Evolution of cookware in India from the 20th
Century to 21st Century
Food is always valued higher in the
multi-cultural land of mystic India. It is often given the status of God and is
considered as a blessing from the almighty. Hence, anyone who serves food is
called “Annapurna”, the God of food in India.
Although, Indians are fond of all types of
cuisines, thanks to our culturally diverse nation, most of us also enjoy
cooking and take it very seriously when it comes to prepare tasty Indian as
well as foreign delicacies.
Now, if you are a chef or someone who
enjoys cooking at home, then you must know that if you don’t have the right
cookware set, cooking your favorite cuisine becomes hectic. Today, with the
high quality modern cookware sets offered by well-known brands such as Wonderchef,
cooking has become a lot easier than what it used to be in the 20th
century.
However, many traditional khansama still
use those ancient clay handi or tava, to cook authentic traditional food just
to preserve the taste.
Today, we have highly efficient non-stick
cookware set, but in the 20th century things were different.
Most of the households in the 20th
century relied on copper or brass cookware for cooking. Such cookware was
hardly purchased by the households as it was a trend among those todays to pass
on the cooking utensils over to the new generation. Owing to its high
durability, stability and long lasting nature, copper or brass cookware can be
used effectively for generations.
The only flaw in using this cookware was
that it consumed a lot of time while preparing food. Also, after regular use of
this cookware, these utensils also start looking duller and older with time.
Hence, over time as our lives got busier and tiring, new age stainless steel
cookware took its place as they looked more shiny and classy as well as it won
the hearts of the new upcoming generation.
Aluminum cookware was also widely used
among households, who couldn’t afford costly brass, copper or stainless steel
cookware. The poorest households highly relied on aluminium or clay cookware to
prepare food during the 20th century.
Stainless steel cookware set was also
considered elite in the Indian society for its beauty and shiny nature. While
the early 20th century was dominated by copper or brass utensils,
the stainless cookware took over the kitchen all over the country by the late
20th century.
Stainless steel cookware innovated with
copper base, in order to add the benefits of copper while cooking, are still
widely used in the country even in the 21st century. However, the
modern day non-stick cookware such as non-stick tava and kadhai are the hot favorites
among households in the 21st century.
This modern day non-stick cookware set are
made using a coating of Teflon as it offers several unique properties such as
good corrosion-resistance and the lowest coefficient of friction, that not only
makes cooking simpler but also faster.
Because of the busy lifestyle, modern day
working woman opts for cookware that helps in easy cooking, which saves them a
lot of time. Also, these modern day cookware sets from brands like Wonderchef
also include casserole set that helps preserve and keep the food hot and steamy
for longer time, hence avoiding the need to heat the food again and again if it’s
served late.
Also, these cookware sets are very light in
weight, hence they are easy to move and store in the kitchen or while moving
houses. Most importantly, being non-stick Teflon coated cookware, they also
consume less oil while cooking, which offers great health advantage, something
that was missing in the cookware used in the 20th century.
Although, I believe comparing the cookware
of the 20th century with 21st century would be wrong, the
evolution of cookware in India between two different centuries cannot be ignored.
Cooking styles may have altered a bit here and there, but there’s of course a
revolutionary change in the cookware we use today from what was used during the
20th century.
