“The glass has gotten murky. It has been layered with ideologies handed down since generations for the so-called fairer sex’s appearances and duties”
Payal Puthran is an Indian artist, currently based in Eindhoven. Her forte is digital and traditional illustrations based on food and recipes. Recipe illustrations materialised out of mindless doodling while listening to her mother’s phone instructions of making an Indian dessert.
Payal has created nostalgic illustrations of heirloom recipes and favourite eats for her clients over India, US and Europe. She creates digital artwork and traditional paintings using acrylic as her preferred medium.
Meal making includes much more than the time to actually cook the food. The inventorying, the planning, the shopping, the sorting, the cleaning, are all important covert tasks. This, together with other domestic duties, falls largely on the woman in most households. Today, a woman brings in as much bacon as the man, and yet, little respite does she find from the household tasks. Take the chai, for example: ten minutes to make, a few minutes to drink and a few more to wash the utensils involved. This defines the complete lifecycle of this beloved cuppa in a typical Indian household. Now, repeat this three or more times! That's an HOUR each day for just beverage making.
A meal costs not just money but effort - a lot of dismissible invisible effort borne by womenfolk. Take the time to recognize, cherish and give back the favour with active participation. After all, cooking is a life skill, not a gendered one. All you need is a RECIPE!
