Tuesday, December 31, 2019

The Village of Cooks

In south 300 km away from Puducherry lies a small village called KalayurKalayur is a village in Ramanathapuram in Tamil Nadu, India. It is located 25 km towards the north from Ramanathapuram and 9 km away from Paramakkudi.



Actually, every family in this village has a cook. Not not only the mothers, who by default ar cooks there are male cooks here and there are so many of them that this place is called the "VILLAGE OF COOKS".




There is an army of chefs here to put it simply cooking is in the genes of the men here. But how? and since when? Let's go and find out about this from the chief chef  MR. RANGANATHA who is known as the master here.


Hello, my name is Ranganath. I am the chief chef of Kalayur I have been cooking here for many years now. Here the tradition of having male cooks has been going on for generations. [-He Says]

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Actually, it all started 500 years back even before the Taj Mahal was built. When the wealthy Reddiar families of Tamil Nadu started to hire folks from the nearby village as cooks. Prior to that, they used to be fishermen but Reddiars found out that they can cook traditional Brahmin meals too. Since then they came to be known for it. But let me tell you that even though many here are in the profession of cooking their journey to become a cook hasn't been easy.

Oh yes! Training begins at a young age itself which means that the kids here don't play with the mud they play with spices.
The young boys in the village learn while working for them to learn well, they have to work really hard it all begins with chopping vegetables making fire. Slowly, they progress in order to became a senior a cook it takes 10 years.

Even the Hotel  Management courses are over in three to four years.
But in Kalayur it is only after 10 years that you can become an expert chef

Cooks in Kalayur begin their journey but they don't get the stuff from a storeroom or a fridge, but from the fields where they collect fruits, flowers, and herbs and then start their cooking. Consider it to be a French style of a hierarchy inside a kitchen where you start as an apprentice and become a head chef that journey is somewhat similar to this.

These cooks are so amazing that for marriages, traditional get-together and parties they are to be booked six months in advance. Be it a party for 1,000 people to 10,000 it's not a big deal for them it's a walk in the park for them. Moreover, these ninja-like cooks can cook food for 1000 people in just three hours.

Well, this is what you call traditional cooking knowledge I think that's what they are trained for 10 years from basic ingredients to the recipe they are made to learn everything so that they remember it for life.

What do you think? These men who are such amazing chefs must. be running their home kitchen, too right? well that's not the case so no matter how accomplished they are in cooking outside it's the women who rule the kitchen at homes.




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