On daily chores and more ☀️
Theme blurb, pitch call, deadlines + everything related to Issue #3
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I am always scrounging for a meal or scrolling apps to decide what to eat next.
My neighbourhood, Azad Nagar, has a sprawling produce market — rasbhari (cape gooseberry), plush pink peru (guava), cleaned spring onions, big bunches of coriander, small red spherical radishes, and big kohlrabi bulbs with leafy heads — all laid neatly in the shops of vendors lined on both sides of the road. Sometimes walking there motivates me to imagine a meal in my head. Last evening, I went for a stroll with an empty tote and returned with a bunch of stuff I didn’t know I needed (I blame the fruit vendor for making me try a slice of peru and a bunch of rashbhari). I neatly wrapped the coriander in a kitchen towel, emptied the rashbhari in a bowl ( I plan to make a cape gooseberry cheong, so that I can save my favourite fruit for longer) and the remaining shopping in the produce compartment of my fridge. As I prepare for dinner, I take the leftover moong-palak dal I made for lunch and cut up some cucumber, carrots and tomatoes on the side. For additional oomph, I take a spoonful of coriander-coconut chutney on the side — it makes everything better.
I have never been one to meal prep. But the task of preparing two meals a day from scratch takes up so much of my mind space that meal prepping seems like a convenient solution. This is not like the Emily Mariko meal prep ( so satisfying to watch) , something that I can devote a full day to and then use for the entire week. I prep stuff in batches, cooking something extra so that it sustains for more than 2-3 meals. Having some condiments in the fridge also helps a lot to add flavour and make anything delicious. I have been extensively using Condiment Claire, Keertida, and Ottolenghi’s recipes to make condiments and to get ideas for seasonal, easy-to-make daily meals.
Recipes are often supporting wheels. I like to use them to guide me and then work my way around with whatever ingredients I already have in my pantry. This confidence also comes from cooking every day. I am adept at savoury cooking but not so much at the sweet stuff. And I strongly believe that, as a vegetarian, I can whip up a delicious meal fairly quickly.
Sometimes, I make lunch in between work meetings—a privilege only available to WFH people. But when I had to go to work every day, I hired a cook to pack my lunch. For the last year, I have been making my own meals every day and actively cooking. It’s the cleaning up afterward that I still don’t do. However, when I was living in the US, there was no option but to clean up after cooking/eating.
Someone has to execute this daily chore of cooking to keep a plate of food in front of you at least twice a day. The act is deeply tied to the culture of domesticity, which then becomes a gendered act of labour, mostly always dependent on women. A large part of India and the world also cooks for livelihood – making a living out of cooking for other people is not always a glamorous job. It might seem different on-screen, when chefs and cooks whip up meals with all the drama and theatre of juggling ingredients in the air. The four-cornered frame is only a peek; what happens outside of it, no one knows.
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