Active yeast has gone from the shelf. So has all purpose flour. Cooking, baking, food exotica have deluged social media photo galleries — welcome to the new syrup of the homebound — open ovens and hot selling platters all home grown and consumed. MUSBA HASHMI tells you more
When the entire country is home bound owing to the current lockdown due to the novel Coronovirus, what one can’t cordon off is the sudden cravings. Be it for gol gappas, bhelpuri, samosas, garlic bread or for that matter even momos, people have started donning the hat of a chef. All thanks to social media. Get up, walk up to the kitchen, play a cooking video on any of the platform and you are good to go.
One doesn’t even have to put too much efforts in searching for these videos as the moment one opens their social media, hundreds of thousands of such videos are ready to pop out of the screen any moment. The craze of cooking is on an all time high. Even the laziest man on earth is out there in the kitchen, preparing to satisfy his craving.
However, this is leading to stocks running out far and wide. With baking being high on agenda, active dry yeast has gone out of stock at major delivery stations like Grofers, Big Basket and even the local grocery stores. “The demand has suddenly peaked with not less than 20 yeast packets being sold in a day. That was my stock for the past eight months with only once in a while people asking for it,” said Babli of the Goel Stores in Hauz Rani, Saket
From Mexican to Italian to baking breads, making pizza dough from scratch, to Chinese to regional cuisines on the Indian platter, social media is flooded with pictures and recipes by users. “I cant remember the last time I stayed home for so long that too without any cooks, maids or cleaners. Obviously, this is the time to explore and show-off your internet gained cooking skills,” said Jilmil Dutta who is home locked in Sarva Priya Vihar due to the Coronavirus.
The deal is to cook something exotic, and much like a restaurant. From enchiladas, to Mexian roles and guacomoli to pizza, pasta, lasania to litti chokha, pav bhaji and dhokla, everything that people would order in or go out to eat, is being made at home, much to the delight of family members working from home.
Besides all the exotica being dished out from home kitchens, there is a whole body of food and chores related jokes that have been regaling whatsapp users in these difficult time of lockdown. “I feel my utensils have had a litter,” said one overworked housewife, while the other said “I feel like this virus is a conspiracy to make me learn how to cook.”
The mostly working population of urban women is now home bound and ready to try her hand at things she always wanted to but could never find time to. “The usual dal chawal is not my idea of cooking. I find it boring. So I’ve been voraciously trying out my hand at Internet recipes and have actively been discussing what comes next with my Insta and Facebook friends. A lot of time has been consumed doing this chore that is a delight for a change,” Urmila Singh, a highly placed and busy marketing executive, says.
Such has been the increased intake of food, that circumfrences have grown and fat burning home remedies becoming a common feature. “Dear Tummy, kya aapko pata nahin lockdown mein bahar nikalna mana hai?. App kaisey itna bahar nikal rahi hain?”.
Karan Dua, who runs a cooking channel DilSeFoodie on YouTube, Facebook and Instagram says his channel had never seen such a surge in views. “I have been actively running these channels and posting videos since 2013, but it was not before the lockdown phase that my channels saw a surge of about 1500 followers daily and views counting in thousands, with demands pouring in every day for new recipes, to be precise easy ones,” he says.
It is not only baking or cooking that everyone is running after, the latest trend that people are falling head over heels for is Dalgona coffee. “I came to know about this trend through social media where everyone was busy mixing coffee, sugar and water into a thick foamy texture. I too decided to follow the trend and made a video on the same. I got immense appreciation for the same,” Dua tells you.
Dalgona coffee is nothing but what Indians are making since eternity. Take coffee powder, add some sugar and one spoon water and whisk it for five to seven minutes or until it turns into a light-coloured creamy foam. Take hot or cold milk in a cup or glass and layer the foam onto it. A thick layer is just as fine. The milk will remain in the bottom half of the cup while the light coloured foam will float on it. Your Dalgona coffee is ready to serve.
Not to mention all the memes that have been doing rounds on Dalgona coffee. Someone is posting a picture of a half-peeled potato and captioning it ‘Dalgona Aaloo’ while another one presents ‘Dalgona Kabootar’ and the most hilarious of all is the ‘Dalgona Peg’ by a Punjabi man.
One of the most watched videos of Dua is the one in which he is teaching people an easy way to boil water. “Humour is welcomed by everyone. That is why I decided to make this tricky video which has garnered more than 90,000 views. I engage my viewers with recipes and sometimes with fun,” he says.