Before she took up the challenge of launching India's first food, wine and lifestyles magazine, and the task of editing it and being its chief photographer, Farzana Contractor was a foodie and talented cook. Coming from a Lucknowi Muslim family of traditional culinary tastes, and being married to a connoisseur of food with eclectic habits, sharpened her own tastebuds and made them adventurous.

To be able to write on food, to have the eye for photographic detail that visually showed food as it was meant to be and without artificial styling and touches, was easy only if you understood food, loved to cook and eat, was Farzana's belief.

It is this philosophy that she brings out in her hugely successful and popular magazine UpperCrust. Food is not just covered in the UpperCrust, it is celebrated, foodies and gourmets are the stars, reticent master chefs are drawn out of their kitchens, unknown cities are treated with reverence because in them Farzana has discovered gourmet destinations, wine is brought out of the cellar and made more than fashionable to drink, restaurants are reviewed, lesser-known foods are overnight transformed into haute cuisine, film stars and theatre persons, royalty, politicians, cricketers, artists, spiritual leaders, musicians, astrologers, reveal their passion for food and cooking… only to Farzana Contractor and the UpperCrust.