COOKING UP CHANGE

Owned and operated by rural women, special kitchens in Bihar are uplifting communities and boosting health and wellbeing 

- AMITABH SRIVASTAVA

The air is filled with the aroma of grilled chicken. The pleasant whiff of mushrooms and dal being cooked in stock pots is no less tantalising. Over a dozen women donning chef caps walk briskly across the 1,000 square foot kitchen, some busy stirring the pots, others making chapatis and one frying papad in a huge wok.

It's 1 pm-lunchtime-and another group of women wearing aprons, walks in and out, carrying food plates on trolleys. Outside the kitchen, another group is operating the canteen on the sprawling campus of the Bihar Institute of Mental Health and Allied Sciences (BIMHAS) at Koilwar in Bhojpur district, about 40km west of capital Patna. Here, one can have a samosa or Maggi or even a mutton plate. Almost at all times, the canteen is brimming with doctors and attendants while the patients are served healthy and nutritious meals in their wards.