KOCHI: God to thousands of women.
Icon to hotel management and catering professionals. Padmashree Thangam Philip was all this. And more. With the demise of the 86-year-old doyenne of cuisine the curtain falls on a culinary saga that spanned decades.
She was born and brought up in Malabar and, it was a scholarship to the prestigious Lady Irwin College - the only college in the country that then offered the Home Science course - that marked the beginning of her journey to explore taste. A diploma in Home Economics followed. In 1944, she left Kolkata for Sri Lanka where she started a school for Home Economics. Later, she began the College of Catering and Institutional Management in Mumbai. Those were days when the government was trying to encourage people to switch from total cereal consumption to semi-cereal consumption. Thangam integrated this concept in her teaching programme and her first batch of students in 1954 were eagerly recruited by the hotel industry.
Over the years, the pioneer in hotel and catering education went on to become the chairperson of many hotel management colleges in India. Thangam was the Principal Emeritus of the Institute of Hotel Management Catering Technology and Applied Nutrition, Mumbai, the first and largest in Asia. She was one of three Indian women selected by the United Nations to be portrayed on the FAO Ceres’ Medal - the other two being Mother Teresa and former prime minister Indira Gandhi.
During her distinguished career, she has been the recipient of many prestigious awards - Padmashree (1976) by the government of India and knighthood of Cordon Bleu Du Saini Esprit, a connoisseur of fine living of the order of King Henry III, King of France, among them.
But what endeared her to the masses were her publications. Many of her books on cookery and the hotel industry are prescribed texts for catering students. ‘Modern Cookery for Teaching and Trade’ penned in 1963 was her first book which even today is a prescribed textbook for catering and hotel management students.
For decades, young wives have been taking the first steps to a happy married life with Thangam’s cookery books that instruct novices on a range of culinary skills from making a cup of tea to turning out exclusive desserts. The food technologist was the inspiration behind Melam food products. Among her books on Indian cuisine, ‘Cooking with Substitutes and Imagination’ was a boon to many aspiring cooks.
Says Anita Isaac who runs the cookery school ‘Angelina’ at Mamangalam: “Thangam Philip has influenced me a lot.
She always encouraged the new ventures I took up and was there as a strong pillar of support, lighting my way with words of wisdom and advising me on how to grow as a culinary expert. It was she who encouraged me to write a book of my own.
Her demise is a huge personal loss to me.” “It was during my honeymoon days that I chanced upon Thangam Philip’s ‘Cooking with Substitutes and Imagination.’ It encouraged new cooking methods and that was a great confidence boost to try out new recipes. From then on, there was no stopping! I owe to her the glow I have when I’m complimented for the dishes I make,” Says Lakshmi Menon, a retired bank employee.
Sneha Sayed, a housewife, has been a reader of Thangam’s cookery section in The Femina for many years. “In fact, I have collected all the recipes she contributed to the magazine for the past 15 years. Needless to say, all are yummy.” ‘Touch of Spice,’ ‘Flavours from India’ and ‘Thangam Philip Book of Baking’ are hot favourites even years after their publication.
The queen of cuisine will surely live on through the magical tastes she created which generations down the line will, no doubt, cherish.
