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Journalism of Courage
After a decade-and-a-half of building her dessert empire Le15 and writing cookbooks, pastry chef Pooja Dhingra has turned to fiction and for the first time, for children. Her new book, Aria & The Magic Apron (Juggernaut), co-authored with Stuti Agarwal and illustrated by Nirupama Vishwanath, is a story about a young girl who loves to bake but struggles with cracked eggs and has a shaky confidence. A dash of magic and a nudge from her favourite baker, Pari Doshi, help her believe in herself.
While it may surprise her seven-million-strong Instagram community, writing fiction came naturally to Dhingra. After all, the founder of Le15 Patisserie spent most of her childhood summers buried in books at Shemaroo Library in Bandra. “My mother wanted to study at LSR (Lady Shri Ram College, Delhi) but got married young and couldn’t finish her education,” says Dhingra, “Reading became a big part of our lives. I still remember my library card number.”
The idea for the book first came to her around four years ago while reading Giraffes Can’t Dance by Giles Andreae to her best friend’s daughter. “By the end of it, I was so emotional. It felt like such a beautiful way to bond. I wanted to write a book, especially for girls, where I could weave in baking and tell them they have the power and the magic,” she says.
Aria & The Magic Apron, which was released last month, took about 15 months from concept to print. Her friend’s children became her test readers. “After every chapter, I’d ask them for feedback — did they like it? Could they understand the baking bits? It wasn’t so much about research as about seeing if kids were really feeling it,” she says.
That authenticity shaped the characters, too. “We wanted kids to think, ‘Oh, this girl could be in class with me,’ or ‘She could be my friend’,” she says, “In fact, the lead character was initially named Arya, but my friend’s nine-year-old suggested changing it to Aria.
In the book, Aria’s stomach “flops like a soufflé in a windstorm” before a big event. Does that nervous feeling ever ease with experience? Dhingra smiles. “Does it ever?” she asks. “I’m the kind of person who keeps challenging myself. So it may ease in one part of my life but then I take on something new. Like right now, I’m training for the Bangkok Half Marathon. It’s less than a month away! On Sunday, when I was running, I had that exact feeling in my stomach,” she laughs, “I’ve even signed up for another marathon next March.”
That constant push, she says, keeps her grounded. “It’s nice to be a little bit afraid. I know about 80-90 per cent of people will like what I do but that 10-20 per cent room for feedback and growth is what keeps you humble.” It’s a lesson she learned the hard way. “There was a moment when I felt like I had arrived, that everything was going perfectly,” she recalls. “It was 10 years of Le15. For any food brand to stay relevant that long is a big deal and I was feeling proud. That was March 1, 2020. Within weeks, the lockdown was announced.”
The pandemic forced her to shut down her cafe, one of the hardest decisions she has ever taken. “It was devastating. I grew up overnight,” she says.
Perhaps that’s what Aria & The Magic Apron is really about — learning to trust yourself and begin again, no matter how many soufflés fall flat. “A younger Pooja would have loved this book,” Dhingra says, “She would have loved Aria. I feel we should start them young, help them believe that they already have the magic.”
Beyond the book, the year has been full for Dhingra. She launched Cake Party, a dessert concept celebrating fun, nostalgia and community, with its first edition seeing over 100 kg of cake brought in by people from across the country to Mumbai. A bigger Delhi edition is planned next month. Earlier this year, she also became the only Indian woman to receive the La Liste Pastry (Game Changer) Award in France. Now, she’s preparing to open a new cafe in south Mumbai and looking at expanding her FMCG range which started with cookies in 2022.
She’s also been chronicling her fitness journey on Instagram. “It started last year as a way to channel my anger after a heartbreak. A friend told me to chase happy hormones, so I began working out, and found a community that grounded me. I’ve always loved fitness; when I was 16, I lost over 30 kilos, trained under Anjali Mukerjee, got certified and even taught at Gold’s Gym. Later, in Switzerland, I would run by the lake every day, determined to stay fit even as I discovered butter, chocolate and sugar. When I started Le15, life took over and fitness slipped away. But over the past year- and-a-half, it has been my stabilising force, a ritual that keeps me sane. It began with wanting to lose weight, but now it’s simply a part of life, a habit that anchors me through everything,” she says.
It’s easy to see how Dhingra’s world — of butter, sugar, books, fitness and big dreams — has come together. Much like her character Aria, she’s still chasing new flavours and fresh beginnings, one story at a time.
