Episode 428: WhatInTheChef (Imran Ali)
Freshly Grounded
Faisal & Sam
4.9 • 945 Ratings
🗓️ 14 April 2026
⏱️ 105 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Faisal sits down with Imran, better known online as What In The Chef, to unpack the story behind one of the fastest growing food creators online.
From leaving engineering and working in the bin area at McDonald's… to building a personal brand with millions of followers… to self-publishing his cookbook entirely through Canva, this is a masterclass in betting on yourself.
Imran shares how he built his audience by focusing on simple, realistic recipes for everyday people, why he refused traditional publishers, and how his mission goes beyond food — helping people build confidence in the kitchen and create better moments with family.
If you've ever thought about starting content, writing a book, or launching a product — this episode will give you clarity and confidence.
Transcript
Click on a timestamp to play from that location
| 0:00.0 | Okay, Imran, welcome freshly grounded. |
| 0:02.0 | Okay, thanks for having me, man. |
| 0:03.0 | I said, do you have an intro? |
| 0:05.0 | And they're like, oh no, no intro. |
| 0:07.0 | There you go. |
| 0:08.0 | Bro, how has it been launching a book? Congratulations on the book, first of all. By the way, can I just say, I really like that you just get straight into it. Thank you, man. Oh, freshly grounded podcast. |
| 0:17.2 | We're from here. |
| 0:17.8 | We come from this and we do this and we do that. |
| 0:19.6 | And then find me an intro and everyone switched off. |
| 0:21.0 | I know. |
| 0:21.4 | Yeah, of course. |
| 0:22.5 | We're in the retention game, bro. |
| 0:24.6 | Um, on a podcast, we're from here, we come from this and we do this and we do that and then five minute intro and everyone switched off. I know, yeah, of course. We're in the retention game, bro. Congratulations on the book. Thank you. Thank you. I'm intrigued to understand the process because it was completely, I was amazed to hear just now of camera that it's completely self-published, even the images you've done yourself. |
| 0:38.2 | So, getting straight into it. |
| 0:39.4 | Straight into it, bro. |
| 0:40.4 | Okay. |
| 0:40.8 | What was the process like writing a book? |
| 0:51.9 | The process of writing, it took me close to two years to put the book together. Oh, okay. So, Canva, I don't know if anyone knows of Canva, you know. Yeah, shout out Canva, $10 a month. Yeah, literally did it all in Canva. |
| 0:53.9 | So the only problem with the Canva is that the spelling mistakes don't come up properly. |
| 0:55.6 | So I have to copy and paste it into a word document and then think that squiggles read properly. |
| 1:00.7 | Fix it there and put it back in. Oh, you wrote the booking canva? I wrote the entire book in Canva. Wow. Entire book in Canva. And then also the image was from a phone. |
| 1:11.6 | But at the time I was just like taking pictures and I was just writing down the recipe. But it took me like two years to put together. I don't know you wrote the book in Canva. Eight months it took me to put together. Yeah, full thing. Wow. I don't have access to, like I'm teaching myself everything by bit, man. Because I would have thought that maybe like you would have used like Google Docs or something to write the book. |
... |
Please login to see the full transcript.
Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from Faisal & Sam, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.
Generated transcripts are the property of Faisal & Sam and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.
Copyright © Tapesearch 2026.