KOCHI: Like most women whose busiest hours are in the morning, Lily Job too is up at the crack of dawn. Her adept hands quickly work at fixing a scrumptious breakfast for the family. Lunch preparations made, she rushes to catch the 6:10 train near Alappuzha.Almost 40 km from her humble abode, Lily later enters the plush environs of a five-star hotel in Ernakulam and heads straight to the kitchen.Lily is among the three housewives hand-picked by the hotel’s HR team to make homely preparations that are part of the buffet at breakfast, lunch and dinner.“The idea was to serve our guests - foreigners, NRIs and outstation population with Kerala delicacies as cooked in local homes. We knew only home-makers would be able to recreate that kind of taste.Their cooking would be simple, economical and authentic.This is when our HR team identified housewives who might like to cook for us,” says executive chef, Jaffar Ali.So Lily, along with her two colleagues, Saly S, also from Alappuzha, and Mary Jacqueline from Kochi roll out a variety of homely and traditional Kerala savouries.Jacqueline who is the breakfast specialist among the three is readying ‘pazham churul’ (whole-wheat pancake) and ‘pidi’ (rice dumblings) for the day.So one day it is ‘ela ada’ and ‘paal unda.’ The next day, it is ‘vattayappam’ and ‘sughiyan.’ Sali is the new entrant, who was a bit of a celebrity in her neighbourhood known for her culinary skills before she joined. “My sister’s husband runs a canteen, so some of the food would be prepared by us in the kitchen. I would also be requested to help in the cooking for functions held in the neighbourhood.” Her specialities are ‘kozhi curry,’ ‘meen curry’ and ‘vendakai paal curry.’ Their families back home have come to respect the work they do, though it wasn’t the case earlier for someone like Lily. “I used to stitch clothes for a living, though I was fond of cooking.When this opportunity came by, and I took it up, my children were initially upset.It didn’t seem right for a housewife like me who had never stepped out of the house to enter into such a public world. I was scared too. My relatives frowned.But I needed the money, so I took it up. I was relieved to find the place very friendly,” she says. The money came in handy when her son had a kidney ailment.While cooking at a star hotel means a steady income to these home-makers, to the guests, it means getting a taste of traditional homemade delicacies, straight out of Kerala kitchens. This is especially true for long-time NRI Malayalis who have fond memories of school time, when their adoring mothers fed them with home-made specialities. “For them it is going back to their roots,” says Shaju, catering assistant at the hotel.
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