Down with a fever or fatigue, with no energy to cook – all a COVID patient then wants is a nutritious meal of homemade food. And that desire led to a new army of Covid warriors – the home cooks. In the pre-COVID era, they were known for delivering Ghar Ka Khana to working people and students, or for hosting regional cuisine pop-ups. However, during the pandemic, many of them are making efforts to offer healthy homemade foods to those affected.
Achieve with Comfort Food
Be it Covid-positive patients, their families, or those on the front lines – home cooks are trying their best to reach them with good home cooking. In Pune, Joravar Singh Sachdev and his wife Priyanka began distributing meals to Covid sufferers when he heard of an initiative to “promise a meal”. “Instead of donating, my friend wanted to give food to these people. So she gave me Rs. 10,000 and asked me to send hygienically and neatly packaged groceries. We spread this in our social circles and asked those affected to contact us for a free meal, ”says Joravar, who sent 100 meals for the first time in early May. So far, the couple have shipped 12,500 meals in Pune. The food boxes have a simple vegetarian diet, either vegetable biryani with salad or dal khichdi.
In Bangalore, Miti Desai created a platform called Recipe Of Hope, where home cooks from across the state can come together and serve meals to those affected by COVID in their respective areas. “The platform offers free homemade meals, but you have to pay the delivery costs. The whole initiative is rooted in the value of seeing the community as a family. The house cooks cook the meals and we accompany the entire process – from order acceptance to packaging and delivery, ”says Desai, who now leads the initiative with over 80 house cooks and has sent around 125-150 meals a day a month from May .
Make the most of your skills
For Delhi-based home cook Mrinali Haryali, who started her business last year, distributing meals at nominal prices to Covid sufferers is now top priority. “I had received desperate calls from families saying that the whole family had an infection and that there was no help around the house to get food or cooking. Each of these messages was about requests for food. I thought to myself that if I can’t serve it now, then there is no point in being a cook, ”she says. She serves vegetarian thali in different parts of Delhi at a nominal price of Rs 150. “I send 50 to 80 thali a day and I have to take care of about 20 families which is frankly stressful. But I think it’s my duty because good food helps them get on the path to recovery, ”she adds.
What all initiatives have in common is that they serve home-made home-cooked food with minimal spices. The focus is on simple and hygienic, with dishes such as roti sabzi, daal chawal, etc.
“At a time when delivery partners like Swiggy and Dunzo were inactive due to strict lockdown rules in Delhi, home cooks were going to homes near them to deliver fresh meals” – Mrinali Hariyali, Delhi home cook
“When we get texts and pictures from people who receive our food parcels, we are satisfied. In this gloomy phase, this simple service puts a smile on our faces. ”- Joravar Singh Sachdev, Owner, Two Mad Cooks, Pune.
source https://dailyhealthynews.ca/two-mad-cooks-home-chefs-whip-up-healthy-meals-for-the-covid-affected/
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