BENGALURU: Bengaluru-based food blogger Vidyalakshmi was glancing through her grandmother’s collection of recipe books when she stumbled upon treasure, a cookbook from the 1920s. The blogger feels many families these days do not share the recipes as they would like to guard heirloom recipes, thus making the book more precious.
Meenakshiamma Cooking Book was a real blast from the past (literally). Vidyalakshmi said, “The book has over 130 recipes such as pepper gravy/millagu kuzhambu, bitter gourd stir fry, pumpkin pachadi and beans paruppu usili. Meenakshiamma was perhaps a really popular cook in the 1920s and 30s. The recipes belong to food prepared in Tamil brahmin households.”
With the aid of such resources, Vidyalakshmi plans to recreate the forgotten traditions and post them on her blog. “My grandmother loved to cook. They used a different way of cooking. The Tamil Iyengars would not use garlic or onion in the food they prepared on auspicious days. All recipes are vegetarian,” she said. Recreating these recipes, however, come with their own set of challenges.
“The masala they used tasted different as they would grind them at home, not with mixer or grinder like we do today. The measurements too are different as they would cook for at least 10 to 12 members. I haven’t been able to get that exact consistency as I try to measure with cups,” she explained.
Finding the book also gave rise to a new mission for Vidyalakshmi. She plans to find out more about the food mentioned in the folktales of India. “There are many Indian stories which speaks of food. For example, Vikramaditya. Such stories mention food items such as peanut laddoos. I would like to recreate them,” she said.
Food has always been a passion for Vidyalakshmi, who previously worked as a fashion designer for a few years. She started blogging about food a decade ago. “I used to cook and post pictures on Orkut and Facebook. I moved on to posting videos once that picked up. Now, my hobby has turned into my profession,” she said proudly. Today, she also conducts food walks for Unhurried, a company that holds sessions on the history and heritage of the city.