When I close my eyes, I am back on that hill in Kottayam, in my grandmother’s house. Although cousins, uncles, and aunts were constantly moving in and out during the summer vacations I spent there, the house, with its high ceiling and large windows, never seemed crowded. There was always room for more.
The dining room had a huge dining table that was always laden with food: nadan dishes like erachi olathu, meen vivijathu and unniyapam; Western experiments like fish pie, mocha gateau and shepherd’s pie; And even shrimp chopsuey and Chinese chicken.
A dish from the book | Image source: special arrangement
At the center of it all was my grandmother, Mrs. B.F. Varughese, dressed in her trademark white clothes, quiet and thoughtful.
Although to me she was just my grandmother, Ms. Varughese was a huge presence in the culinary world. Her books, originally intended for families in Kerala, have traveled far beyond the state, carried by generations of Malayalis.
The warmth with which people welcome the re-release of her most popular book, Recipes for all occasions52 years after it was first published, is a testament to its lasting influence, even in the age of YouTube tutorials and app-delivered meals.
Mrs. B.F. Varughese | Image source: special arrangement
When the house finally quieted down and the children and grandchildren returned home, my grandmother would take refuge in her storeroom with her loyal assistant, Joseph. It overlooked an orchid garden, and was adjacent to a large, aromatic warehouse filled with jars, bottles, pickles and preserves. This was her own laboratory. Here she measured, tested, adjusted, tried and tried again.
It was almost monastic in its system.
Long before the collapse of long-distance internet, my grandmother opened windows to the wider world from a kitchen in Kerala. Dishes like piroshki and moussaka have, improbably, found their way onto Malayali tables. She always loved cooking, but it was my grandfather who gently motivated her and turned that love into a serious pursuit.
Her first book originated in the late 1950s when Kerala Dhawania Malayalam newspaper, asked my grandmother, who was in her early 30s, to write two recipes every week for the Sunday issue. My grandfather, B. F. Varughese, her first editor, urged her to agree. She did so, and for two and a half decades, she did not miss a single Sunday column.
A dish from the book | Image source: special arrangement
Each recipe has been tested at home, using locally available ingredients, and simplified to make the cooking process easier. When she traveled, she would prepare recipes in advance to last until she returned. Her writing had the same uncomplicated clarity as her cooking. Her popular five-minute biryani is a good example, as it offers a convenient, simplified version of an expensive traditional dish.
After nearly a decade of working on the Sunday column, publishers suggested she collect these recipes into a book. This is the way Pachakarani Part Onein Malayalam, appeared in 1963. It became an instant bestseller, and was followed by seven series, each featuring a new collection of recipes.
In response to requests for an English version, Pachakarani Volumes 1 to 3 Compiled and translated from Malayalam to English as Recipes for all occasions – Part 1. Volumes became four to six Recipes for all occasions – Part 2and the seventh and eighth volumes were collected together Recipes for all occasions – Part 3.
Newly redesigned and formatted edition with all three volumes Recipes for all occasions | Image source: special arrangement
Curious about its heritage, I went looking for people who were still cooking from the early books. Speaking from New York, chef Reggie Mathew, who runs Chatti restaurant in Manhattan, says the book has influenced his menus. “Recipes for all occasions It was a prized possession in our home. Over the years, the book has become gently worn, bearing signs of repeated use. On my 50th birthday, my mother gave me her copy and it was a very emotional moment. “It’s not just conveying a book, but decades of memories, flavors and family history,” he says.
Reggie adds that he referred to the book before launching Kappa Chaka Kandari restaurants in Chennai and Bengaluru, which focus on home cooking in Kerala. “The book provides an invaluable glimpse into a particular time, mindset and culinary vocabulary,” he says. “Even today, I use it as a reference to understand context, technique and intent.”
Jacob Mathan, a retired director and director of the Food Craft Institutes of Kerala, who inherited the book from his late mother, says the book played a role in his decision to enroll in catering studies at the Institute of Hotel Management in Chennai. He says. “It was part of the bridal trousseau in Kerala, and many generations of young women, including my wife, started cooking with it.”
When beautifulhomes.com editor-in-chief Manju Sarah Rajan moved to Kottayam 12 years ago, she said she discovered the books and “fell in love with the original series.” She adds: “Ms BFV was responsible for bringing a hybrid menu to the Malayali dinner table. She traveled a lot but she also lived at a time when ingredients and ideas were not available locally, so she adapted what she had tasted and liked elsewhere at the local table. I love some of her quirky recipes like the fried sardine sandwich, which looks like fish meatballs… I would have thought Ms BFV would have made quite the influencer today. I think she is now an influencer, with the release of this edition.”
These books lived in my mother’s kitchen too, their pages worn from use, their margins annotated. It stood alongside other cookbooks, but it carried something special: the voice of a woman who cooks not to impress, but to include everyone.
A dish from the book | Image source: special arrangement
The newly launched book brings together recipes from all of her books. Images added and design redesigned. Units and measurements are standardized.
The cover bears a sketch of my grandmother wearing a white chata and mundu. She had never been one for great gestures, but with this print, her presence continued, in kitchens she never entered, in hands she never held, and in people she never met.
When I think again of that house on the hill, of the pantry, of Ouseve Chetan, of the endlessly replenished boxes of chocolate, of the table that was always full, I realize that a cookbook was never just a book. It was a way of saying: Welcome here.
Recipes for all occasions by Mrs. BF Varughese It is priced at INR 1,750 and is available on Amazon. The current edition is a limited print run of 1,000 copies.
