How I got here.

About Me

Hi, I’m Seeratt.

I’m a food scientist and chef with a background in food science, nutrition, and the culinary arts. I’m also a compulsive host, a collector of old things, a lover of beautiful homes and long dinners, a keeper of far too many animals, and someone who firmly believes ordinary days deserve the good plates too.

I grew up in Chandigarh, in northern India, in a family where food was always at the center of things.

My grandparents had an enormous influence on me. They loved good food, golf, cards, travel, and entertaining. Their home was always full of people, and my grandmother seemed happiest with something cooking and a table being set.

Some of my earliest memories are in the kitchen with her.

I like to say I began my culinary career as my grandmother’s sous chef, although I’m sure she would remember my contribution a little differently. I followed her everywhere, asked endless questions, stirred when I was allowed, tasted whenever I could, and learned far more than I realized at the time.

My family also has roots in farming, so I grew up understanding that food came from somewhere long before it arrived on a plate.

Later, I went away to school in Rajasthan, where I spent my time riding horses, playing sports, doing pottery, playing in the school band, and generally trying anything that interested me.

That curiosity never really went away.

It eventually took me around the world.

I studied culinary arts, food science, and nutrition, worked in professional kitchens, trained in London and Thailand, lived in Bangkok, and traveled whenever I had the chance.

I thought for a while that I would spend my entire career in restaurants.

Instead, I found food science and product development.

It turned out to be exactly the right place for me.

Today, I spend my professional life developing and commercializing food. Over the years, I’ve helped bring more than 60 products from an early idea or kitchen prototype through development, manufacturing, scale-up, and eventually onto grocery shelves and restaurant menus.

I still love the beginning most.

Sometimes it starts with a flavor. Sometimes a problem. Sometimes something someone ate on a trip.

Sometimes it is simply:

What if we made this?

Then comes the fun part of figuring it out.

There is science involved, of course, but also creativity, intuition, business, manufacturing, consumer behavior, and a great deal of problem solving.

Much of my work is confidential, so there are plenty of products I’ve helped create that I can’t really talk about here.

But every once in a while, I’ll see something on a grocery shelf or restaurant menu that I helped bring to life.

I still get excited about it.

Outside of work, life looks a little different.

My husband, Alex, and I live in New England with Baxter, our wonderfully droopy basset hound and very successful foster fail, along with ducks, chickens, and whatever project I’ve managed to talk us into next.

Before Baxter, there was Mr. Muttley.

Muttley was my baby, my once-in-a-lifetime dog, and one of the great loves of my life. He isn’t physically here anymore, but he is still very much a part of me and a big part of why animals have become so important to what I hope to do someday.

I think he will always be part of this story.

These days, Baxter keeps us laughing, the birds keep us busy, and Alex has learned to be mildly suspicious whenever I start a sentence with, “I have an idea.”

When I’m not working, I’m usually cooking, having people over, wandering through an antique shop, traveling, fussing with our house, working in the garden, spending time with the animals, or riding horses and playing polo when I can.

I love old houses and old things.

Copper pots that have actually been used. Recipes written by hand. A table full of food. Gardens that aren’t too perfect. Hydrangeas. Things with a little patina and a story behind them.

I love beautiful things, but I like them best when they are being used.

Use the china.

Light the candles.

Invite people over before the house is finished.

Let dinner run late.

Put flowers on the table even if no one is coming over.

That is probably the simplest explanation for Three Finger Pinch.

It started as a place for me to share food, and food will always be at the center of it.

But over the years, it has naturally grown to include everything around the table too.

Travel. Entertaining. New England. Old houses. Gardens. Antiques. Animals. Recipes. Food science. Things I’m making, things I’m learning, and whatever I happen to be working on next.

There is also a bigger dream behind it.

I have always loved animals, but loving and losing Muttley changed the way I think about what I want to build.

Someday, I would love for the businesses and products I create to help animals too — supporting rescues, helping fund medical care, giving more dogs a second chance, and eventually creating better food and products for the pets we love.

For now, Three Finger Pinch is where I keep the things worth sharing.

The recipes.

The places.

The animals.

The old things I find.

The dinner parties.

The projects.

The ideas.

And whatever comes next.

Most of the day-to-day version of all of this lives on Instagram, where things are generally a little less polished and a lot more current.

If you love some of the same things, I hope you’ll come along.

There is always room for one more at the table.