For the past two days, Lekha has been arriving at the community kitchen at the Government Lower Primary School in Thycaud around 5.30 a.m. With the lockdown in place, her husband drops her here from her house in Vattiyurkavu. A midday meal cook at the school, her workload has increased several fold, but she has no complaints.
“Usually, two of us cook breakfast and meals for 300 children. Now, we are providing food thrice a day to a lot of people. Many employees from the city Corporation are helping us,” says Lekha, even as jackfruit curry is being cooked for lunch in a large ‘uruli.’ The jackfruits are offerings from the local community.
A day after Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan announced that community kitchens will be opened in every panchayat so that no one goes hungry during the lockdown, they have begun functioning across the State. These kitchens, a joint effort of the Kudumbashree Mission and the local bodies, are meant to serve the indigent, the bedridden, and senior citizens who have no one to buy them supplies.
“The Corporation informs us of the number of requests received the day before at the call centre, based on which the food is prepared. A lot of people walk in too, seeking food. Today, we provided meals to 15 fire force trainees, who were starving. We have formed small teams each for cooking, packing and distribution,” says P. Suresh Kumar, Corporation official, who oversees the kitchen.
The breakfast menu include puttu, kadala curry, banana. The lunch consists of rice, thoran, jackfruit curry, rasam and pickle and the dinner, chappathi, curry, and banana. The menu changes slightly daily.
Prime challenge
For the local bodies, the challenge is in identifying those who are really in need. A couple of the requests in the city turned out to be from affluent families.
At another community kitchen at EMS Charitable Society in Ulloor, six Kudumbashree workers are cooking for around 300 people. “We used to cook for those staying temporarily for treatment purposes at the society. Now, we are also cooking for those affected by the lockdown,” says Hedilqueen, a Kudumbashree worker.
Tourism Minister Kadakampally Surendran said the kitchens would serve migrant labourers too. Around 200 people living in the streets here have been accommodated at a facility in Putharikkandam maithanam, and are being provided food from community kitchens.
