Food business seems to be thriving in Bangalore. Every street and alley of the city is dotted with dosa camps, idli carts, and chaat stalls. What's even more interesting is that encouraged by cooking contests like the 'Master Chef", craving for cooking is also on the rise.
Many teenagers have turned their kitchens into craft rooms, where they experiment with spicy samosas to sweet and succulent shakarpara and more. Some have even gone to the extent of joining culinary courses to hone their skills.
“This is good news,” says Abhijit Saha, founder director and chef at Avant Garde Hospitality. “Cooking is an art, which requires lot of passion. There is a dearth of trained chefs in the city. More people have started taking cooking seriously,” he adds.
Hotel management schools too are encouraging students by conducting workshops and contests. Chef Shaun Kenworthy, director, Indismart Group, believes that Bangalore has the potential to nurture great chefs. The Indian Institute of Hotel Management recently conducted the Indian Schools Young Chef contest 2013 in collaboration with the ministry of tourism. Over 500 enthusiastic Class XII youngsters participated. “Of this, we zeroed in on one competent chef. This winner will go to London for the grand finale.
The number of participants was quite encouraging. To motivate cooking as a career, we plan to have more such contests in the future,” says Kenworthy. Prashant Kumar, 16, took to cooking after being inspired by the Hollywood animated blockbuster, Ratatouille. He says, “Anybody can cook was the message of the movie.” Prashant used to help his mother in the kitchen and that’s how he developed a love for cooking. “I treat the whole cooking process as an art-- right from chopping vegetables to garnishing the finished product,” says Kumar, who aspires to own a restaurant in the city some day. Creative executive Sahar Adil got into food business by sheer accident. “I started off by helping out a friend of mine for potluck.
Gradually, I started taking orders for small birthday parties. Today, it’s become a lucrative business,”says Adil, who calls her eating joint ‘Say You Made It’. With a fresher earning Rs12 to Rs15,000 per month cooking is a lucrative career option. They get opportunities to travel abroad and even earn up to $55,000 a year. Those with dreams can make their mark in the food business..
“Once people get to love the taste of your food, they will come to you over and again,”says Saha, adding that there are people who volunteer to work part time too.
“Many a time, people who are enthusiastic about cooking volunteer to work with us for a few months, and we are more than happy to give them an opportunity,” he signs off.
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