“Reading Recipe books”…ask any wannabe cook or a novice trying his hands in cooking that, ‘ how he/she can become a good cook’ and most probably that would be the answer. Honestly speaking even I followed these books when I had started my journey through the kitchen. I still remember that as a college goer, when I was still a beginner and was learning to prepare breakfast, I dwelt heavily on these recipe books. And must admit that they did help me and do admire them even now. Nowadays, there are some culinary institutes which offer best culinary courses in...

A dinner date, specifically a candle lit dinner date is something what romantic stories are made of. Now, if the food is good and the company entertaining, then one cannot but exclaim that this is what life is made of ! Talking of dinner, I too went on a dinner date and no, not with a friend, but with my family. I reminisce that time when it was the early 90s and I had gone to this upmarket restaurant situated in a posh Gurgaon locality along with my Maa and Dad. And the food on menu was mixture of veg...

Culinary art has gone through much changes since it first came into vogue. Culinary arts has gone through a sea of innovation since it was first incorporated in day to day life. It is a known fact that cooking is a vital part of our day to day life. There are many professional culinary colleges in Asansol where the enrollees can get acquainted with all the aspects of cooking. Here they are taught the alpha and omega of cooking. The professional culinary colleges in Aurangabad are structured in such a way that people can easily learn everything about cooking by...

My cooking… now one may fall short of words in describing it. My first encounter with the saucepan and gas flames was at ten years old. Tea was the first thing that I learnt to cook. I also tried my hands in omelette making and few snacks like sandwiches, as an 11 years old and proud to declare they were quite a success. And that was that. I learnt nothing else relative to cooking till my mid twenties. I will like to share one more experience when my grandma came visiting. My parents were out of home due to some...

Culinary is not a new profession in India. Culinary art has always existed in India, but in the Indian form. The earlier Indian cooks were known as the khansamas who were home bred and illiterate and yet could cook some delicious food. These khansamas usually used to work in Indian household. There are various professional culinary schools in Noida where the students can learn the latest technique in cooking. These cooking courses are taught by complete hands on training. There are many professional culinary courses in Siligudi, where the students can learn everything about cooking from chefs of international repute....

You can call me a softcore non vegetarian( if there’s a term called so). In other words, I eat non veg only on occasions. I‘d like to share one of the experiences I had while going on a trip to the coastal state of Goa . Now, Goa is famous for its seafood. So, as we halted to a small restaurant and ordered a non veg platter. We pre assumed it to be prawns or the maximum some exotic fish or something. And the food finally arrived….and left us well, speechless! There was seafood, right, but not in the form...

School tiffin period……I guess everyone has some special nostalgia attached to it. Who can forget the different aromas that spread across the classrooms and class corridors as everyone opened one’s tiffins during the break period? This was perhaps the best part of being in school. Schools are these universal divine places where children belonging to different caste,creed, language, religion etc. intermingle to get the gift of education. So, it was obvious that the tiffin period was too, a harmonious blend of aromas coming from cuisines of different times. There was a south Indian girl in our class whose mother made...

I got married at 22. I was straight out of college. I was good in academics, music, painting, and everything else that goes on to make a good housewife. Only thing…. I didn’t know, how to cook. After marriage, my husband was transferred outstation and consequently only after a month we, moved out from our in laws house. So, as would be anyone’s guess, I learnt nothing related to gourmet sciences or the art of cooking. So, my only ray of hope came in the form of my husband. He could cook, but more of a ‘make do’ cook. In...

India is a big country and it would not be wrong to say it is primarily a world within a country. Its home to several cultures, sub-cultures and a colourful amalgamation of several philosophical views, religions, languages and cuisines. On the topic of food, let’s come to the great Indian divide. Of course, the North-South divide. North India is proud of their wheat breads such as naan, roti etc. whereas South India seems particularly fond of their rice based products such as dosa, idli, appam, etc. So who scores? Well, on the subject of food let’s do a quick swot...