Meena began life as the protected daughter of a Gujarati Brahmin family in Mumbai. A typical collegian, she completed her hotel management and catering course in Mumbai and was married to Kirit Pathak through a formal proposal. "When I came to England in the 70s, I didn’t even know that the Pathaks were in the business of selling pickles. My father-in-law, the now-famous Lakhubhai Pathak, landed in England in the fifties from East Africa and found a family home in the down market suburb of Kentish Town. When he saw the dearth of good and authentic Indian food for the masses of Asians who came to Britain after World War II, he began to manufacture a variety of pickles and take-away meals for those who missed home food. I have heard that Indians, Bangladeshis and Pakistanis used to queue outside his house to buy this food. Soon, the business grew so much that my father-in-law had to buy a small factory where four employees worked to make the variety of pickles he sold. These pickles, sold under the brand name of Pataks, became a household name in the following years.

"When I married and settled down in the jointly family in England, I found that all the men went to work early in the day and I was alone and bored the whole day. One day, my husband took me to the ‘factory’ and I was shocked to see that my family was selling food products! I had no clue about this till that day. After this, I began to experiment with masala pastes in my kitchen. I tried out various spices and their shelf life in the privacy of my home. I managed my housework and unknown to others, did my personal products development and research in my kitchen. I stored away the bottles quietly. One day, I asked my father-in-law to send just some of these masala mixes for laboratory tests. He flatly refused and was angry that I was meddling in the family business. In spite of the long and angry battles over this matter, I persisted and one day, out of sheer desperation, he agreed to send some products for tests. The results were excellent and we manufactured those masalas for supermarkets and shops. Within just a few weeks, they were a runaway success. We had massive orders from British chains of grocery stores and buyers came in droves asking for more.

"Yet another interesting fact is that we at Patak’s conduct an annual survey of eating habits among the British. Our findings show that a British family today eats an Indian meal three times a week at home and at least once in a restaurant...Now, we make not only masala and pickles, but also snacks, ready-made meals, rotis, papads and special frozen curries and preserves. Chicken tikka masala and Bombay potatoes have become the national dishes of Britain.

"Meanwhile, I am proud to promote Indian food in its authentic from in countries all over the world. I am proud that today it is unquestionably the number one cuisine in the world. More and more people of all nationalities are becoming addicted to its infinite variety, its unforgettable aromas and its exotic presentation."