Stress of Cooking
Journey
from Rasoi to Kitchenette
No Kitchen Concept Homes
Adam and Eve once went for hunting: killed a sheep and
a goat: family enjoyed their meals with the flesh of sheep and stored the goat
away in a heap of dry grass for meals the next day. At mid night, all of a
sudden, the grass starting emitting light: they were too frightened: they had
heard such stories earlier but never seen: soon there were flames: whole the
grass got burnt, slowly the flames also went down: they had nothing to eat.
Finally the parents next morning gathered courage went near the grass: and saw
animal was still there with charred body: they pulled it out: took it to their
children: slowly as the heat reduced youngest of the children pulled a leg of
the animal and it came out easily and he started eating. He had never tasted
such a flesh earlier: he was so happy and asked everybody to have the taste at
least. They starting roasting animals before eating thereafter. The fire was
discovered, so the cooking also. Men preferred to remain hungry till they got
the roasted flesh and slowly the men learnt how to organize fire and roast
flesh for themselves and for their families - the most delicious food even
today both for vegetarians and
non-vegetarians. This is how the kitchen for the man started and he added taste
of fire to his food. As the civilization advanced kitchen occupied a place of
pride in home and family and its captain has always been female - a tradition
which is still continuing world ever even now: do not know why; but fact is
like that only: perhaps because she is apostle of love, affection, compassion, creation,
care and fragrance.
Kitchen during early stages of human
development was so scared that the fire once lit in a hearth was never allowed
to go down, it was always kept burning may be slowly: when somehow it extinguished,
fire was taken from others’ hearth to respect the continuity. Fire also used to
please the Lord became a source of Haven: a religious ritual from time immoral:
strangely even now all religions use fire in performance of religious practices
may be as a holy flame or as a fragrance of scent sticks popularly called
Agarbattis. Umbilical cord – the Birth knot link between the child and the
mother, used to be cut with the knife cleaned after heating it in the hearth-fire
being best disinfectant even now and fire from the same hearth that once helped
the man to take birth, was also used to lit the pyre. That was the place a
Kitchen occupied in the life of man in India may be elsewhere also. Kitchen was
heart of the home and was designed keeping in view the food, fun and life.
Children often spent their winter evenings sitting around an angithi (coal,
wood, cow-dung burnt hearth) eating their food and warming themselves: not the
present day children spending time lonely with Facebook, Instagram and Smart
Phones.
“Cooking with kids is not just about ingredients,
recipes, and cooking. It’s about harnessing imagination, empowerment, and
creativity.”
– Guy
Fieri
God bless my kitchen as your own where I love to be,
Bless me as I prepare food for my family and friends.
Catherine Pulsifer
Till the beginning of twentieth century females everywhere
had cooking as full time kitchen engagement that is why perhaps even now they
are being called house wives: used to grind grains on hand driven chakki at
home to make the flour for the day for the family: first task in the morning:
surprisingly even today Chakki whole grain Atta is popular instead of mill
flour: they also used to grind pulses to break grains into two on a special
small Chakki called Dalika in my state Punjab; Dalia was only a homemade dish
so the sawian (Maggi is its third generation cousin) deliciously cooked in
milk: milk used to be cooked rather roasted day long in an earthen pot (Chati)
in earthen hearth lit with cow dung cakes-called Haari in rural Punjab, had
light brown colour in the evening a must
for Punjabis at night before sleep even now with many if possible : Tandoori
Rotis were popular then and even now also: Sarson Ka Saag Makki Ki Roti
prepared really fresh from the field was very popular in winters: many go to a
Dhaba now to have the taste, but still like the mother made at home. Everything
homemade cooked in the care of mother or wife was the way of life; nothing from
Swiggy or Zomato nobody knows where cooked and how, still people buy for a
fancy price. Females also took care of cattles milch and burden - a must in
those days for a household although some did buy milk from others: milk pure
and fresh for the family but there were no Mother Diary or Amul poly pack milk
- ingredients known only to the packer. Generally people were vegetarian: even
eggs were not available on Grocery shops as of now: meat was a far off thing
not like the present one cut and packed delivered at home: how cut and packed is anybody’s guess.
“Having cooked
food with my own hands” was the phrase used to indicate the love for the person
who was served food, now even the formal small dinners are at restaurants or food
from there are a preferred proposition.
For me, the kitchen is the most special room in the
house. It's a place for adventure - not drudgery, but discovery, sharing and
showing off with friends, trying new ideas.
Ted
Allen
Female also played the role entrusted to them by the
Lord being the female
and family planning was unknown in those days so the ways adopted now: how many
can be anybody’s guess almost whole of the reproductive age was productive and
addition to family was a regular feature, for some couples yearly affair caesarean
delivery births were rare. Joint family was order although nuclear families
were also there, separation from the joint family was also prevalent but it was
seen with anger in eyes: certainly no old age homes were there.
Slowly more atta chakkis: small flour mills
operated by electric power came up along with earlier diesel driven “Chhuk
Chhuk” atta chakkis, whose hooter could be heard from a distance and it
continued to attract people to bring grains for grinding. This change provided
to many house wives relief from morning grinding of grains on a hand driven
chakki.
Cold grinding on a Chakki driven by the water
on the side of a water channel was preferred in old-days even now for those who
know and can get their grains grinded there.
Milk vending became a profession so many household
stopped raring milch cattles this provided a bit of relief further to house
wives from animal keeping.
Next step was advent of flour mills that introduced
readymade flour sold lose, in open in the market and many households shifted to
this solution. Quickly followed the packed flour in cotton cloth packing, as
soon as plastic cloth came mills shifted to this as it was cheaper and had
better reflection of advertisements on it. Fifties saw further opening up of
the Kitchen; this lead of part time house maids for utensil and floor cleaning
and washing of clothes; some engaged fulltime maids who took care of cooking
also although the Maharaj: full time male cook- concept was already there in
rich houses. Ironing of clothes different from yesteryears Dhobi also became a
profession such persons were being found on every street corner. All these
provided additional free time to ladies at home: the house wife.
Sixties saw another trend unheard of earlier many people
engaged maids just for cutting of vegetables and now more people were going to
the restaurants for dinner with their families, budgeted restaurants with Dhaba
like menu were popular: people enjoyed home likes outside their home; this
remained up to nineties when the foreign restaurant chains came to India and it
provided further relief to cooking at home: now meals and snacks at anytime and
anywhere with home delivery was a developing trend. This has been followed by
fine dining restaurants - highly priced with good ambience, music and some
gimmicks also like photographs of dinning families: but still like to serve home like dishes such
as Chhachh- butter milk, contains neither butter nor milk, it is in fact curd
left over after churning out the butter from the curd these fine dining
Restaurants sell at a price of Rs100 per glass say 350 ml and jumbo-jug 1000ml
at Rs.250 and their menu also has those cuisine whose names and ingredients are
Greek to many patrons and perhaps owners too. These are being slowly replaced
by delivery chains of Swiggy & Zomato: food as per one’s choice from the eatery
a person decides, people prefer homemade like food and a choice for wide
variety and eat in the warmth of a quilt in winters.
Slowly the food cooking at home is reducing. This has given
birth to Dibba Service delivery at
home for lunch, dinner and even breakfast a good facility for aged couples:
provided you can do with whatever is supplied; no purchasing for Kitchen:
something only for occasional tea and coffee will do; even that is available at
the call of a bell or tinkle of a mouse, or thumbs away on smart phone.
This has given birth
to another issue: people do prefer to let their house for rent only to those
who do not cook at home: this is true more of European countries: people there
do not like the smell of Tadaka and spices used for dishes particularly the
Indian ones. So no accommodation for those who cook too much at home. Some
allow only hot plates no stove with flames and no smoke.
Kitchenette has taken place of kitchen in many houses and builders have
rolled out the concept of Kitchen less homes: no LPG: PNG: Kerosene and other
fuels like coal, cow dung and wood are now things of history.
Why this love loss for kitchen and cooking at home
despite food being the basic need of the system existing in nature. Reasons are
many: extra-ordinary progress in race for equality by females with males
everywhere and opening up of the system, education, employment, teaching and
nursing being most preferred professions, even in defence forces above all free
time with female because of less cooking and family planning-females want to do
something productive and innovative.
No interest with many girls in cooking at home nor they
are made to learn the kitchen preparations despite everybody knowing that in
arranged marriages: still a way of life in India: way to a man’s heart is
through stomach. Many cannot roll out a chapatti much less a perfect circle not
to talk of chapatti of maize, millets: a luxury and essential as per medical
advice for those who suffer from wheat allergy.
Internet
made easy the delivery of food: one can plan the time he
wants his lunch, dinner, the breakfast even the morning and evening tea: you
can also have your supper and 11PM glass of milk also: even when outside, your
food would be ready before you reach home: where is the need to cook at home a
drudgery when coming from a tiring journey or after work.
Delivery
of food has been made easy by delivery boys a part time profession with many as they get
payment on per delivery basis: they are always available day and night, sun or
rain: still to see them on strike and still to see girls in this profession,
may be somewhere else not in delivery branch just to fill up legal or social
provisions.
Big food giants chain don’t give on credit; it is first cash
then delivery and at most cash on delivery: Cash and carry is their funda hence
food business has very little bad debts it is earning, busy in normal days
leaving aside the #KoronaKal. In fact, it is the money that makes the mare go.
Days are not far off when tea, lunch, dinner and
breakfast would be available like vegetables in the street: nobody would go or
need order still get the best you like most: probably one will have to wait for
the seller of his choice.
Kitchen less homes would provide great relief to both
the species-male
and female: no purchases of grocery, vegetables, pulses, no arrangement for LPG
PNG, no utensils for cooking, no crockery to serve, nothing to clean, no milk,
tea, coffee spills, lot of free space, no cutting of onions and tears, no maid
for utensil cleaning, no monthly budgeting, no harsh smells, everybody taking
food as per his own convenience and time, no family gathering for lunch,
dinner, nobody to serve and be served, no grudge against anybody. Take a glass
of water-perhaps even that is not need order a bottle of cola and enjoy your
food. It will also lead to clean drains-no oil to choke drains, smoke less
houses easier for oldies and asthmatics. This will also lead to sweetness of
relations between mothers-in-laws and daughters-in-law as one cause of
irritation would be wiped off. With the
passage of time, the prayers before eating would also vanish and so the thanks
giving after eating food. There would be lot and variety of food more tasty
fusion with foreign cuisines without the love and affection of mother, wife and
daughter but lot of commerce with delivery boys and food giants. Kitchen less
homes would ultimately lead to dining table less homes providing lot of space.
Eat, drink and be merry- the concept everybody cherishes, will the kitchen
less home nourish or destroy this concept. Chances are more that they will
destroy concept-loved by man since he came to this planet. Perhaps it will
weaken the family institution, love, affection and emotions too. Kitchen less
homes will provide more in physical sense but make you to lose much more in
emotional sphere.
As an alternative to loss mentioned; kitchen less home
would cause to the humanity
in general some architects have suggested kitchenette in every home with a
community kitchen. Concept of religious community kitchens is very common in
India: faith and spirituality are the cementing factors there: regular
community kitchen would be lacking that cementing factor; these would be just a
place to eat without any love and care. Religious Langers – Guru Ka and Bhandras-Mata
Ke are the places where people throw away their ego; but in the paid community
kitchens ego of the individuals would be a big issue for the managers.
Is cooking an activity which produces stress? Yes, cooking can
be stressful if one has no interest in cooking and also if you do not cook with
love and affection for those whom you love. As in other tasks, kitchen work
needs your love and interest otherwise it is burden which you do not want to
carry hence the stress: run away, think of ways and means how not to cook and
clean utensils: you would be stress free soon.
“Cooking is like painting or writing a song. Just as
there are only so many notes or colors, there are only so many flavors—it’s how
you combine them that sets you apart.”
– Wolfgang Puck
Cooking basically consists of ingredients and amount of
heat you need;
it is wonderful combination only thing it should be in right proportions: if
you have to make chapatis on a Tawa or
Rotis in a tandoor basically there is dough made of flour and water and the
fire: if proportions are right the fragrance of fresh cooked Rotis / Chapatis
is so sweet and attractive that one would eat more than his hunger otherwise
these would be burnt chapatis with bitter taste instead of the roasted ones
with sweet fragrance special. Another ingredient which has not been indicated
is your interest in cooking and love and affection for those for whom you are
cooking that would decide the amount of care you would exercise while cooking:
hence the quality of the product. Cooking is creative and innovative: so much
variety in the ingredients and the way how they are merged, their ratio, state
and cooked; even the flame has so much variety that every version changes the
taste of the final product. Then comes the hearth, oven, stove, chulaha,
tandoor, angithi every one has his own characteristics and hence the food
cooked is of different taste. Creation
anywhere in any manner is a godly act that brings one nearer to Him and is a
fountain of satisfaction, solace and pleasure:
an activity that is engrossing and engaging.
“The more you know, the more you can create. There’s no
end to imagination in the kitchen.”
– Julia Child
Hence cooking can’t
be stress producing.
“Cooking demands attention, patience, and above all, a
respect for the gifts of the earth. It is a form of worship, a way of giving
thanks.”
– Judith B.
Jones
Yes cooking can make you physically tire that is not stress
just take rest it is over and you are again in your routine. Those who feel
cooking is stress causing, as soon as you leave the activity stress is over; it
does not linger on nor it is long term, it is just leave and it is over.
“Good food and a warm kitchen is what makes a house a
home.”
– Rachael Ray
“The kitchen really is the castle itself. This is where
we spend our happiest moments and where we find the joy of being a family.”
Mario Batali
A Home without a
kitchen is heartless house: only the bricks and mortar.
“Cooking demands attention, patience, and above all, a
respect for the gifts of the earth. It is a form of worship, a way of giving
thanks.”
– Judith B. Jones
