Swetha Sivakumar

Headshot of Swetha Sivakumar

Swetha Sivakumar
Title: Recipe Developer
Location: Austin, TX

Swetha Sivakumar is a columnist at the Hindustan Times, an industrial engineer, and recipe developer who writes the blog Upgrade My Food. She lives in Austin, TX with her husband and two daughters.

Experience

I have a Masters in Industrial Engineering and have been blogging about the science of food on my blog since 2016. I have been writing weekly columns on food science for Hindustan Times—the 2nd largest newspaper publication in India—since 2021. I am from India, but I have lived in the US for the past 22 years.

Education

Masters Degree in Industrial Engineering from The Ohio State University, Bachelor's degree in Biomedical Instrumentation from Avinashilingham University, Coimbatore.

About Serious Eats

Serious Eats, a People Inc. brand, is an award-winning food and drink website visited by over 7 million hungry readers every month. Our audience comes to us for rigorously tested recipes, science-driven cooking techniques, robust equipment reviews, and stories that offer cultural and historical context to the foods we love to eat.

People Inc. is among the largest and fastest growing publishers online, and has won over 50 awards in the last year alone, including Digiday's 2020 Publisher of the Year. People Inc. brands include Verywell, Investopedia, The Balance, The Spruce, Simply Recipes, Serious Eats, Byrdie, Brides, MyDomaine, Lifewire, TripSavvy, Liquor.com, and TreeHugger.

Read More from Swetha Sivakumar

Hand holding a salted popcorn kernel with more popcorn in the background
Why Your Seasoning Never Sticks to Popcorn—and the Simple Fix That Actually Works
Roasted brussel sprouts and shallots with a balsamic glaze in a bowl, with glasses of sparkling water, some smaller plates and a colorfully printed table top
I Tested 3 Roasting Pans to Find the Secret to Crispy Brussels Sprouts
Two pots filled with cooked rice one large and one smaller placed on a dark surface
Fluffy Rice Every Time—Here's the Step You're Missing
Four bowls with hummus labeled 10 25 50 and 100 on a tray
Want Creamier, Restaurant-Style Hummus? I Tested the 1 Ratio That Really Matters
Roasted broccoli florets on a sheet pan
The Counterintuitive Trick for Perfectly Tender Roasted Broccoli
Baked vegetable slices on foillined trays arranged in sections
Want Better Roasted Vegetables? Stop Doing This One Thing
A spoonful of pesto with a container underneath
We Tried Every Trick to Keep Pesto Green—This Is the Best Method
A hand holding a clear squareshaped ice cube over a reflective surface
There's a Reason Bar Ice Looks Better Than Yours (And You Can Fix It)
Scoops of mango ice cream in glass bowls with an ice cream tub in the background
No-Churn Mango Ice Cream
Close up of ice cream
No Ice Cream Maker? Just 2 Magic Ingredients Do the Work
Alka-Seltzer cheese sauce atop nachos.
The Genius Ingredient for Perfect Gooey Cheese Sauce
Overhead view of 10 minute chana masala
10-Minute Chana Masala