What's cooking?

AS I flicked through the pages of 'The Week' magazine recently, my attention was caught by an interesting photograph. It was of the famous culinary-cum-nutrition expert of yesteryear, Thangam Philip, celebrating her eightieth birthday in Mumbai. Instantly, my thoughts went "Rewind Galore." Every bride in my teenage years had to include, as a necessary part of her trousseau, two books worth their weight in gold - Dr. Benjamin Spock's 'Baby and Child Care' and Meenakshi Ammal's 'Samaithu Paar' ('Cook and See' as literally translated). This book comprised an interesting medley of curries, powders, sweets, mixed rice varieties and what not. The way to a man's heart (the end-all and be-all was to please thy lord and master!) was through his stomach. This truth was dinned into every bride-to-be's head.

That good food be served at every meal, is insisted upon even today but greater attention seems to be paid to nutrition and eating healthy food. Nevertheless, variety fare continues to be popular. Literally pandering to the people's interest in tasty food are the satellite channels which devote a weekly half-hour to demonstrating recipes.

The pick of the lot to me was Vijay TV's "Samayal Samayal" telecast every Sunday at one o' clock in the afternoon. The show conducted by Sharmila and Venkatesh Bhat is interesting. The only flaw is that at times their voices get drowned by the background music. The programme I saw provided a useful tip on how to remove the bitterness from bittergourd. After letting us into that secret, Bhat demonstrated a novel recipe - 'koli thair curry.' The ingredients were clearly shown and the process carefully explained with Sharmila repeating each step a few times. Just when I, a total vegetarian, began to feel left out Sharmila asked a relevant question - whether there was a vegetarian substitute for chicken in the recipe. The answer was, of course, soya. The vegetarian recipe included a dry ladies finger curry. Viewers learnt that Kashmiri red chillies lent a bright red colour but were not too hot on the tongue. The best part of the programme was audience participation. They were invited to taste, comment on the dishes and even ask questions. There were prizes for the best questions. As the channel had arranged for audience participation, it was an innovative and satisfying half-hour. Well done Vijay TV.

Jaya TV's "Arusuvai Neram" on Thursdays at 6.30 p.m. conducted by culinary expert Mallika Badrinath, is another show which is very popular. Her demonstrations are clear and the kitchen displays various products manufactured by the sponsors - Anandam gingelly oil, Opal grinder, Mallika Home Products etc. The advertisements in between are all of interest to women who love cooking - a practical move indeed, on the part of the organisers. The viewership rating for this programme is high as many housewives try out the recipes and even discuss them at kitty parties.

"Saapida Vanga" by Doordarshan is one of the first and perhaps most well-received of cookery programmes that have been telecast. It comes on air just before the movie on Sunday evenings. It is sponsored by Vasanth and Co. I happened to see a demonstration of three recipes by three contestants respectively. A panel of three judges from Vasanth and Co. decided the winning recipes. The winners got gifts of household products from the company's showroom. However, the recipes - fruit kesari, idli upma and capsicum rice - appeared too simple and lacked novelty.

To qualify for participation in a contest, the recipes should be a little out of the ordinary. Strangely, the sponsors kept commenting over and over again about the time and trouble that the contestants had taken over the preparations!

Sun TV News Channel telecasts from Monday to Friday, every week, a recipe a day in its 'AVM's Mangaiyar Choice.' The dishes are simple - like pineapple kesari and omelette dosai - hardly requiring any effort at all. The demonstration is slow and repeated so that the viewers can catch on without difficulty.

Households where the womenfolk watch these programmes are fortunate since the family members can look forward to relishing novel recipes, practically every day. After all, was it not Virginia Wolf who said - "One cannot think well, live well, sleep well if one has not dined well."

THARA MOHAN RAO

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