Masterchef lockdown: Goa kids don aprons, impress online

PANAJI: In mid-March, as fears around Covid-19 infections were beginning to grow, a couple from Panaji — Sulaxa, a counsellor, and Manesh, an engineer — decided to shift to their ancestral home in Nadora along with their two daughters.
Born and brought up in the city, simple village life was a wondrous experience for seven-year-old Sayee. Cooking on a wood-fired ‘chulah’ especially caught her fancy and she decided to digitally document the traditional cooking process with the help of her 11-year-old sibling Juyee.

It is Sayee’s aunt who decided to upload the videos online. In the first video, Sayee explains to her audience the process of cooking parboiled rice.
“She first came up to me to ask how I would be cooking without all the appliances we have back at our home in Panaji. I explained to her and then she repeated the process for the video, guided by her elder sister. She later made other videos, like explaining how flour is made using the grindstone. Along with their sense of wonder, the passion to make these videos grew. Also, we do not have any television or any other luxuries here to distract them,” their mother Sulaxa said.
It is not just Sayee’s aunt, but also many parents across the state who have similarly began sharing videos of their young children cooking.
Four-year-old Caranzalem-resident Samaira Sayed’s first video was meant to teach her audience how the French toast is made.
Such videos are sparking a trend online, as netizens find entertainment value in the innocent narration of the ‘cookery’ classes.
“On weekdays, my wife and I remain busy working from home. So, on Saturday and Sunday, when we are free, we thought of doing some constructive activity with our daughter. She otherwise plays with atta (wheat flour) and things like that. Now with the lockdown, we don’t even allow her to go outside to play, so she gets bored. We thought making the video will help her build her communication skills,” businessman Shaibaz Sayed said.
Seeing the positive response received online from family, friends and neighbours and the improvement in their daughter’s communication skills, Shaibaz and his wife decided to continue the ‘series’.
“We first explain to her how the dish is made and then tell her to narrate it. I let her do all the mixing work and I do the actual cooking on the flame. After the French toast, she made a video on making pancakes. She was hesitating the first time, now she feels much more confident. A neighbour commented on the video saying that we can now have a YouTube channel hosted by her,” Samaira’s father said.
Akshata Puranik Bhat from Merces, similarly shared a video online of her 7-year-old Atharv mixing the batter for a chocolate cake.
“We do not have a TV at home and my younger son was asking for the mobile phone a lot after the lockdown left us confined to our home. We involved him in a lot of craft and art. But with a lot of time at hand, how much can you engage them in activities. So I thought of involving him in the kitchen,” Akshata said.
Head teacher at Bhatikar Primary School in Margao, Anju Kamat is also encouraging each of her teachers to get parents to introduce their children to cooking skills.
“The parents make videos of their children cutting vegetables or rolling chapatis and send them to their teachers everyday. Even otherwise, we encourage parents to involve children in housework to promote responsible behaviour in the children. Parents have found this useful during this lockdown period,” Kamat said.

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