Born Between Borders: The Big Burp Origin Story

deegwal05
Feb 28
3 min read

When I moved from Mumbai to Canada, I thought I was just changing countries.

What I didn’t realize was that I was stepping into an entirely new food ecosystem.

In Mumbai, food is fast, expressive, layered with spice, and deeply emotional. Street vendors serve thousands daily - not from polished storefronts, but from carts that carry stories of resilience. Street food plays a vital role in urban employment and food access in developing nations (Food and Agriculture Organization [FAO], 2016). In cities like Mumbai, it is more than convenience - it is culture.

I grew up around that chaos. The sounds of sizzling oil. The smell of roasted spices. The quick exchange between vendor and customer. Food wasn’t plated for Instagram. It was handed over in paper, eaten standing, shared without ceremony.

Then I arrived in Canada.

Toronto felt different - structured, organized, multicultural. With immigrants making up over 23% of the Canadian population (Statistics Canada, 2022), the city’s food scene reflects global coexistence. Butter chicken, sushi, shawarma, and poutine exist within walking distance of each other.

But something surprised me.

Even though the systems were different, the emotional role of food remained the same.

The first time I found authentic Indian spices in a Canadian grocery store, I didn’t just see ingredients — I saw familiarity. Research shows that food plays a powerful role in preserving cultural identity among immigrants (Satia-Abouta et al., 2002). That moment confirmed it for me.

Food travels. Identity travels with it.

And somewhere between spice and maple syrup, I began to understand something deeper.

The Turning Point: From Experience to Idea

At first, my journey was personal - adapting, exploring, observing.

But with over eight years of experience in radio production and digital storytelling, I couldn’t ignore what I was seeing.

Restaurants had incredible food.Immigrant chefs had powerful stories.Street vendors had legacy.But many lacked structured digital visibility.

Meanwhile, food content globally was expanding rapidly, supported by social media growth and digital engagement trends (Grand View Research, 2023).

There was a gap.

Not in flavor. In storytelling.

And that’s where Big Burp was born.

Big Burp: The Brand Perspective

Big Burp is not just about food reviews.

It is a storytelling platform rooted in migration, culture, and digital strategy.

From a brand perspective,

Big Burp stands at the intersection of:

Cultural identity
Immigrant entrepreneurship
Digital media production
Community building

Mumbai shaped the emotional foundation of the brand - authenticity, energy, and unapologetic expression.

Canada shaped its structure - branding, strategy, scalability, and digital opportunity.

Big Burp exists to amplify food voices that deserve visibility. Independent restaurants, immigrant chefs, street vendors, and small food businesses often struggle not because of quality - but because of narrative positioning.

In today’s digital environment, visibility equals survival.

Big Burp bridges that gap by translating culture into content.

What Makes Big Burp Different?

Big Burp approaches food as:

A cultural document
An economic ecosystem
A branding opportunity
A migration story

We don’t just ask:“What does it taste like?”

We ask:

Who created it?
What journey led here?
How does it represent identity?
How can this story reach more people?

This perspective comes directly from living between two food systems - one informal and emotionally driven, the other structured and digitally amplified.

Big Burp operates in the space between them.

Born Between Borders

The phrase “Born Between Borders” represents more than geography.

It represents:

Heritage and reinvention
Spice and structure
Memory and marketing
Story and strategy

Mumbai represents origin - raw, expressive, community-driven.

Maple Leafs represent adaptation - multicultural, organized, opportunity-filled.

Big Burp lives in between.

Not replacing one culture with another.But building a bridge between them.

The Mission Moving Forward

Big Burp’s mission is simple:

To tell food stories that connect communities.

Because food is never just food.It is memory.It is migration.It is identity.It is business.It is belonging.

From Mumbai’s street corners to Canada’s multicultural kitchens, the journey continues - not just as a personal experience, but as a growing platform built on cultural storytelling.

And this is only the beginning.

So, If you’re a restaurant owner, food entrepreneur, Pocaster or creator with a story to tell - connect with Big Burp and let’s turn your food into a narrative that travels.

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References (APA 7th Edition)

Food and Agriculture Organization. (2016). Street food vending in urban areas: The case of developing countries. FAO.

Grand View Research. (2023). Food service market size, share & trends analysis report. https://www.grandviewresearch.com

Satia-Abouta, J., Patterson, R. E., Neuhouser, M. L., & Elder, J. (2002). Dietary acculturation: Applications to nutrition research and dietetics. Journal of the American Dietetic Association, 102(8), 1105–1118. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0002-8223(02)90247-6

Statistics Canada. (2022). Immigrants make up the largest share of the population in over 150 years and continue to shape who we are as Canadians. Government of Canada