Skip to main content

Hey, What's Cooking?


"What's cooking?" is a cliche now. Even when asked literally. Instead, "Who's cooking?" seems to be the new trend.

There's a plethora (that's a subtle word in this context) of cookbooks already flooding the market. Since the digital media has taken over, there are blogs, videos, recipes, television shows and much more which talk only about cooking and this is the new era of food mania.

These "dishes" are definitely a feast, but for the eyes only! Unless you cook the same sumptuous, lip-smacking dish in your kitchen and try the recipe yourself, you really don't know...how "wonderful" or "delicious" it will turn out to be.

To get ahead in the race and sell their "tried and tested" recipes, some use the words "traditional dishes", "grandma's recipes", "diet cooking" or "healthy eating" and so on. But are they really authentic? If yes, how do you know they are actually "awesome"?

Whether the craze has caught on just of late, or has been there for sometime now, it has changed the way women look at cooking, for sure. At least the audience for "Who's cooking?" has gone up. Television surfing and You Tube searching has probably got this new name, and this is the current trend or a "fashion" rather, seemingly imposed on oneself out of compulsion.

Some women talk "big" and discuss "food", and healthy eating has definitely caught on. But it does not mean that only cornflakes, oats, sandwiches and muesli have to be served on dining tables for breakfast.

And dinner is no different. I understand that working women are back home fully burnt out but it is very shocking to see most of them walking straight into a hotel on the way back home, ordering something on the menu as takeaway, sipping a coffee and snacking on something hot and then heading towards a relaxed late evening, to watch popular soaps on the television. Which means, cooking dinner is out of question.

Some families have a well-planned weekend outing, almost every week, Thanks to the mushrooming malls, they set out early, munch on light breakfast, walk into the spa or parlour for a freshened look, do some window shopping, have a great lunch, watch a movie and sometimes have a "family dinner" outside. Thanks to these mall lovers, business is blooming for the restaurants and eateries, and they are simply minting money.

When I asked my friend recently, "Hey, what's cooking?" he had a confused look on his face and replied, "I'll know which chef has come alive today only when I open my lunch box."

I was rather surprised that at least he has a "lunch box" because most of the office-goers thrive on the office canteen these days!

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

I'm no football

Sometimes, I feel I'm a football. Right from the word 'Go'. I can see the goal post and nothing else. Innumerable fans are cheering me and want me to achieve something, or at least score one goal. But this is not possible within a given time frame because this is no football match. And I'm a lone player. Ever since I started perceiving things around me, I've been hearing this word. In its many avatars . Is the word so addictive? The first one came up when I was in school. My life was full of life and threw so many surprises. A mountain of advice followed me like a shadow -- from parents, teachers, elders and family friends: "Have a goal in life. Otherwise you will be nowhere." "Goals inspire you to achieve." "Dare to dream but work towards a goal." Then came the late teens and I was into a bit of reading. Just plain inquisitive. But again, the word "goal" did not let me go. I read some of the quotable quotes f...

Human Bonding in a Media-filled World : A Lost Paradise?

A friend once told me - the greatest pain that can be possibly inflicted on a mankind is abandonment. I didn't realise the significance of those words at the time, but then, that's what life is, right? We encounter several people, live through several moments, not realising their true meaning and value they would later hold for us. But that's beside the point. Coming back to my original point in mind, what is abandonment? A prominent dictionary gives " ceasing to support or look after (someone)" as one of the meanings. This led me to think. Some of the more primitive life forms seem to survive alone. As the animals became more evolved, there is a distinct preference to living in groups, or the beginnings of  'social life'. Humans are highly evolved beings, with complex minds capable of thinking beyond the comprehensible. History has been witness to the rise and fall of several great civilisations with complex social structures. But suddenly, ...

The Joy of Learning

My nephew was studying Chemistry the other day. He is in school, facing mountainloads of homework and an unending string of FAs and SAs. I was just observing him study, and his forehead was furrowed with concentration. But his eyes did not show interest. He is such an enthusiastic boy in everything he does, but somehow, studying for exams seemed like such a bitter pill to him. It didn't bother me whether he got good grades or not. It didn't bother me whether he excelled in academics or sports or the arts. What did bother me was whether he knew and felt  the true joy of learning. One day, we just casually started discussing something in biology and organic chemistry, two subjects which I have always just adored and loved from my heart. I was telling him how much I had enjoyed reading those subjects. For me, they were still a part of my life in so many subtle ways. He seemed astounded that these subjects could ever remain with us beyond school years, and that the...