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Where are the apples?

Karen Anand says her recipes target young people on the move who turn away from the kitchen and reach out for the nearest takeaway number

Photo: K. Gopinathan

FOODIE LOGIC Karen Anand: ‘Rather than talk for 20 minutes on the phone, you can cook something nice and simple’

Just as everyone is eating more pizza and panini at home than paratha or pakoda, Karen Anand’s latest series of books too feature a slice of the global food we are all consuming today. “I love green chutney. But when I wanted to include i t in my recipe book, my friend said ‘We all know how to make that’. People now want to do other things. I’m only catering to the moving needs of the people,”says one of the most popular food entrepreneurs and gourmet specialists in the country, as she launches three books in the Simple Cooking series of cookbooks by Westland Publishing — For the Sweet Tooth, For the Single Person and For the Desperate Housewife.

People are turning away from traditional Indian food because it is labour intensive and time consuming, says Karen. “People like and want to eat trendy branded food. It is like young guys want to wear Nike even though Bata is around. There’s nothing wrong in trying new food.”

Her recipes in these three books pan across Asian, Middle Eastern, and Indian food across snacks, quick 10-minute meals, single-dish meals, baking, contemporary takes on traditional food and more. Karen explains, how many people she knows around her, are single today.

“They come to me asking for recipes. They want to and like to cook, but it is a pain to cook for one person, especially if you’re a non-cooker.”

In fact in her introduction to the book for singles, Karen writes: “What I want to say is that if you decide to go through life without cooking then you are missing something very, very special…Eating junk food and eating out on a regular basis is no way to go through life.”

Karen is against white bread and says she won’t eat it unless it is forced down her throat. “I can’t eat pizza any more or white bread…I think processed food is wrong. It is not healthy. Even my children don’t eat it or drink fizz. They never grew up on it.”

There is nothing wrong with packaged food, except that India is a land of amazing ingredients, says Karen.

“Rather than talk for 20 minutes on the phone, you can cook something. It is a matter of priority.”

Many people today dread the kitchen because it is high on time and energy. People abroad watch more cookery programmes and buy more cookbooks, says Karen. But they don’t cook. In India, in the metros, we are unfortunately going the American way, reaching out for readymade food. “I realised it sometimes costs Rs. 800 for an order of two pizzas. It’s ludicrous.” If pricing is that high, then at least, we won’t eat much of such food, she avers.

While the debate rages on about using seasonal and local ingredients in cooking, Karen says you can hardly find most of them.

“I don’t find Himachal apples anymore. Where are the apples? Our fault is that we have no proper refrigeration facilities. Why don’t we help our farmers? At the same time we can’t stop foreign products from coming in.”

She would like at some point to work on a book on grandmas’ recipes, putting down old traditional recipes that are not very popular; especially food from the coastal regions that might otherwise fade out.

She is doing three other books in the “Simple Cooking” series for children, students and young DINKs (couples with double income no kids).

Gone are the days when being a good cook meant you never looked into recipe books, she insists.

“That was when women cooked the same six daals, rice and 10 vegetables. But now people are trying out Japanese and Thai.

How will you even remember the ingredients?” she smiles.

BHUMIKA K.

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