Cuisine Egalite

It바카라�s a fact driven into us, day after dispiriting day, that we live in an age of confinement바카라�locked up within four walls as an unseen, deadly occupier declares curfew. For the elderly and the infirm who need daily care, the second wave of the pandemic, like last year바카라�s lockdown months, has left them destitute of all care: geriatric help and household chore, as well as that daily necessity바카라�the preparation of nourishing food. For others too, cooking is an interminable drag. For all of them, meal boxes prepared by 바카라�home chefs바카라� have appeared as pleasant, and predictable, agents of salvation. Indeed, isn바카라�t this a step away from a DIY gourmet food kit, itself the saviour of many a fashionable eatery?

Aparajita Sen, an engineer based in Mumbai, was worried how her aged parents living in Delhi would manage without their cook. Then, through a friend, she got in touch with Sarthak Grover, the founder of Zingg바카라�a community of home chefs and food lovers across Delhi NCR that serves as a marketplace enabling home chefs to increase their custom. Grover connected her to the home chefs who could cater to the needs of her ailing parents.

Talking about founding Zingg in 2019, Sarthak says, 바카라�My passion for food was the driving force for starting Zingg. Because of a multicultural family바카라�on my dad바카라�s side, we have relatives who are Bengali, Burmese, Goan Christian and Jewish바카라�I have grown up eating a diverse range of cuisine. One can바카라�t get authentic regional food in Delhi NCR easily, so when I saw home chefs bridging this gap, I strove to create a platform for them and to form a community around the love of food.바카라�

Food cooked by home chefs, says Sarthak, differs from restaurant food in the single most important ingredient바카라�eateries cook from a ready template, leaving a similar patina of taste on the palate for every preparation. On the other hand, home chefs of Zingg make special meals for even Covid pat­ients. 바카라�Home cooked food is a game changer,바카라� says Sarthak with satisfaction.

Faced with a barrage of orders from Covid sufferers, home chefs are proving equal to the challenge.  Sarthak says, 바카라�We have encouraged home chefs to come up with affordable, nutritious tiffin-style daily meals for them. Chefs are working tirelessly towards lunch and dinner deliveries and have highly streamlined operations as frontline Covid food providers. They are providing hundreds of meals to Covid patients.바카라� Then there are the humanitarians in the Zingg community who are even providing food for free.

Home chef Ashwini Shroff quit his restaurant business and started his home kitchen Spicy Triangle during the 2020 lockdown from his residence in Vasant Vihar, Delhi. 바카라�My home kitchen is famous for tandoori kebabs, mutton chops and almond halwa. On April 14, seeing the dire situation in Delhi, I started providing food free of cost,바카라� says Ashwini. He sends breakfast to 20 homes with diabetic or sick patients and to the elderly who cannot cook. Lunch and dinner boxes are sent to 108 houses too.

Ashwini바카라�s meal boxes consist of one dal and one vegetable curry with rice and roti. The punctual Ashwini delivers breakfast by 9 am, lunch at 1.30 pm and dinner by 8.30 pm.  Besides, he also sends medicines, adult diapers, toiletries and fruits to senor citizens. In the teeth of the pandemic바카라�s sledgehammer blows, his is community service with the utm­ost dedication. 바카라�The home chefs and I get daily calls to identify people who can serve food to Covid-infected families, so we바카라�re interacting with each other on how to best serve people,바카라� says Sarthak.

Bhojan, another new-age food tech start-up, is dedicated to providing affordable meals. Bhojan founder Vaibbhav Arora says, 바카라�We are driven by the recognition of every human바카라�s right to a clean, fulfilling meal. Bhojan helps create a platform for mass food distribution and nurtures micro-entrepreneurship.바카라�

Opening up further on their credo, Vaibbhav adds, 바카라�With people helping each other in these chaotic times, we felt that we had to be part of the solution. Since our mission is to make quality food accessible through affordable pricing, we serve those stuck in containment zones and under home quarantine.바카라� Bhojan offers seven-day, 14-day and monthly subscriptions in select locations in Gurugram. People can easily subscribe through WhatsApp for 바카라�Chhota Bhojan바카라� (breakfast opt­ions) and combo meals at Rs 49 each, Standard Meals at Rs 69 and thalis at Rs 89.

In Mumbai, chef Ananya Banerjee바카라�s dream of a restaurant was nixed by the virus, ultimately leading her to cooking out of her kitchen. 바카라�Since a lot of thought and structuring of my menu was in place, the shift was not difficult,바카라� says Ananya. Her forte is cuisines neglected by restaurants바카라�Bengali food, Calcutta Anglo-Indian cuisine, Tangra (Calcutta바카라�s China-town) Chinese, Zakharia Street Mughlai food and Odia food. Customers are also lapping up her Ethiopian, Peruvian, German and Turkish cuisine.

Other than hygiene and taste, the trying times we endure demands safe and reliable packing. 바카라�Each food is packed in individual boxes, then the boxes are wrapped in a paper bag and sealed. That goes into ano­ther bag, which the courier carries. So, the first two layers can be discarded, making the delivery contactless.바카라�

Ananya, of course, has more niche customers than do Sarthak and Vaibbhav. 바카라�I have chosen a bespoke, gourmet meals model. I have created dishes like 바카라�Lobster Thermidor바카라� and 바카라�Wellington바카라� in my French meals, 바카라�Saurbraten바카라� for my German meals and 바카라�Tres Letches바카라� for my Peruvian meals,바카라� she says.

Noida-based Ayandrali Dutta is known for her thematic food pop-ups바카라�with a specialisation in Bengali and Odia cuisine바카라�at her home. The pandemic put an end to all that. 바카라�I got a lot of query regarding delivery during that time and that바카라�s when I thought it wouldn바카라�t be a bad option to explore,바카라� says Ayandrali. Going by the current costs of ordering in, the price range of Ayandrali바카라�s meals is reasonable. 바카라�I do bulk orders of one or two dishes, like mutton kosha (dry mutton curry) or fish kalia (fish in thick onion and tomato gravy) for 10 people바카라�the cost depends on that and on the distance the food travels,바카라� she adds.

Nutan Dayal, a home chef from Gurgaon who specialises in Thai cuisine says, 바카라�We lived in Thailand for 14 years and made Thai food at home. Back in India, we saw only limited Thai options바카라�mostly red and green curry and stir fry. That바카라�s when I started cooking home-style Thai food. The realities of the pandemic also spurred her on. 바카라�During the lockdown there was a demand for home chefs in my apartment complex and I started taking orders and refined my dishes.바카라�

Nutan바카라�s signature dishes include turmeric chicken (from southern Thailand), yellow curry crab and fried morning glory salad. Most of her curry pastes are authentic and made at home.

Catering to the demotic and the pandemic-hit as well as those with refined palates and bigger purses, home chefs have turned the death knell of restaurants into that sweetest of chimes바카라�a call to sample culinary excellence on tables laden with flavorous forgetfulness.