61-year-old Rama Parthasarathy who worked in a school in Chennai, in their administration department, had always loved cooking and discovered her passion at an early age. As life happened to her, Rama never wanted to lose touch with her love for cooking and would prepare savouries to treat people who knew her. Friends and family members who knew how skilful a cook she is would often order food from her.
She worked in a school in Chennai, in their administration department. But once she retired in April 2020, she decided to pursue the passion full-time.
A beginning aimed at serving needy Covid patients.
The time when Rama thought to pursue her passion, however, had coincided with the Covid-19 pandemic, and she decided to engage in cooking nutritious food for those infected with the virus.
Shivakrupa Rajaram, Rama’s daughter-in-law, who helps her in her work says that after observing what the virus was doing to the people, they decided to dedicate their time to cook meals that are high in nutrition for those who needed it. The meals that they serve are simple comforting food that they eat at home like rasam, sambar, vegetable and rice, she added.
Ramaa’s kitchen was started to serve people living in and around their area Mylapore, the area where they live, but sooner, word spread to other areas. On average, Rama’s kitchen provides around 20 lunch orders and 8 dinner orders in a single day.
Shivakrupa while speaking about her mother-in-law, says, “My mother-in-law is up each morning by 4.45 a.m. to start preparing these meals. I ensure that all the chopping work is done and kept ready for her. I watch her pray to her mother every morning before she starts her day. She invokes her blessings to ensure that the day goes well, and she can make good food for all those who need it. She derives a lot of her strength from her late mother.”
Their lunch, which is priced at Rs 110 per meal, is usually delivered by 9.30 am to 10.00 am every day, while for dinner they serve idli-chutney, upma, Pongal and chapatti.
“We cater to many old couples who like to have brunch and therefore ensuring that we maintain this time is critical. The menu changes every day to ensure that those who order do not get bored,” Rama says.
Shivakrupa says since the food is being prepared for Covid patients, the spice levels are kept moderate.
She further adds, “There is a young girl, who is a student at the school my mother-in-law was working at who comes to help in packing the food. Amongst the three of us, we have been managing well so far. We only take on as much as we can handle.”
Cooking passion kindled in the 1970s.
Rama has been making and selling different types of appalam and papadam for many years, however, the formal brand launch happened only last year, in 2020.
“Friends and family would often place their order with me. Whether for the pickles, podi (powder) or appalam that I make. They would tell me the quantity they wanted and then come home and collect it. There was nothing formal about it,” she said.
Talking about how she got inspired to cook, Rama elaborates, “In the ’70s my mother would make these appalams and vadams and send them to the U.S. There was a great demand even then for what we made. While I always wanted to make something out of it, I couldn’t give it my time and attention early on.”
‘Ramaa’s Kitchen’ - the brand came into existence because of Rama’s son – Aravindh.
Rama says, “They were the ones who put it all together. I started making some posts on social media platforms, and before I knew it, I was told that we had to parcel some of the appalam to Jammu.”
Also Read: #FirstStoryPositive: From being infected by COVID-19 to supplying free nutritious food to patients
Spreading light on what products they make, Shivakrupa everything is made by the two of them and sourced by them. They make no compromise in food quality and taste. Some of their best-selling food items are onion vadam, ompodi vettal and the urad dal appalam, all of which are sold at Rs 100 weighing 250 grams. They have also added sambar, rasam and idli chutney powder in their product list, along with pickles during summer times.
Rama’s kitchen also courier packages all over India and can be reached at +91 6380 816 497.