From home chef to five star hotel, now food is being delivered. Failing that, we have food shows
Dadi doesn’t know that I am present, but she is giving me untold joy during these pandemic days. Thakuma is the star of a Bengali food show on YouTube. He has lost most of his teeth, but I am happy to see him, not his enthusiasm to eat. She eats meat curry or biryani, and then smiles happily at the camera. His chubby granddaughter, Limu, who cooks most of the food, ruthlessly teases him, and I feel like I spend my evenings simply watching him at his idyllic home in rural Bengal.
They – and many others like them – are my foodie companions these days. There was a time, not so long ago, when I had nothing to do with social media. My world revolved around the small eateries in Old Delhi and the people who lived there ladle Or burn the embers of a coal fire. However, the virus keeps adding bricks to the wall that comes between me and my foodie friends. I thought this year would be better, but the heat wave has pushed me back into my lonely corner.
old haunt
I miss all those little-known cooks and eatery owners. It has been a long time since I met Jain sahib. I used to go to Old Delhi by metro, and then to his small tea stall in Anaj Mandi. I sat there watching him make famous sandwiches with all kinds of fruits, from apples and guavas to mangoes and bananas.
I wonder how Bade Miyan is doing; He makes the most delicious Kheer at Hauz Qazi. Milk boils for a long time in a pan and when it is served to you, it is light pink in color and wonderful in taste. I hope Talib is also fine in Zakir Nagar. I can’t remember the last time I ate their tikka and talaash kebabs, soft and juicy kebabs.
The pandemic has turned the food industry upside down. The restaurant has closed up shop, and while some are temporarily opening their doors, it’s juicier in an indoor restaurant before I find myself biting into a steak. Fear still hangs like a dark cloud, and is meeting in front of a crowd without a mask kebabchi Has kept me away from my old hideout on the street corner.
home delivery
Of course, there is no dearth of good food – from in-house chefs to five star hotels, everyone is now delivering food. The pandemic has prompted many to quit their old job of cooking (some because business has been slow, others because the pandemic has taught them that there is more to life than a lucrative career).
The yatra may have been put on hold for a while, but food comes from across the country – from sesame pork and appam-stews from Kerala to Himachali babru (black chickpea-filled loaf) and Mumbai’s sprouted misal pav from the Northeast. So far.
I feel that if the pandemic has taught me a lesson, it is to be happy in what I have. If I can’t go to the mountain, the mountain comes to me. Hence, apart from delivery apps, food makes its presence felt through books and food shows. Books are the type I read for days, savoring every page. Charles Spence Gastrophysics: the new science of eating Tells me how the joys of eating are in the mind. Chitrata Banerjee’s new collection-
taste of my life
Tells me an anecdote about a young man who falls for Mochar Ghonto, a much-loved East Indian dish of banana flowers. The texture is bad, Young complains, and she likes to have french fries with her friends anyway.
surf and watch
As far as food shows are concerned, all I have to do is surf and watch. An army of unknown men and women armed with their phone cameras have filled the void in my heart with their unwritten jokes and shaky shots of jalebis in hot oil.
It’s been a sad year, but let’s try and take each day as it comes. And if that terrifying Omicron pushes us back into solitude, we can all turn to the Village Cooking channel on YouTube. Somewhere in Tamil Nadu a group of men cook and feed people. It’s green all around, the cheery mood is infectious, and the fried chicken is inviting. Or we can see Thakura eating some papdi chaat. “It was like never before,” she says, and then gleefully waves to the camera.
What is a virus, it seems to be asking. Pooh.
The author loves to read and write about food as much as he loves to cook and eat. well almost.
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