Meet Sujata the mixer and other chefs' tools

Chefs naming their noodle machines and refrigerators make the high-stress environment of kitchens a bit more fun to navigate

- Ruth DSouza Prabhu

In April 2017, after a month-long journey from Hungary by sea, it took six people two days to settle Agotha into her new 4x11 metre room. For the last eight years, she has been hard at work. Her colleagues say she is demanding, precise, and a little high-maintenance, and it took them a year to figure her out. Agotha is the copper pot still (traditionally used in gin distillation) at the Nao Spirits & Beverages distillery in Goa.

"The name Agotha was chosen from thousands of baby names that the distillery team went through," says Anand Virmani, co-founder and master distiller. "It stands for 'good-hearted' in Hungarian, which was a great sign because in the spirits line, we keep only the 'heart' of the spirit—the cleanest, most balanced part of the distillation run, tossing the rest out. The heart is where the flavour and the real craft lies, and Agotha has been giving us just that since day one. She's the force behind every bottle."

Across F&B spaces, equipment and appliances are an integral part of several aspects—processing, cooking and precision prepping. They become so much a part of operations that they are considered one of the team and are given names and even attributed personalities. Their backstories can be interesting too.

Step into Wine in Progress (W.I.P), a wine bar in Bengaluru, and the light reflecting from the glass double doors of the refrigerator catches your eye. You may naturally rest a hand on the door as you peruse the wine bottles that stand upright, all perfectly aligned for maximum visibility. In doing so, you will be staring into the very being of "Sexy Karen".