Chef’s emotions translate into taste
By: Desh Bir
Can we recall the last time when we licked our fingers out of admiration for a dish? Perhaps, yes, (though such occasions are only a few) and we even remember the location and the occasion and the person responsible for preparing such a delectable recipe. Do we really know what made it happen so?
Primarily , it is the emotions of the chef that go into the savoury, appetizing, tempting, mouth-watering preparation .When the person doing the cooking is emotionally involved in the process , all his / her energies are directed towards making the end-result something memorable . It is the natural wish of a chef to be told how wonderful the preparation is.
The truth is that the emotional state of the chef (at home) is a key factor in imparting to it a flavor of health and wholesomeness. The chef’s effort always is to give his /her best to the people hoping to enjoy the food. He/ she is emotionally tied to the beneficiaries and his/ her affections are passed on to the takers of a dish through its taste and tanginess.
A mother does her best to choose the dish she wants to prepare for the child. She taps all the possible resources available in the kitchen to come up with something that shall draw the child at once towards the preparation. She uses semolina, vermicelli, corn flour, custard powder , jelly , jams , cheese , butter , porridge , oats and whatnot to ensure that the stuff should tickle the palate of the child.
In that effort, the mother also ensures that the variety available is rotated periodically in order to avoid any aversions because of repetitive servings. She has love and only love, boundless, unconditional love for the child. When a similar emotion flushes through the cook for the partakers of food, the results are wonderful.
If at the time of cooking , the chef , whether a member of the family or someone doing it for a salary, is passing through an emotional turmoil and happens to writhe in anger because of what somebody in the family has doled out to him/ her, the results are going to be disastrously unsavoury. The anger or the venom that affected the cook at the time of plying his / her culinary skills will spill over to the stuff so prepared.
On the contrary, if goodwill and warmth flood the mind of the cook, he or she will, without knowing it, pass on the same positivity to the food. If he /she recite Lord’s name as the Sikhs do while preparing community food in Gurudwara, the food gets divinely blessed. Then it is ambrosia!
(The author is a retired principal)
