It was a special Sunday for students of Vani English Medium High School on Annadana Samajam Road behind Vijaya Talkies. Little kids desperate to wield the ladle in the kitchen that was declared an out-of-bounds zone for them by mums, finally gained control over the space and tried their hand at different dishes. The food festival announced by the school management had the children delightfully ferreting out ingredients from the row of boxes that contained common ingredients like cumin seeds, salt, pepper, chilli powder and masala powders. Mothers, for a change were only too happy to let their young ones step into their shoes and dish out delicacies.
They readily donned the role of their little one's assistants, washing and grinding onions, ginger and garlic into a fine paste, chop vegetables, heat oil in the pan and guiding the tiny cooks on how they must let the cumin seeds splutter before adding other ingredients.
Once the cooking was done, it was time to pack the lip-smacking delicacies to be put on display as part of the food festival. The food fare was a cultural milieu reflecting flavours of dishes savoured by people of different regions across the country. There were no gourmet chefs around, but the visitors got to taste some of the most interesting stuff dished out by the young ones.Delicacies like sweet corn and pizza were prepared at the venue which was dotted by 45-odd stalls of food items. Pizza was yet another attraction that found quick buyers among the visitors. Handling the dough, pizza sauce, cheese and the toppings, all by themselves, was great fun for the young participants. Besides, vegetable carving and a national flag made using vegetables were other highlights.
“In addition to encourage their culinary skills, we also wanted the children to realise how hard their mothers work in the morning rush hours to pack their lunch and send them to school on time,” said Ramesh, who coordinated the event.
