You are what you eat! It may be this understanding that has seen people move healthy cooking and eating practices. Wondering if this had anything to do with the recent spurt in baking and cooking classes in the city, I decided to talk to a few workshop facilitators and students.
Lathadevi R Sivakumar, who runs Latha’s Kitchen Studio, started conducting cooking and baking classes as a hobby. ‘I wanted to teach children so that they know what goes into the food they ate. Slowly I started taking classes for adults too,” she says. Sivakumar has been conducting workshops for five years now and says, “My students range from little children to professionals who wish to hone their skills.”
Her workshop begins from the basics. “I make my students understand why an ingredient goes into a recipe so that they can substitute and experiment with it later.” A proponent of healthy cooking, she is against the use of ready-made masalas and gives her students hands-on training. “Some come to learn everyday dishes, some to be entrepreneurs. Students, newly-weds and mothers are the majority.” She teaches four batches in a month with sessions on a variety of cuisines.
“My three year old already wants to come with me to the baking class. She knows it helped me,” says Iswarya S., who has been a regular at Sivakumar’s baking sessions. “I wanted to help my brother with his bakery, so I joined the course.” She sees a lot of difference in herself after attending classes for over a year. “I was a shy person. I remember my hands shivering the first time I tried mixing the ingredients. A small mistake won’t give the desired result. I gained confidence and now I know I am good at it.” She now experiments with and customises recipes to suit her customers’ demands.
Natraj Murthy, Iswarya’s brother, attended the class four years ago. “Baking was my childhood dream. I was already into franchises. But I wanted to start my own business.” Murthy now own a bakery and supplies to around 20 outlets in Coimbatore. “I went to her classes to learn the basics. having been in the industry, I knew about health issues caused by bakery products. I wanted to supply healthy food to people with no chemicals or preservatives, and she helped me with that aspect.”
For Ponni M, attending these classes gave her the confidence to start an online business to sell her cakes and cookies. “I was a page maker before, but my heart was always in baking. After joining the course, I resigned my job in a week and became a full-fledged baker.” This home baker wanted hands-on training and says, “After the course I tried new recipes. My ragi cookies and health cookies are well-known. They don’t contain any maida.”
Manisha Khemka, who has been teaching for three years under the name Bayleaf Indian, says “Preferences change according to the students’ age. Youngsters want starters, baking and desserts, while older people want to learn about regular dishes.”
Shruti Mittal is a home-maker and wanted to make a variety of dishes for her children. “Being able to cook and bake was a dream. The first time I did it after the class, people who knew me couldn’t believe I had done it.”
The excitement in her voice is evident. And Khemka is always willing to help, she says. “I can contact her whenever I have doubts and, and she has never hesitated to help.”
Jyothi Malani says, “I wanted to learn vegetarian cooking and eggless desserts.” Having attended Khemka’s sessions on Bengali sweets, ice creams, salads, north Indian cooking, she says the classes are very effective. “We even have a WhatsApp group. When in doubt, there is always someone to help. We also share new recipes.”
Rashi Sureka, a CA student, says that such workshops “give us an opportunity to learn from our mistakes. Once my friend accidentally cut the cake she made. She did not know what to do but Khemka not only fixed it but also taught how to do it.” She now takes orders for birthday cakes, and also has plans to start a café.
Personal attention and meticulous training is what led V Veda Jaising to the workshops. “Khemka makes you do everything yourself, right from measuring ingredients. I think it is important to do that to understand the process. She encourages me and now my cakes are a hit in college.” Jaising has also started taking orders for cakes. .
Madhu Wadhwa, the owner of Upper Crust, enjoys interacting with young students. “The questions are very interesting and they are very enthusiastic in learning the craft”.
She also has older people and professionals attending her workshops. “I have trained chefs from the Air Force mess and from hotels in the city.”
Falguni Shah, a practising dentist, attended around six of Wadhwa’s classes. “I didn’t know cooking at all. I learnt it all from her. I tried everything she taught me” and she is now very interested in cooking. “I was trying to make hummus once. I messed it up and had to call her for help to get it fixed. I even call her from supermarkets to decide what kind of ingredients to pick up.”
To know more
Manisha Khemka : 9843517766, https://www.facebook.com/thebayleafindian
Madhu Wadhwa: 9894712054, https://www.facebook.com/MadhuWadhwaUpperCrust
Lathadevi Sivakumar: 9865037137, https://www.facebook.com/lathas.kitchenstudio