August 29 2026
Sheeba de Souza: Culinary expert and food stylist bringing global expertise to home cooks and chefs
(Aug 29, 2026) From Mumbai to UK, Australia and Thailand, Sheeba de Souza has built a global culinary career spanning chef training, food styling, wellness-focused cooking and authorship. Founder of The Styled Plate, she combines international culinary techniques with India’s rich food traditions to teach home cooks and aspiring chefs how to create healthy, restaurant-quality food with confidence, beauty and ease.
Sheeba grew up in Bandra, Bombay, with her parents and brother. She studied at Manecjji Cooper Education Trust School. Academically, she was always an average student, though art came naturally to her.
“That changed the moment I hit college. I topped my class in Economics at MMK College, Mumbai, and went on to do my Masters in Business at the University of Westminster in London,” says Sheeba, who describes herself as an ambitious child. Her career, however, would eventually take a very different direction.
From cooking disaster to culinary passion
The first time Sheeba cooked anything was as a teenager. “It was a complete disaster, nothing worth talking about. I had to throw it out,” she recalls in a chat with The Global Indian. She could never have imagined then that she would one day become a chef, food stylist and author.
When she got married, she found herself surrounded by a family of excellent cooks and chefs. Intimidated that she could not even put a simple meal together, she decided to change that.
That initial insecurity became the catalyst for a much deeper journey into food. She began cooking seriously, exploring different courses and culinary schools, learning from her mother and pursuing formal culinary education alongside her academic background.
Becoming a mother gave that journey another dimension. “I wanted to cook better, healthier, tastier food — especially with my son, who was a very fussy eater. That’s what set me on the path of learning to cook properly,” says Sheeba, who still considers herself a student and believes there is endless room to learn.
Training at leading culinary institutions worldwide
Based in Mumbai, Sheeba eventually honed her skills at leading culinary institutions across three countries.
At Leiths School of Food and Wine in London, she built her professional culinary foundation, developing knife skills, understanding food combinations and mastering techniques such as roasting and grilling. At the Food Styling Academy in Australia, she trained under Melbourne-based food stylist Kirsten Jenkins, learning the finer points of colour, composition, layering and presentation, and how to make food visually irresistible on camera.
She further deepened her expertise in Thai cuisine at Blue Elephant Culinary School in Bangkok, where she learned under Chef Nooror Somany Steppe, the celebrated chef and founder of Blue Elephant.
At Blue Elephant, I was fortunate enough to learn under Chef Nooror Somany Steppe — the celebrated master chef and founder of Blue Elephant, widely regarded as one of the world’s foremost ambassadors of Thai cuisine.
Sheeba de Souza
The experience taught her the importance of balance — sweet, sour, spicy and salty. “Getting that balance right is a real skill, and it remains one of the biggest lessons I carry with me; it’s what makes food taste truly unforgettable.” Together, these experiences shaped what Sheeba now describes as the three pillars of her culinary philosophy: balance, beauty and technique.
The Styled Plate: Making healthy food restaurant-worthy
Today, Sheeba is the founder of The Styled Plate, a premium culinary platform built around a simple idea: clean, wholesome ingredients, handled with skill, styled with intention and served with confidence can create food that rivals any restaurant plate.
People don’t need to be taught from scratch. What they need is the confidence and the technique to make food they already know how to cook look and taste like it came from a restaurant.
Sheeba de Souza
Built on the belief that cooking and hosting are learned skills rather than innate talents, The Styled Plate offers online culinary courses for health-conscious learners at different levels, from home cooks to aspiring chefs. Its courses focus on vegetarian and non-vegetarian cooking, teaching people how to use clean, nourishing ingredients and the right techniques to prepare food that is quick, easy, delicious and visually appealing.
Healthy food without the ‘diet food’ label
For Sheeba, one principle is non-negotiable: healthy food should never have to taste like “diet food”. Her recipes are designed to be practical enough for everyday cooking while helping people develop genuine culinary confidence. She says it took her years to master these techniques herself, and her mission now is to simplify them for others.
Helping people take care of their health through food is, at the core, my aim.
Sheeba de Souza
Her programmes revolve around three pillars: cooking confidently with clean, wholesome ingredients; developing an eye for food styling; and learning to host with ease so that bringing people around the table feels enjoyable rather than stressful.
A global perspective shaped by food
Sheeba’s international training has also influenced the way she approaches ingredients and cuisine. She strongly believes in sourcing locally and making the most of what is naturally available in each place.
Travel has become an important part of that learning. Wherever she goes, she seeks out restaurants and local cuisines, using food to understand different cultures and traditions.
Her favourite cuisines are Thai and Indian, which she considers equally compelling for very different reasons. Indian cuisine, she says, offers extraordinary regional diversity. “A proper Indian thali is, to me, the most perfectly balanced meal anyone could ask for,” she says. Thai cooking captivates her with its balance of sweet, spicy, salty and tangy flavours.
Wherever you are in the world, use what’s genuinely local to you, things that are easily available, organic, and grown using sustainable practices.
Sheeba de Souza
From culinary educator to food author
Sheeba’s philosophy extends beyond her courses into her book, Root Leaf Fire, co-authored with integrative lifestyle expert Luke Coutinho. The book brings together Coutinho’s four foundational pillars of health — sleep, movement, emotional balance and mindful eating — with Sheeba’s intentionally crafted recipes.
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The idea emerged from a conversation about why, despite the abundance of wellness advice and recipes available, people often struggle to sustain healthy habits.
Their answer was not more information but a practical approach to eating well every day. The resulting collection focuses on recipes that are healthy, quick, easy and delicious, making nutritious eating feel less like a compromise and more like an enjoyable part of everyday life. “It is an invitation to understand food not just as sustenance, but as a daily, conscious act of caring for oneself.”
Cooking as a way of life
For Sheeba, food is as much about wellbeing and connection as it is about technique. She loves eating but follows a disciplined approach, choosing simple, healthy food for everyday meals while allowing herself guilt-free “treat days” when she craves chocolate, biryani or anything else.
Cooking, she says, gives her a sense of calm and happiness. Her passion is simple: to cook, eat, feed people and continue learning about food. That philosophy extends to the rest of her lifestyle. She works out every day, alternating between the gym, Pilates and tennis. She also meditates twice a day, beginning her mornings at 5:30 a.m. with meditation and returning to it before sleep.
She loves travelling with her family, exploring different parts of the world and using those experiences to connect and bond.
Building a world-class culinary education platform
The road ahead, Sheeba says, is about expanding her role as an international food and lifestyle authority, exploring opportunities in television and streaming, and writing more books. Her larger ambition is to create a world-class culinary coaching programme that brings together everything she has learned through her international training and years of cooking, styling and teaching.
“My vision is to build one of the best, world-class culinary coaching programmes in the world — to give away everything I know and teach people how easy it is to cook quick, simple, delicious food at home.,” she signs off.
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