FOOD FOR THOUGHT; THOUGHT FOR FOOD

It is said that the way to a man’s heart is through his stomach. It gets even more difficult when the man is a culinary artist himself and you are a blank canvas when it comes to cooking! With being the youngest member of the family, the advantages grows manifold, so do the disadvantages. A quick stroll to the kitchen area is taken only to pick up a bottle of chilled water to quench my thirst or on extremely special occasions to “cook maggi” (it made me feel like an efficient chef). The ban on our favourite maggi rose a burning rage in me to cook so that I do not have to be a clay pigeon at each family function for my irritating aunts to say, “you know last time we went to Anju’s house for a get-together, her 12 year old daughter Ishika cooked amazing Sheera for us.” It always made me so resentful.

South Indian Style Vermicelli Upma

Cooking, I believe is not an easy task. It needs guidance, judgement and knowledge of the wide range of veggies, meats and spices. But, what is much more important is the inspiration to cook. No written recipe can be 100 % accurate, no matter how carefully it is written. The only secret to turn out a recipe perfect is to cook with your heart and soul.

There is no other thing in the world which smells as good as food. No living man can deny his love for the fragrance of the freshly cooked roti. Recently, I got engrossed into cooking. Main course will follow in due course; I am enthusiastically taking baby steps by cooking evening snacks.

Coming home from a strenuous job and engaging in other activities seemed difficult to me. But, rather than doing nothing, I chose to engage in cooking which I wanted to learn but had no eagerness to do it. First two days were difficult, as I had to start from a scratch with no guidance from my mom. Cutting, chopping, segregating, stirring, steaming, roasting, baking, step by step I am learning it all.

Cooking food is an activity that makes you use all your five senses. Cooking well shows that you have the creativity and intuition to please every sense. And if your recipe turns out to be incredibly awesome and your family cannot stop praising you for it, you sense the pride of mastering the art.

The sizzling in a pan, crisp of the coriander, colour of the freshly chopped vegetables, moist sense of soaked lentils, the scent of spices wafting into the air, the textures changing before your eyes, the fragrance of my fingers indulged in cooking, there can be no superior drug for my addiction of cooking.

There’s no better way to warm your body or your soul than cooking.