Category
Event
Artists
Archana Pidathala
Date
October 9th, 2022
Curated by Koota
WHY Cook – a book by Archana Pidathala
In the series of Curated by Koota, we bring you Archana Pidathala and her book- “WHY Cook”.
A sit down meal, to listen and share stories of cooking and food, we have curated a menu with some recipes from this book. We invite participants to send us an interest to share stories of cooking and what it means to them.
WHY Cook brings together inspiring women — artists, creators, entrepreneurs, musicians, writers and farmers — and explores why they cook and how cooking and food anchor them in their life journeys. There are stories of hope and generosity, of courage and resilience, interwoven with lessons for cooking and eating, and deeply personal recipes. In the kitchens of Why Cook, you will explore questions of identity and the self, meet custodians of seed, soil and water, get a taste of the forest and the sea, find ways to navigate loneliness and grief, revel in the scent of fresh earth and woodsmoke, and above all cherish everyday moments and meals. Read more about Why Cook.
About Archana Pidathala
Archana Pidathala is the author of Five Morsels of Love, a beautifully produced book of recipes and reminiscences based on a Telugu-language cookbook (and its half-completed second edition) written and published by her late grandmother, Nirmala G. Reddy. The book, which Pidathala, bucking convention, published herself, began as an attempt to complete an English translation of Vanita Vantakalu, her grandmother’s original book. At the time Pidathala was working for a technology company and knew little about cooking. The thought of reimagining the project from her own point of view had never occurred to her. As she became more immersed in the idea of cooking from the book, though, and more enmeshed in the memories of cooking with her ammama, as she calls her grandmother, it occurred to her that the book was something that she could—perhaps even should—take on in her own voice. Read more