By Offering Her Indian Dishes to Others, She Feels Closer to Home

When an Indian mother moves to Queens, New York with her young family, she thinks America is a strange place. People are disconnected. Things move too fast. She nearly has a nervous breakdown.

But that woman, Harpreet Sohal, finds that by cooking traditional Indian meals for other displaced people like her, she could recreate the feeling of home for herself. Now Sohal’s whole family pitches in: Her sister preps food, her daughter labels it, and her husband delivers it.

National Geographic Producer Rachel Link chose this film about Sohal by Brooklyn-based Claire Molloy for Geographic’s Short Film Showcase. “I really love that food is so integral to this woman’s life,” Link says. “She’s been able to build a business doing something that she loves, and is able to reconnect with others through this important cultural tie.”

Watch Sohal cook from her heart.