmth to Surinder's writing that draws you in. You’re not just learning recipes, you’re being invited into a kitchen, a culture, and a life. Surinder's humour softens the harder edges of her story, but never undermines the depth of what’s been built and overcome.

What I loved most is that beneath the food and storytelling are deeper lessons about building something from very little, about values, about legacy, and about what it really means to create a life and a business.

If you’re expecting a traditional cookbook, The Business of Recipes will surprise you. If you’re interested in stories of family, culture, and entrepreneurial spirit, it will stay with you".

Joe Gregory, Entrepreneur, Author and Publisher