Chefs and Writers in the Pandemic.

When one talks about food, they usually talk about eating it and hardly hear how one indulges in cooking it. Food writing has brought about this change in the behaviour of people. We have come a long way since the first recipe would have been written or the first cookbook was published. These cookbooks brought the kitchen recipes into the public domain where some use them to cook from them and some read them to derive pleasure from them. Cookbooks were the earliest form of food writing and today food writing as we know it has taken a different turn. Food Writing now includes a range of categories such as blogging, essays, books, magazines so on and so forth.

Now food writing no more includes only the recipes but also stories, pictures and a lot more.

Screenshot of Whish Affair, a Food Blog by Neha Mathur

Source - https://www.whiskaffair.com/

Food Blogging was still a new area but thanks to the Pandemic we now see a maelstrom of food blogs all over social media. It has become both easy and at the same time difficult to select recipes that are tried and tested. But these food blogs have helped us cooking food recipes from all over the world from the comfort of our homes.

Food writing came to be of paramount importance to the chefs and owners of restaurants at the time when these restaurants and the food stalls were closed because of the Lockdown. It was then these stories about food that became even more powerful because “These stories are not just stories about cooking and eating. These are stories about culture. About how food shapes people, neighbourhoods, and history.” The pandemic helped reveal the heroes among these chefs. Because even though the chefs and writers may not be heroes but even heroes need to eat that and requires chefs.

Food writing also became a medium for bigger food suppliers to connect with their audiences and gauge their attention to their new pandemic recipes. It became a comfort for a lot of people who couldn’t eat/cook during the pandemic.

A Collection of Cookbooks

Source - https://miro.medium.com/max/875/1*jIR2r5EzfwYE6HntOA-mjw.jpeg

Soon the channels started catering to the audience of a new pandemic world where recipes were made quickly and easily with the stuff left in the pantry. They became an inspiration for people in the pandemic. Gone are the days where chefs kept their recipes a secret. Instead, we see a whole new category of cookbooks by chefs that are getting a boost from our dalliance with pandemic cooking. These cookbooks are a way of teaching smart cooking in the time of the pandemic. They provide a plethora of recipes that can be cooked with a limited amount of ingredients that are easily available and can be stored for a longer period of time.