Twenty year old Shreya Jain from Margao loves experiementing in the kitchen. The resulting sweet treats are either shared with friends or sold
Photo Credits: pg 3- SHE
Just like any other teenager, she’s a foodie with a sweet tooth. But there’s a difference – while other girls of her age love to eat chocolates and desserts, this 20 year old loves to make and generously share her home made goodies with her friends. A student of SYBA at Chowgule College, Margao, Shreya Jain, has been experimenting in her mom's kitchen since she was 14 and today has mastered most of the delicacies which she makes single-handedly.
"I am not professionally trained nor do I have any qualifications in cooking," declares Shreya who started off just like any other child in the kitchen. "All it takes are the right set of ingredients - determination, encouragement, ability to accept defeat and lots and lots of love," says this young college student who loves playing with new flavours although her signature dishes are her homemade tiramisu, espresso chocolate cake, madelines, tarts, cupcakes, brownies, chocolate fondant, chocolate mousse, etc.
This Christmas, Shreya plans to bake her own cakes and cupcakes for all her friends. She also loves surprising them with a home made cake for their birthdays. "She can make lovely chocolate eclairs or yummy orange flavoured tarts or any dessert that you can dream on earth," say her friends. Festive seasons are Shreya’s favourite as she can then make different sweets and goodies at home for family and friends.
She admits, "The happiness which comes from having other people enjoy the food I make is unparalleled. Trying different stuff for my family or preparing large quantities for events always helps me develop different aspects of cooking. The Christmas goodies that I was able to sell under the name of my minuscule company 'Take a Bake', gave me an opportunity to try an entirely different genre of treats," she says.
Shreya’s supportive parents have offered her freedom to try new things in the kitchen. “My mother is an excellent cook and interested in preparing a number of dishes and desserts of different types at home and I keep borrowing valuable tips from her. The other day we both made a brownie with a flower, it’s a Turkish dessert and a pretty good combination,” shares Shreya who also loves cooking up a variety of paneer dishes at home.
Food is the basic requirement for man to survive and there is a whole culinary culture evolved after humans began to experiments in enhancing colours, looks, flavours, tastes and textures of dishes and delicacies, adding healthy ingredients to improve the quality of food. Indeed the thought of food brings joy and happiness to any living being and over the years, has become more than just a means to live – and it proudly defines a specific culture which transcendences geographical boundaries easily. Cooking, especially baking is a recreational activity for Shreya which she enjoys thoroughly but ask her if she wishes to embrace it as a career in the hospitality and she quips, ‘No. It's fun to experiment in cooking and I enjoy my time in the kitchen but seriously, I want to keep it as a favourite past-time."
Agreeing that cooking is not just a hobby for her, she adds, "It is quite a central part of my life. Being in the kitchen and being around ingredients that I love brings out a calm in me like nothing else does. Eating food at home or outside is not just a means to fill myself, rather an experience in which every colour, flavour and texture possess the ability to appease all the senses. Desserts are my weakness and it is desserts which I absolutely love making and experimenting with."
