A “cool” Kochi guy with tattoos on arms, a funky hairstyle, a long grown beard and wearing what he feels comfortable in. Many of us might confuse this description with that of a college going boy. But this is not. This is 33 year old Fort Cochin guy, Oneal Sabu, who is the most incredible “lawyer by profession” and “food enthusiast by passion” one can come across.
Popular by his pseudonym “FC_boy_83”, which according to him describes what he is in the most appropriate manner, Oneal is a full time food blogger and firmly stresses that he is a food enthusiast, a person who would travel the length and breadth to taste a particular dish or to try any cuisine, and not a foodie who finds solace in stuffing oneself with whatever he/she loves to eat.
Oneal’s love for food accompanied with his ever growing urge to become an author has made him to launch his first book, ‘Soul Fried Monologues’. The book was launched by actor Vinay Fort on 26th December, 2016 at Qissa, Fort Cochin. The book is different from his hugely popular blogs and Instagram posts where he has many followers who admire his work and like reading about his food experiences. The book deals with Oneal’s love for food and his memories attached to different dishes.
Explaining his thought behind the book, Oneal says, “We are used to a specific taste for a particular dish. That might not be the perfect taste for the dish and might also not appeal to another person having it but eventually we search for the same taste every time we order the dish. That taste might have been registered in your mind because your mom might have cooked it for you. This is what my book carries with it. Each chapter is a dish and my memories attached to it. It is a monologue as I have written my feelings in it and I am sure that when people will read it they will also definitely have many such memories that connect them with that particular dish. And sharing this connect will make it a dialogue.”
Oneal’s love for food started with his habit of analysing things to its core (which he owes to the legal studies he pursued) during the two year period when he was in the process of getting “fab from flab”. “I was on a diet plan and had to eat only healthy. However, I didn’t know what kind of things to eat and the type of ingredients that would help me in the process of reducing my weight without ruining my body and giving it the necessary nutrition. Thus I started to research more about food and started noticing the minute details like the ingredients, masala used, tempering done and even the temperature at which it was cooked. This was mainly because of two things – one, I wanted to get the best of the not so happening and tasty food that I used to eat so that I don’t get bored and could continue eating it, and second, the urge to know each and every thing about food that according to me is beyond taste. This is the reason why I call myself a food enthusiast because I taste all kind of food items and at the same time also stick to my gym regime.”
Despite being a law graduate, his experience as a waiter, bartender, sandwich man, ice-cream man and what not, shaped and nurtured his love towards knowing food and ultimately Oneal, who was on a diet plan, missed his mother’s food and this led him to start blogging. Soon, his blogs started getting recognised and were read, liked and reposted by other food websites including the award winning food group in Kochi, ‘Eat Kochi Eat’,where he is also a core member and active contributor.
Despite being a person who has immense amount of love towards food, Oneal is of the opinion that opening a restaurant would be like commercialising his passion. Even then, he says that a restaurant is always in his bucket-list but only when he feels he is an accredited person to do so. He believes in breaking the stereotypes in a highly judgemental society like that of Kerala and firmly aspires to be a revolutionary rather than being a rebel.
