Changes in lifestyle transform home kitchens, give birth to corona cuisine

Bhubaneswar: The coronavirus outbreak and the consequent lockdown have not only brought about immediate changes to our lives — making us work from home, wash our hands more often and wear masks outside — they are likely to have long-term impact on our lives, especially on how and what we eat.
A glimpse of the changes can be seen on the social media. Home-cooking has come back into fashion, partly because most hired cooks and household helps are yet to resume work and eating at restaurants is out of the question, but also because people are appreciating the virtues of old recipes, easy-to-cook and simple meals and improvisation with limited items in the larder. Twitter, Instagram and Facebook are flooded with pictures of home-made cakes and traditional curries. Many have turned vegetarian or vegan to boost immunity, and the intake of herbs, fruits and nutritious food has increased.
“As a food community we keenly observe the changing trends in the kitchen. People are innovating, replicating their favourite street food, rationing resources and using ingredients wisely. We also find a lot of men cooking. It is also a good time for home chefs to take online classes and teach easy recipes to people,” said Rohit Srivastava, founder of FoodFindo, the state’s largest food community.
Not everyone is out making Instagram-worthy food, however. With family members at home all the time, homemakers are struggling to keep meals interesting. “Children are not going to school and their demand for tasty food has increased. Managing the kitchen and the home without the maid or the cook, plus juggling work, is a nightmare. I ask my mother to send me old recipes like pithas, nimiki, jhuri, muduki and chuda bhaja. I am also trying my hand at making gupchup, chat, jhal-mudhi at home,” said Tanuja Patnaik, an IT professional.
With the scope to eat street food nearly zero, the focus has now also moved to nutritious food and the use of local and hyper-local produce. Leftovers are being recycled to make new dishes and wastage of food has come down to a minimum.
“Earlier, we would cook more and waste more. Now, we try to reuse or recycle food. We are avoiding packaged and frozen foods, and have increased our consumption of fresh vegetables and fruits. We are avoiding non-veg, and instead of drinking tea and coffee, we are drinking ‘kadha’ using herbs and things like ginger, mint, coriander and bay leaves,” said Smita Sahu, a housewife.
Food bloggers believe that several old recipes, which were almost in the danger of being lost forever, have made a comeback. People have more time now to cook up elaborate dishes, and get pleasure out of posting pictures of them on social media. “This is a welcome change. People have reduced their dependence on food from outside. I find them trying difficult and traditional dishes. The lockdown has truly changed the way we looked at food,” said Ritu Mohanty, a popular food blogger.