Taking a break from the kitchen, six women chefs met over lunch at Simply South, Jubilee Hills, hosted by chef Chalapathi Rao. Chalapati wanted to salute female chefs for making a mark in a male-dominated industry. The team at Simply South wanted the chefs to relax on a working day, eat on time and meet up with fellow professionals. Among the women present were two professional chefs, two home chefs and a chocolatier. There was sous chef Sanjam Chattwani of Trident, Hyderabad, pastry chef Tulika Singh of ITC Kakatiya, Chocolatier Deepa Reddy of Fonce, Home Chef Anjum of Anjum’s Kitchen Craft, Home Chef Samyra Ruheen of Ruheen’s Kitchen and first-ever MasterChef India- Telugu (Season 1) winner K Krishna Tejaswi.
Chef Chalapati says, “There are apprehensions about women entering the commercial kitchen owing to a number of factors, including the long working hours. However, women have entered this field and made a mark too.”
With so many chefs at one table with a common interest, can a discussion on food and recipes be far behind? Apart from exchanging some pro-tips to make garam masala, their favourite dishes and work, the women also wanted to learn about Chalapati Rao’s chicken recipe without tomato and chillies. Chalapati’s idea behind that recipe was to go back to the way our ancestors consumed food before tomatoes and chillies were introduced in India.
