Be it a recipe from your grand mother’s cooking that is lost or that French recipe that you so loved but couldn’t get hold of when you were in Paris, it is all just a click away. And the Food bloggers have formed a community of their own, finds out Reshma Krishnamurthy Sharma.
Not that cooking is only a woman’s forte but many amongst us do land in the kitchen either for ourselves or for our near and dear ones. Traditionally women would either try their hand in new culinary skills after going through books or try to get information from an expert in cooking. Today thanks to web world, things have changed. With the gamut of information available on food on Internet, videos popping up on food blogs, women perceive cooking in a new dimension altogether.
She could try to scout for a traditional recipe that reminds of grandma’s cooking or look for a dish that she had last evening at a multi cuisine restaurant. Says Shreya Mehta, Product manger, Levis women’s bottom wear, “Earlier it used to be referring cookery books to try something special but now whenever I do find time over weekends all I need to do is go to my favourite food blog and try to churn that perfect dish that I have had over the week at a friends‘s party or restaurant, all at fingertips.”
On one hand surfing on the Internet for recipes is making many urban women explore the experimentation streak in them by trying new cuisines. There are others too who are equally passionate about cooking but they go one step ahead and publish their own food blogs. These women find their own food domains a resource centre for others who seek tips on cooking. This space is a learning sphere for those who write on food and create a resource centre for those who want to have a reference of traditional and new age cuisines and connect with like minded people.
For Nagalaxmi a professional with Google Singapore who enjoys posting on her food blog cookingandme.com says that while the blog gave the venue to express her passions food, photography and writing, she made many new friends from the blogging world. “The best part about this is, there’s a community of food bloggers that stay in touch, irrespective of where they are located, and organize regular food blogger meets in their respective cities. I have made many friends online whom I’ve never met in real life. And yes, most of them are Indians, although not all are based in India.” She says
Owner of popular food blog aayisrecipes.com, Shilpa.S says, “I love cooking. It calms me down and acts as a stress buster. In the beginning it was to create reference of my mother’s (aayi’s) recipes. Also I would blog to share my recipes with friends who always asked for these recipes.” Pointing out on the reason why she thinks women search for recipes, she says, “I think staying away from home makes people miss their roots. They miss what they had when they were kids and delicacies prepared by their mothers or grand mothers. It’s the idea of just thinking or reading about these dishes make them nostalgic and emotionally happy. And I have noticed from my interactions, that most of the people that read my blog are from similar background as mine. So they connect with me.”
While there are a good number who search for traditional recipes like on aayisrecipes.com Nagalaxmi has a different point of view on why women come to her blog. “I feel like if someone wanted a traditional or family recipe, their moms or aunts are only a phone call away. I see people turning to the Internet when they want to go beyond what they grew up eating. International cuisines and baking, in the case of Indians, is what drives most people online to research and find recipes. Most people ask for baking recipes like egg less cakes, substitution for ingredients not available in India, etc. I think the trend is to rely on your parents or grandparents for the traditional, family recipes and the Internet for cuisines you are not familiar with but want to experiment on.”
Suma Rowjee an avid baker, who maintains a food blog, sumarowjee.blogspot.com feels that the well traveled women with access to different cuisines are more open to trying out new things in the kitchen. She adds that women these days are willing to add a streak of experimentation in her attitude towards food. For Madhuri Kumar, an architect and teacher by profession, having her own blog, cookcurrynook.wordpress.com is another aspect of her persona. She mentions that she has always been fascinated with cooking since a young age. She likes to search and put her own recipes on the Internet just to be in tab with the latest cooking trends.
Recipes on the internet are also inexpensive. Cookbooks even though are more appealing with photographs are a huge investment.
While there are many who search the Internet through various search engines there are others too in sizeable numbers who are passionate about food and they are using a source the Internet to post their enriched experience in the form of recipes. While some ask these bloggers on traditional recipes like on aayisrecipes, there are host of others who want to try International cuisines and the best source is a good food blog that is interactive, appealing and comes to the rescue anytime.
Some of the popular websites frequented by women who consider cooking to be their passion are tarladala.com, sanjeevkapoor.com, http://smittenkitchen.com/, http://www.passionateaboutbaking.com/,http://www.whatsforlunchhoney.net/ to mention a few.