319 students cook 319 dishes in 4.27 minutes, set world record

CHENNAI: Kovai-based natural food expert Dr R Padayal Sivakumar’s life mission is to encourage children to follow healthy eating habits and a natural lifestyle. He believes that for a healthy body and mind one needs to have a balanced diet. With an aim to reach a larger audience, especially children, he hosted a world record event in the city recently. Titled ‘Flame Off No Oil No Boil’, the event witnessed 319 students cooking 319 dishes in 4.27 minutes. They set a world record by cooking without fire and oil.

Sivakumar tells us, “These days, not just adults, but children also are not following a healthy lifestyle. If this continues, we can expect lifestyle diseases in children. I wanted to create awareness about the importance of healthy eating habits in children. That’s the reason for hosting this world record event.”  

Explaining the preparations for the event, he adds, “Students, between the age group of 4 and 16, who participated in this event are from various schools in Tamil Nadu and Bengaluru. From August onwards, I have been training these students online on how to prepare certain dishes so that it will be easier on the event day.

On the final day (September 4), 319 students made 319 dishes using 30 traditional rice varieties, seven types of millets, edible flowers, veggies, herbs, fruits and small grain varieties. We used rice varieties like karuppu kavuni, karung kuruvai, poongar, mappilai samba and kattu yanam. A few dishes children made are vaazhaipoo vada, maapilai samba kozhukattai, lotus cake, hibiscus burfi, vallarai laddu, aavarampoo energy ball, varagu kichadi, mint buttermilk, vegetable pretzels, puddings, mixed rice.”

Sivakumar, who runs Padayal No Oil No Boil restaurant in Coimbatore, gained knowledge of a healthier lifestyle without medicines from agricultural scientist Nammazhvar.

“I follow a natural lifestyle where food acts as a medicine for ailments. When I understood the importance of traditional food, I thought of coming up with recipes using rice, millet, herbs, etc, without any compromise on nutritive value and taste. After a lot of experimentation, I created more than 2,000 unique recipes that anyone can easily make at home,” he quips.