To cook or not to cook? An existential question haunts millennials

Siddharth Raghuvanshi, 32, a central supply manager, was not prepared for the 21-day lockdown. His flatmates left for their home states before March 22 and the domestic

Siddharth Raghuvanshi, 32, a central supply manager, was not prepared for the 21-day lockdown. His flatmates left for their home states before March 22 and the domestic help who cooked for him was asked to stay at home. So, between conference calls, he has now been learning recipes from YouTube to get by.

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“The last time I picked a spatula to cook was six years ago. I can only make eggs and Maggie. I am wary of ordering food online due to contamination. So, the other day I turned to YouTube and I made rice in a cooker and potatoes after watching a tutorial on YouTube. I cannot knead dough, so I shall be eating rice for the foreseeable future it seems,” said Raghuvanshi.

Raghuvanshi is like a lot of people in the city--alienated and confined to their homes in an enforced solitude with a pressing need to cook for survival. The coronavirus outbreak has disrupted routines and forced a drastic change in habits and food consumption patterns, especially for a generation of millennials accustomed to a life of convenience, dining out or ordering food online.

With food deliveries becoming unpopular because of risk of infection, many have taken to cooking through online tutorials and tips from family. Mostly, it’s a bit of hit-and-trial.

Ritik Garg, 23, a sales operations executive, was pressed to prepare meals for himself for the first time in his life after his cook couldn’t come to work. Thankfully, his mother could come to his rescue with some technological help.

“I video-called my mother and she taught me how to prepare an onion parantha. It took me 45 minutes to prepare a basic pantha. I tried cooking bread pakora from a YouTube tutorial, but got the proportions all wrong. Till the lockdown continues, I plan to cook items which do not require too many ingredients or involve much effort,” he said, adding that if the lockdown continued for long, he would try to make some arrangement for his daily meals.

As terms like social distancing, self- isolation, self-quarantine and -containment enter India’s lexicon, the experience of eating is witnessing a change. From a communal experience it is now morphing into a solitary exercise that people indulge in sitting in their balconies looking out onto eerily empty streets and cities.

Garg said that in the past two years, since he started living with three flatmates, he had hardly ever cooked his own meals or eaten alone. “It is strange to eat at an empty table. I am eating in front of a TV these days. All my flatmates left for their homes. Before the lockdown, when the househelp took a leave, we either dined at a restaurant or ordered for food, and took turns at washing utensils. Now, I have to do everything on my own. I feel like I have aged,” he said.

Raghuvanshi said that he had arranged for disposable cookware after two days of washing utensils on his own. “It is draining to cook meals, wash utensils and manage work calls,” he said.

For numerous working professionals, who had shifted to the city close on the heels of the lockdown and relied heavily on food delivery services, the bandh has meant fewer meals and living in a perpetual state of anxiety.

Raunak Gupta, who recently joined an e-commerce company, shifted to DLF-3 U Block from Jaipur on March 10. “I moved in with a friend and was yet to rent a house when the lockdown was announced. I used to order all my meals online as I cannot cook. Since last week, I have limited my meals to twice a day. I eat bread-butter and one meal I order online. But who knows till when the food delivery services will be permitted to work? What happens if they stop?” he said worried.

Today, Gupta is reminded of the numerous times his family asked him to learn cooking in case of an emergency. “I never thought that with all the technology and delivery services, I would ever need to learn to cook. I am now contemplating cooking for myself, but all I have is an induction plate. I cannot even purchase utensils right now,” said Gupta.

Shashank, a marketing professional, has been in quarantine in an emptied out DLF-2 hotel since he arrived from Hyderabad for an interview last week, before the lockdown was announced. “I am surviving on fruits. Two days, I ordered food online but suffered food poisoning. I purchased bread and butter from a grocery store but in the absence of a refrigerator, it became stale. I guess it’ll just be fruits till the quarantine ends,” he said.

However, for those adept at cooking, the lockdown has proved to be an opportunity to better their cooking and flaunt it on social media.

Jasleen Kaur, a city-based liaison manager, said that she has been cooking thrice a day. “I saw people on social media challenging each other to cook a certain recipe and post pictures. Earlier, I used to be knackered to cook after office hours, but with work-from-home, I have more time. It is nice to cook after a long time, like rediscovering a forgotten skill,” she said.