Cooking is not a natural skill with all and sundry, but practice does bring results. Along with subtle and bold blends of spices, the balance to be maintained between sweet, sour and salty is no joke. Of course professional chefs are a breed apart. Around more than four decades ago, a girl was expected to know the art of cooking and when the groom’s
entourage came to “see” the bride, the first question would be, “Does she know how to cook?” That was the litmus test to go further, or stop at that juncture and walk out of the door. If the groom was a catch, the paternal grandmother or a well wisher, if present, would jump to the rescue and declare, “Yes, yes, she is learning and will become an expert quite soon.” At times a small white lie would be included, “The ‘halwa’ offered to you today was indeed prepared by her!” The girl would turn pale as she would not have the faintest idea of the recipe! But once the alliance was fixed, the period till the wedding would include rigorous training in culinary skills for the girl, whether she liked it or not.
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Those were the days when girls had a minimal education, a tenth, plus two or bachelor’s degree at best, and were ingrained to become home makers. As such cooking was part of the bridal package, whilst the boy was the sole breadwinner. Down the years, girls opted for a career and cooking took the backseat as the mother or elder would cook and pack
the box for her. So it was sheer luck for the boy if she knew the art of cooking along with earning a monthly pay package. From the past two decades or so, the situation has changed with both boys and girls opting for lucrative careers far away from home.
Where is the time to learn cooking or where is the elderly relative nearby to teach it? But cook they must, at least occasionally, as who can eat out of a can or a parcel every day?
Distances may mean time zone differences and hardship in convenient conversation with family back home. So the new school? YouTube! Many enterprising housewives happily post videos of recipes with the method of cooking that can verily beat the traditional method of practical observation and measuring ingredients using one’s hand, using terms
like one hand, half a hand, one fistful, and so on which were in usage in the golden days.
An interesting development is the gender parity in culinary skills and the young working couple both take turns to cook. Extremes are rare when the husband refuses to handle the ladle come what may! Conversely there are a few husbands who happily don the apron while the wife’s role is only of passing comments on the dish prepared! A relative of mine
is blessed in this regard and her husband – a foodie – does papads and pickles and eagerly tries out new recipes, taking lessons from the modern teachers on YouTube. Once she brought over what he had prepared, but implied that she had a role too in the outcome, saying in an authoritative tone, “I made him add green peas to the dish!” I could barely conceal my amusement at this.
