`Boys as
young as six are signing up for cooking classes to pick up an essential life
skill` said an article appearing in Times of India a couple of days ago. The same article also
quoted a study in USA in 2013, according to which `Men spending time cooking
has doubled as against women spending half the time`
I was happy
to learn about this because I strongly
believe that everyone, especially men who believe that cooking is a girly activity,
must know some basics in cooking- so that they can whip up a simple meal in
case of an emergency due to illness or absence of their spouses from home for any reason.
It might be a good
idea for men to give some relief to
their better halves at least once a week,
when she is spared the tension associated with cooking three meals a day, every
day, 365 days of the year! I was a
Sunday cook at home when my wife was alive and after she passed away three
years ago, my cooking skill helps me in looking after myself. Besides depending
on outside food regularly is not only expensive but also is a health hazard.
I took my
baby steps in cooking when I was only 8.
Once my father was away on office
work. My mother could not enter the kitchen because she was `impure`. Since we
could not afford to buy food from a restaurant , she taught me how to cook a simple meal. Standing at
a distance she instructed me how to light up a coal fired `aduppu` ( Sigdi),
make rice and dhal, and a rasam. With
some roasted `appalams` to accompany, a
three course meal was ready for the family. The appreciation I received for my
maiden effort hooked me to the art of cooking at a very young age. Over the
years I learnt to cook simple South Indian
vegetarian meals, comprising a variety of Rasams, Porials ( dry vegetable curries), Sambhar or Vattha
kuzhambu or More Kuzhambu ( kadis). I am confident of cooking for 15 to 20
people.
Unlike
modern day girls, who are more than happy to surrender the kitchen to their
better halves, my wife, who belonged to the old school, always used to resist
my entering the kitchen because according to her I always messed up the kitchen. So, I had to constantly fight
for my right to enter the kitchen.
Since I now
have a whole kitchen to myself, without anyone breathing down my neck I have
even started experimenting with new recipes. The urge to experiment was there
right from the early days. I remember being featured in Femina magazine in
June,1984 with` Stuffed idlies` for which I had sent the recipe to the
magazine. I was thrilled to find that my
photo, holding a plate of idlies I had cooked appearing
along side the mug shot of
Kushwant Singh, the well known author who had also sent a recipe.
Cooking is a
creative hobby and a great stress buster. Like every other soft skill that is
being taught, cooking is an essential life skill which every child- boy or a
girl- must learn. I look forward to the
day when Basic cooking is taught in schools
as a compulsory subject to be learnt through special classes over the
weekend or holidays. In today`s world
where both the husband and wife are working and lead a very stressful life,
knowledge of cooking by both helps in sharing an essential responsibility.
(This
article has appeared in Adyar Times issue dt 17-23rd July,2016)
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