CHENNAI: A traditionalist and textile revivalist Sabita Radhakrishna do not like precious heritage items to languish, be it textiles, craft, or the craft of cooking food. She is someone who loves to preserve recipes of a bygone era. Earlier, she had written a cookbook titled Annapurni on Tamilian cuisine, published by Roli Books. Because of its popularity, she was commissioned by the same publishers to write on Kerala cuisine. Sabita’s recent book titled Paachakam is an illustrated cookbook that offers authentic insights into Kerala’s most popular recipes by drawing attention to the communities that cherish them - Syrian Christians, Namboodris, Cochin Jews, Nairs, and Maplas. In a chat with DT Next, the author talks about the book, and what readers can expect from it.
“Heritage cuisine is the food that we have eaten for generations, it is precious because the recipes have been done a hundred times and it is part of our regional cuisine handed down from mother to daughter. I thought that it was valuable to document these recipes and probe into their historicity. My first book Aharam was the pioneer and apart from Samaithu Paar no one had thought of documenting family recipes that were 100 years old or more. Of course, over the years they have been tweaked, but the essence is still there,” says Sabita.
She continues, “I chose women who were great cooks and were experts in their community cuisine, and though I also asked several other people for recipes, these were my main referral points persons and I would go back to them if I had a doubt. It meant so much probing and trying to understand their cooking and their methods and why they used certain ingredients besides trying out every single recipe and getting it approved by them. The names of all the women who represent the communities are all there in the book. It took me a year and a half to research and try out recipes and another six months to write them.”
Sabita didn’t want the book to be a medley of recipes - she divided the book into sections and wrote a little about the history of the community which she has not come across in any other book. “I would like especially the younger readers and potential cooks to take pride in their regional cooking and I hope Paachakam will be a stepping stone for that purpose. They should enjoy the food cooked from their recipes, tweak them if they are elaborate, but value traditional food which their grandmothers cooked,” the writer concludes.
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