New Plate at the Table: Emergence of IITB’s Culinary Club

Kava, the culinary arts club of the institute, was officially launched on 14 February 2021. But ideas surrounding a club dedicated to cooking had been around for a long time. We found out that a Lifestyle club that catered to audiences interested in the culinary as well as fashion arts existed before the pandemic. When the Lifestyle club dissolved, the fashion enthusiasts found haven in Style Up: the fashion arts club of the institute, but there were no plans for a separate cooking club until 2020.

Insight interviewed one of the founders of Kava, Aditi Gupta, to learn more about the club’s inception. Upon coming to campus, she realised the lack of a culinary arts club at IIT Bombay. On hearing about clubs dedicated to the culinary arts from her friends in other IITs, she saw potential in establishing one here at IIT Bombay, too. This would later become Kava. She mentioned that in her first year, back in 2020, she spoke to seniors about the possibility of starting a new club. Along with her friends, she floated a Google form to gauge interest around the formation of such a club. The club was introduced informally in an online setting with support from seniors and alums in 2020, wherein students engaged in discussions on Facebook and WhatsApp groups, and shared pictures of recipes they had tried. 

Adding to the flame, an online pan IIT cooking competition with participation from teams at IIT Roorkee, IIT Kharagpur, IIT Delhi, IIT Bombay, IIT Guwahati, and IIT Ropar was also held in 2021. A joint initiative by the six IITs, it relied on video submissions and garnered great engagement with 80+ entries. The judging criteria for the competition was based on ingredients and the name of the dish, creativity, techniques used, and presentation. At the time, other IITs like IIT Roorkee, IIT Kharagpur, and IIT Ropar had established culinary clubs. Aditi spoke to the founder of the culinary arts club at IIT Roorkee as well as club members at Style Up to gain a better understanding of how to go about starting a formal club. This was followed by her drawing up a proposal for the creation of a separate culinary club with help from the GSCA at the time. Everything was ratified by the end of 2021 and Kava finally saw the light of day- with its name being inspired from Kashmiri Kahwa tea, a traditional Indian beverage.

When students started returning to campus in 2022, it was a potpourri of online and offline events first, which later transitioned into an offline club. Kava got its own spot in the Culturals Freshie orientation for the first time in 2022. The GSCA at the time had tried seeking permission for the club to use the IDC kitchen as well as the H2 canteen’s cooking space. But later, owing to the end of tenure of the previous GSCA, these proposals couldn’t be finalised. The club members still had small gatherings and hosted events around LHC that didn’t require the use of fire (one of them involved learning how to use chopsticks :P).

The introduction of a culinary genre in the Inter IIT Cultural Meet 5.0 in January 2023 was a much-needed catalyst for Kava’s evolution. IIT Bombay’s GSCA at the time was part of the process of making the rulebook for the culinary competition, along with the GSCAs and relevant PoR holders of other IITs such as IIT Roorkee, IIT Ropar, and IIT Kharagpur. The students participating in the culinary arts genre on behalf of IITB mostly practiced from the comfort of their own homes during the weeks leading up to the cultural meet. Subsequently, upon reaching the host institute, IIT Madras, adequate space and materials were available so that everyone could practice. Reading recipes online, experimenting with ingredients and a whole lot of googling is what the participants had on their plate. Their efforts bore fruit when IIT Bombay won the overall Culinary Cup among 22 other IITs. 

Empowered by this victory, the club went on to acquire new inventory – mixer, grinder, fridge, microwave etc. There was a push to obtain a designated kitchen area as well, which proved to be slightly more difficult. A few locations were under consideration, such as H10 kitchen and SAC labour room, but as of now, the club still does not have a kitchen. Nonetheless, space has been allotted to the club in the new SAC building that is being constructed in front of the Desai Sethi School for Entrepreneurship (DSSE) building. Note that all fire safety precautions have always been followed during the club’s activities and events, and will continue to be so (because with great flour comes great responsibility).

In the most recent Inter IIT Cultural Meet 6.0 at IIT Kharagpur, our institute, once again, emerged victorious and managed to secure the overall Culinary Cup. Mixology, Tag Team, Cook Off were some of the competitions part of the culinary genre. While Mixology was a mocktail making competition with a given three-colour palette and a theme, in Cook Off, participants had to make two dishes around a given theme and a fixed pantry in two hours. Tag Team had a secret ingredient that was revealed from a lucky draw, and each team of two could only have one member cooking at a time, switching every 15 minutes.

In his interview with Insight, former Institute Culinary Arts Overall Coordinator Shubhang Shanghvi said: “Our vision is to become self-sustainable instead of just focusing on making the club survive. Since there are logistical constraints, the club has had slow progress when it comes to offline events apart from Inter IIT.”

There is plenty of interest and passion among the students, and riding on that, the club is committed to finding ways around the challenges. Plans are in motion for larger club events, similar to MasterChef, and also for sending people to external competitions and collaborating with restaurants. Anyone involved in the club or coming to its events is sure to get some good food while they’re at it.

The club is new and has a long way to go. The lack of a kitchen has limited the number and kinds of events that the club hosts. But even under such unfavourable circumstances, the culinary community at IIT Bombay has managed to excel and win prizes at inter-IIT competitions. Once they obtain the required permission and kitchen space, the budding chefs should be able to take the club to much greater heights. Nonetheless, the club is a testament to how turning your dreams into reality can be achieved through continued collaboration, motivation, and a group of passionate teenagers. Maybe the idea for the next new club is already cooking in some freshie’s mind!

Editorial Credits: Anisha Basumatary, Kabir Singh, Vaidehi Jha