BENGALURU: While kids have found it hard to deal with the lockdown and its aftermath, most will agree that a small silver lining has been the extra dose of family time. With both parents home, children of chefs in the city were probably on the luckier side, not having got a chance to miss restaurant quality food. Chef dads, on the other hand, have been working extra hard to please their little critics, one who is tougher than all others they’ve encountered.
Ashley D’Souza, a chef and father to a one-and a-half-year-old girl, says the challenge has been to manage taste and health. “My wife and I try to make her dishes less fried, while keeping flavour in mind. Recently I made massaman curry (a Thai speciality), which is spicy by nature, but I toned it down by using ginger,” D’Souza added.
Like D’Souza, Devin Lohar too has been playing with international food varieties for his 10-year-old daughter. The chef made sure his daughter Sparsh didn’t miss her favourite foods amid the lockdown. “I usually don’t get enough time to cook at home but my daughter keeps demanding I make something for her,” he says. But did the little one approve of the momos daddy made for her? “She loved it,” he beams.
Martin Gomes has similar tales to share. The chef, who is now a food consultant, says his six-year-old son Mathew still prefers his mom’s cooking. “I’ve enjoyed cooking for him. Recently I made his favourite Indonesian dish, Rendang curry, and he enjoyed it.”