Bengaluru is home to prominent personalities who cook to impress

BENGALURU: The way to a man's heart is through his stomach. What if the man himself can cook a storm in the kitchen? Handsome! Bengaluru is home to a number of such prominent personalities cooking to impress, creating culinary treats for friends and family .
Photographer Waseem Khan is one such kitchen-savvy cook. Like with his fashion work, Khan has an eye for detail in the gourmet department too. "I am on auto-pilot when I cook. I cook Italian and Greek cuisines. I make desserts like chocolate mousse, phirni and a wicked crème brulee. Cooking is therapeutic."

Among his other specialties: Indian chicken curry and a signature omelet he makes with different kinds of cheese, mint, coriander, leek and bell pepper.Khan is now eagerly waiting for a free day to make Turkish Moussaka with eggplant and potatoes.

Cooking for people like Khan and painter Gurudas Shenoy is more a creative pursuit, an expression, a way to show off, which means that unlike the many others who have to exert their way through the kitchen daily in a monotonous grind, these men have the liberty to experiment and evolve as gourmet chefs. So much the better.

"Cooking and painting are alike," said Shenoy. "Both are creative, start on a note of discovery and require concentration. You experiment and develop your own style. And the plea sure I get on receiving appreciation for art is the same as when people love the food I cook."

Shenoy's culinary persuasion is Konkani fare ­ "When I see my mother and wife cook Konkani food, I am inspired." ­ but he also claims to be quite an artist at grating coconut and that none can beat the lemongrass tea he concocts.

Top-shot attorney for technology , media and telecom law, Rahul Matthan is also known for his culinary skills. For him, "Cooking is like music. One thing is to listen to music. But when you play music, your appreciation for it is more.Cooking helps me appreciate the food I eat."

Techniques interest Matthan who likes to prepare slow-cooked roast chicken with lemon and thyme for five hours. "I enjoy the process of cooking shopping for ingredients, laborious culinary techniques to the final presentation," he said. To which his wife Ahalya Matthan said, "I am not a cook. So this way , I have learnt a lot of about food, cuisines and manipulating recipes. It is such a treat to see Rahul cook and discover food with passion."

But why is it that men thrive at the kitchen? Anu Aurora, owner of online restaurant Wok n Tava, believes she has the answer.

"If something goes wrong with a dish, a woman will manipulate and rework the dish. But a man will start again from scratch till he gets it right," said Aurora. "It's the male ego that makes them better cooks."