With Covid pandemic causing havoc all over the world, most of the people are spending most of their times indoor. While staying at home might have reduced traveller posts, pub check ins, social outing, internet traffic is balanced out by the amateur chef posts. From instagram to whatsapp, thousands of recipes are shared across and culinary skills of house wives (the default chef of an Indian household) have been razor-sharped. The man in the house is also enticed to go into kitchen, because content creation is need of an hour and apart from old travelogues, home cooked recipes are the only viable option at his disposal.
But this is good progress, as a society we are facing a grave danger, but if you are someone who is not offended by finding the positives in such difficult times, I might want to indulge you with a thought that Covid crisis have made Indian kitchens more inclusive.
Indian kitchens, which were the sole responsibility of women of the house, are finally infiltrated by Men. The bachelors who were getting food with a click, started experiencing the efforts behind that click, metaphorically and literally. The entitled men in the house had no other job worthy, so they ended up coming to Kitchen to help or to learn. The creators on social media platforms were forced to join kitchens, for the hunger of contents, if not literal. These students of kitchen were arrogant at first, delusional as well. "How much time does it require to prepare a well cooked Pasta?" While all the culnary arts were available freely on youtube, instagram etc, Indian kitchens were getting messy. These students were ransaking the sacred place, some kitchens had dusts of Aata on the floor, while other fumed with burnt papads. Blood was spilled while cutting the onions and skins were torched during kadhai lifting. They deserved it, they were never food aware all these days. Their hunger journey was always one way where they would either call food (via Zomato, Swiggy) or go to food in pubs, restaurants, darshinis (Bengaluru reference..never mind). But this time the journey was different, it was supposed to be a collaboration, which needed hand holding. The mothers, wifes, grand mothers were silently watching this struggle, but they were resolute. This was a pilgrimedge where every one is responsible for his/her own journey. Some were successful, other are still struggling.
But this is a journey of removing the bias. For ages, the bias of woman or housewife or cook cooking food for rest of the family had taken everyone away from kitchen. The mere fact that family union in movies is symbolized over the dining table says the same reality that we are together for consuming food. Covid crisis have bought these families together in kitchen, preparing food together, like the ancient times, like how animals eat their food in families, like the times where gender roles had not purged cooking responsibilities unwisely.
Picture is not green yet but shades are coming. When teenager Raju's mom calls him to kitchen and asks for "Masoor daal" and when Raju could identify "Masoor daal", in the shelf containing numerous other Daals, his Mom secretly shades the tear of joy.
This is what I call as a first step towards becoming food aware!
But this is good progress, as a society we are facing a grave danger, but if you are someone who is not offended by finding the positives in such difficult times, I might want to indulge you with a thought that Covid crisis have made Indian kitchens more inclusive.
Indian kitchens, which were the sole responsibility of women of the house, are finally infiltrated by Men. The bachelors who were getting food with a click, started experiencing the efforts behind that click, metaphorically and literally. The entitled men in the house had no other job worthy, so they ended up coming to Kitchen to help or to learn. The creators on social media platforms were forced to join kitchens, for the hunger of contents, if not literal. These students of kitchen were arrogant at first, delusional as well. "How much time does it require to prepare a well cooked Pasta?" While all the culnary arts were available freely on youtube, instagram etc, Indian kitchens were getting messy. These students were ransaking the sacred place, some kitchens had dusts of Aata on the floor, while other fumed with burnt papads. Blood was spilled while cutting the onions and skins were torched during kadhai lifting. They deserved it, they were never food aware all these days. Their hunger journey was always one way where they would either call food (via Zomato, Swiggy) or go to food in pubs, restaurants, darshinis (Bengaluru reference..never mind). But this time the journey was different, it was supposed to be a collaboration, which needed hand holding. The mothers, wifes, grand mothers were silently watching this struggle, but they were resolute. This was a pilgrimedge where every one is responsible for his/her own journey. Some were successful, other are still struggling.
But this is a journey of removing the bias. For ages, the bias of woman or housewife or cook cooking food for rest of the family had taken everyone away from kitchen. The mere fact that family union in movies is symbolized over the dining table says the same reality that we are together for consuming food. Covid crisis have bought these families together in kitchen, preparing food together, like the ancient times, like how animals eat their food in families, like the times where gender roles had not purged cooking responsibilities unwisely.
Picture is not green yet but shades are coming. When teenager Raju's mom calls him to kitchen and asks for "Masoor daal" and when Raju could identify "Masoor daal", in the shelf containing numerous other Daals, his Mom secretly shades the tear of joy.
This is what I call as a first step towards becoming food aware!
