Tulsi, 26, relocated from Nepal to Bengaluru seven years ago. Now, she cooks at three houses daily, spending at least a couple of hours in each. That evening, Shah sends her a WhatsApp voice note and a link, asking, \u201cCan we make this tomorrow?\u201d The link is for a YouTube recipe video on\u00a0bisi bele bath<\/i>, a spicy rice dish from Karnataka that Tulsi has never heard of. \u201cThe name itself is challenging,\u201d she says. She watches the video between dinner and chores, and again while walking to Shah\u2019s house the next morning.<\/p>\n \n \u201cMy WhatsApp has more cooking links than anything else,\u201d Tulsi jokes, naming at least 10 dishes, from a Greek tomato and feta salad to an Italian marinara pasta, that she\u2019s attempted in the last three months. <\/div>\n In the kitchen, Tulsi props her phone against a steel\u00a0dabba<\/i>\u00a0and hits play. As a voice lists the ingredients, she pauses the video, gathers the vegetables and spices, and then presses play again. This is her new normal. \u201cMy WhatsApp has more cooking links than anything else,\u201d she jokes, naming at least 10 dishes \u2014 from a Greek tomato and feta salad, to a Keralan\u00a0avial<\/i>\u00a0and an Italian marinara pasta \u2014 that she\u2019s attempted in the last three months. She follows a cooking video at least three times a week. \u201cWhen someone stands beside you, there\u2019s pressure. With a video, if something isn\u2019t perfect, you can fix it the next time,\u201d she adds.<\/p>\n Tulsi watching a recipe video<\/p>\n | Video Credit: Tulsi\u2019s\u00a0bisi bele bath<\/i>\u00a0reveals a bigger change happening across India\u2019s kitchens. Recipes that once used to be shared with domestic cooks through in-person lessons, handwritten notes, TV shows and hours spent cooking together, now come as WhatsApp links, Instagram Reels, and YouTube videos.<\/p>\n The cooks watch, pause, replay and adapt these recipes, bringing new dishes into different homes and sometimes to their own families. Most dishes they\u2019ve never seen, let alone tasted, before. But they are enterprising \u2014 a cook from Odisha says she\u2019s recently learnt\u00a0khao suey<\/i>\u00a0from YouTube, another from Siliguri has mastered Turkish eggs. Elsewhere, cooks are trying\u00a0shakshuka<\/i>, Caesar salad,\u00a0thecha<\/i>\u00a0prawns, cold soups, roast chicken, and pesto pasta.<\/p>\n \n Moni Bibi Khan in Bengaluru cookig from a recipe video. <\/div>\n Moni Bibi Khan, 31, from West Bengal, has lived in Bengaluru since 2019 and worked for Gauri Chabbi, a 39-year-old banking professional for six years. She remembers when meals were more predictable. \u201cIn the first year,\u00a0didi<\/i>\u00a0stood with me in the kitchen, opening spice boxes and explaining what\u2019s used in everyday Keralan and North Karnataka dishes,\u201d says Khan. \u201cShe showed me how cooking curry leaves with a pinch of asafoetida creates a rich, savoury tempering.\u201d<\/p>\n \n Gauri Chabbi encourages her cook to try out different cuisines. <\/div>\n As the family\u2019s tastes changed, Khan learnt to cook more dishes. \u201cNow, at least five nights a week, they want something new. Last night, I made chicken\u00a0chukauni<\/i>, a Nepali dish\u00a0didi<\/i>\u00a0had seen on Instagram. This weekend, I will make egg fried rice and garlic vegetable stir-fry, which I\u2019m an expert at now. I even learned stroganoff [the Russian dish usually made with beef and sour cream],\u201d she says proudly. Even if the video is in English, Khan finds the visuals helpful. \u201cOnce I see it, I understand. If I get stuck, I ask\u00a0didi,<\/i>\u201d she says.<\/p>\n \n Moni Bibi Khan has learnt to cook dishes such as stroganoff\u00a0and chicken chukauni <\/i>from recipe videos. <\/div>\n In Pune, Sejal Malavde, an HR professional, recalls how her cook, Dasni Devi, 35, introduced herself four years ago, saying, \u201cI can learn to cook by watching YouTube videos.\u201d One of Devi\u2019s recent experiments was rice paper dumplings. After making them at work, she took the recipe home and made them for her 12-year-old son\u2019s school tiffin. \u201cHe loved it,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n For many employers, the willingness to learn from videos is now something they look for in a cook. Monica Shroff, 57, who works for an online gifting retail company in Mumbai, says her cook, Sunaina, 35, suggested that she share YouTube recipes with her because her repertoire was limited. Shroff sends her links for fish curries, grills, smoothies, cold soups, and\u00a0jowar roti.<\/i><\/p>\n But learning isn\u2019t always as easy as watching a video once and cooking the dish perfectly. Language can be a barrier. In Kochi, Sumayya Sharaf, 37, sends recipes to her cook Tezal Thomas, 45, who has been with her family for nearly 18 years. Some videos are in English, while others are in languages neither of them understands. \u201cShorter videos are great for quick explanations, but if the language is unfamiliar or too fast, I send a detailed voice note along with it,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n \n For Tezal Thomas, cooking new recipes is a welcome break from his everyday routine of cooking sambar<\/i>, thoran<\/i>, pathiri<\/i> or parotta.<\/i> <\/div>\n Sharaf also takes screenshots of various steps, especially when Thomas gets stuck. \u201cI noticed that he used to play them again and again. That\u2019s why I began sharing screenshots,\u201d she says. Clear captions help, she adds, but if the instructions are vague, like stating \u201csome this\u201d or \u201csome that,\u201d she uses ChatGPT to convert the measurements into grams.<\/p>\n <\/div>\n New recipes often mean new equipment in the kitchen, too. Sharaf, who grew up in Muscat, has been using air fryers for years, and she now encourages Tezal to use it by sending him no-oil air-fryer recipes \u2014 though he doesn\u2019t always like them. \u201cLess oil means more time,\u201d he teasingly complains. Cooking new recipes is also a welcome break from his everyday routine of cooking sambar<\/i>, thoran<\/i>, pathiri<\/i> or parotta<\/i> for her joint family of around 20 members.<\/p>\n \n Sumayya Sharaf sends recipes to her cook Tezal Thomas. \u201cIf the language is unfamiliar or too fast, I send a detailed voice note along with it,\u201d she says. <\/div>\n <\/div>\n In Chennai, Neelakantan and Ameera D\u2019Costa say their cook Sandip, 35, from Siliguri, easily moves between their oven, air fryer, and induction stove to make dishes such as roast chicken, khao suey<\/i>, and pizza. After years of cooking in different homes, Sandip now experiments with both recipes and the presentation of the food. He has learnt how to make charcuterie boards from YouTube, and use ingredients such as kaffir lime leaves in marinades. \u201cSometimes it comes out nicely, sometimes I modify it and try again,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n Of course, things don\u2019t always go as planned. Aishwarya Sudarshan, a Mumbai-based publicist, recalls how her cook Farin wanted to scramble the eggs for\u00a0shakshuka<\/i>\u00a0because \u201cshe was worried they would otherwise remain raw\u201d. Thomas tried making Mangalorean ghee roast prawns, but the ingredients were new to him and the proportions incorrect. \u201cIt was a disaster,\u201d Sharaf laughs. \u201cThe dish was cumin-forward. We tried many ways to fix it, but finally gave up\u201d.<\/p>\n \n Aishwarya Sudarshan, a Mumbai-based publicist <\/div>\n The smartphone is at the heart of this change, carrying recipes, notes, screenshots, shopping lists and schedules. India is the world\u2019s second-largest smartphone market. Late last year, the country had 1.06 billion active cellular mobile connections, according to a DataReportal study. While some critics may claim that sharing video links strips home kitchens of its age-old traditions of apprenticeship and oral recipe sharing, according to Delhi-based food writer and anthropologist Shirin Mehrotra, it is, in fact, creating a more democratic culture. Technology, she says, is helping \u201ccreate a wider archive of recipes, making it easier for people to revisit, and less likely for it to disappear within families\u201d.<\/p>\n \n Technology is helping \u201ccreate a wider archive of recipe\u201d, says Delhi-based food writer and anthropologist Shirin Mehrotra. <\/div>\n It is also giving workers and other individuals from low resource environments access to better skills and jobs \u2014 though primarily only in the big metros. Moreover, as Antara Rai Chowdhury, an academics and research consultant, puts it, not only are they learning to cook from these videos, they are \u201calso uploading their own content, getting recognition for what they make. That\u2019s a different kind of knowledge circulation\u201d.<\/p>\n \n Now, domestic cooks are \u201calso uploading their own content, getting recognition for what they make\u201d, says Antara Rai Chowdhury, an academics and research consultant. <\/div>\n Today, cooks who can learn from video recipes are a valuable resource in many\u00a0cities. After Devi told her Pune-based employer Malavde about her prowess with YouTube, the latter has recommended her to several employers. A cook who can plan, make a varied meal, and set the table is a \u201chuge plus\u201d, adds Shroff, especially for people with long workdays. This can translate to better pay, too. (Salaries in metros start from \u20b95,000 and can go up to \u20b915,000.) Mumbai publicist Sudarshan says, \u201cIf a cook offers more variety and independence in the kitchen, an extra \u20b91,000-\u20b92,000 is something we happily offer.\u201d<\/p>\n Placing this shift within India\u2019s informal domestic-work economy, however, reveals several roadblocks. According to Aditi Surie, a sociologist who studies technology, gender, and informal work at the Indian Institute for Human Settlements, \u201cFor part-time cooks, digital upskilling can improve employability and gain them a less supervised, more flexible kitchen, but for live-in workers, it could become another unpaid task.\u201d<\/p>\n \n \u201cFor part-time cooks, digital upskilling can improve employability but for live-in workers, it could become another unpaid task,\u201d says Aditi Surie, sociologist. <\/div>\n Also, what of workers with keypad phones? Or older workers, cooks with low literacy, and those whose phones are controlled by their husbands or sons? \u201cThey are structurally excluded \u2014 not because they cannot learn, but because the conditions have not been set up for them to participate on equal terms,\u201d says Chowdhury. \u201cSo, there are both labour-market advantages and disadvantages at this point, and it is important to track both.\u201d<\/p>\n Meanwhile, in many homes, videos haven\u2019t completely replaced the old relationship, just merely changed the exchange. In Hyderabad, Vinitha Venkat sees a version of this between her father, R.V.\u00a0Venkateswarulu, 83, and their cook Wahida, an Assamese woman in her mid-30s who moved to the city a decade ago. \u201cI\u2019ve always liked making things. Earlier, it was carpentry, now it\u2019s mostly food. I spend a lot of time watching videos and bookmarking things I think the family might enjoy,\u201d says Venkateswarulu, who finds recipes online and sends them to Wahida.<\/p>\n \n R.V. Venkateswarulu finds recipes online and sends them to his family\u2019s cook, Wahida. <\/div>\n \u201cThese days, I\u2019m always looking for something new to try, especially if it might get my grandson to eat a little more.\u201d Wahida, who watches the videos at home, sits with Venkateswarulu the next morning and discusses the recipe \u2014 often giving her own suggestions and tweaks \u2014 before she starts cooking.<\/p>\n As services such as BookMyBai, ChefKart, Cookzy and Urban Company\u2019s InstaHelp make it easier to book cooks \u2014 transforming a deeply personal task into a purely transactional service \u2014 outfits are working on bringing trust back into the picture. Jinn, a new cook-booking platform, trains its employees in both cooking and customer preferences before placing them. \u201cCooking is about making soulful, thoughtful food,\u201d says co-founder Mrinal Sharma. \u201cCustomers specifically request cooks who make\u00a0satvik\u00a0food or healthy meals.\u201d After registering, prospective cooks are trained in the Jinn kitchen, where recipe videos by chefs such as Nisha Madhulika and Ranveer Brar are part of the training material.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n \n Cooks from Jinn <\/div>\n Today, domestic cooks are also becoming sources of cooking knowledge themselves. Rajeshwari Mangar Thapa, 35, known online as Raji Didi (@homefoodswithraji; 336k followers on Instagram), started appearing last year in cooking videos made by her employer, Aishwarya S. Krishnan. The videos showcase simple, healthy home-style meals, where Thapa talks in Hindi about gluten, protein sources such as tempeh, and healthy snack options (air-fried banana chips). Her recipes include everything from the Tibetan noodle soup\u00a0thukpa<\/i>\u00a0to a Catalonian Romesco sauce. \u201cIf a nutritionist does the same thing, it will not land with people as well as a home cook does,\u201d says Krishnan, 29, founder of Bengaluru-based creative agency True Umami. \u201cPeople relate to her.\u201d<\/p>\n Thapa\u2019s first surprise was an Instagram message from another domestic cook who had attempted making one of her dishes at his employer\u2019s home. \u201cEarlier, I used to ask others how to make a dish. Now people ask me,\u201d she exclaims, adding that her videos gets likes, recipe questions, and plentiful messages from other cooks. Krishnan responds to all the messages, and till date, they haven\u2019t tried to monetise the account.<\/p>\n Many employers compare recipes from different creators before choosing which to send to their cooks. Shroff, for instance, likes Swasthi\u2019s Recipes and Archana\u2019s Kitchen. But the cooks have their preferences, too. Shubhra Chatterji, a filmmaker in Mumbai, says her cook, Nazia, prefers YouTube over Instagram and looks up videos by Sanjyot Keer, Sanjeev Kapoor, and Ranveer Brar \u2014 because the recipes are simple and she wants to see what \u201cmaster chefs\u201d do differently.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n \n Shubhra Chatterji, a filmmaker in Mumbai. <\/div>\n \n Chatterji\u2019s cook, Nazia, prefers YouTube over Instagram. <\/div>\n She is part of a broader online trend in which domestic cooks and household workers are becoming visible beyond the homes where they work. In Mumbai, Heena Ali (@heenaali9248; 125k followers) could be called a trendsetter. In 2023, she started building an online following after her employer suggested she record her daily life and cooking videos. Last year, she participated in the\u00a0MasterChef India<\/i>\u00a0auditions (where the winner gets \u20b925 lakh as prize money).<\/p>\n Domestic cook Sapna Jamadar often appears alongside her Mumbai-based employer Prasoon Dargarh on @boywhodecorates (267k subscribers), and now wants to establish her own identity on social media.<\/p>\n![\"\u201cMy](\"https:\/\/th-i.thgim.com\/public\/life-and-style\/expite\/article71153520.ece\/alternates\/FREE_1200\/Tulsi1.jpg\" "\\"\u201cMy")
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\n Pratima Chabbi\n <\/p>\n
\n The Hindu<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/th-i.thgim.com\/public\/life-and-style\/fashion\/l3g01i\/article70524674.ece\/alternates\/SQUARE_80\/photo-collage.png.png\")
<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n![\"Moni](\"https:\/\/th-i.thgim.com\/public\/life-and-style\/85xjwi\/article71153572.ece\/alternates\/FREE_1200\/_JAI4391.JPG\" "\\"Moni")
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\n Sudhakara Jain\n <\/p>\nInside the YouTube kitchen<\/h4>\n
![\"Gauri](\"https:\/\/th-i.thgim.com\/public\/life-and-style\/gnxold\/article71153569.ece\/alternates\/FREE_1200\/Gauri%20Chabbi.JPG\" "\\"Gauri")
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\n Special arrangement\n <\/p>\n![\"Moni](\"https:\/\/th-i.thgim.com\/public\/life-and-style\/gtme6m\/article71153522.ece\/alternates\/FREE_1200\/_JAI4680.JPG\" "\\"Moni")
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\n Sudhakara Jain\n <\/p>\n![\"For](\"https:\/\/th-i.thgim.com\/public\/life-and-style\/278j6x\/article71153516.ece\/alternates\/FREE_1200\/Tezal%20Thomas.png\" "\\"For")
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\n Special arrangement\n <\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/th-i.thgim.com\/public\/life-and-style\/n5l6h\/article71153578.ece\/alternates\/FREE_1200\/Sumayya%20to%20Tezal3.jpeg\")
<\/div>\nMastering the air fryer<\/h4>\n
![\"Sumayya](\"https:\/\/th-i.thgim.com\/public\/life-and-style\/8z5dw9\/article71140779.ece\/alternates\/FREE_1200\/Sumayya%20Sharaf.JPG\" "\\"Sumayya")
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\n Special arrangement\n <\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/th-i.thgim.com\/public\/life-and-style\/tte7mc\/article71153576.ece\/alternates\/FREE_1200\/Surayya-Tezal1.PNG\")
<\/div>\n![\"Aishwarya](\"https:\/\/th-i.thgim.com\/public\/life-and-style\/nq3w7p\/article71153531.ece\/alternates\/FREE_1200\/Aishwarya.png\" "\\"Aishwarya")
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\n Special arrangement\n <\/p>\nA democratic culture<\/h4>\n
![\"Technology](\"https:\/\/th-i.thgim.com\/public\/life-and-style\/a5k3jz\/article71153532.ece\/alternates\/FREE_1200\/Shirin%20Mehrotra.jpeg\" "\\"Technology")
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\n Special arrangement\n <\/p>\n![\"Now,](\"https:\/\/th-i.thgim.com\/public\/life-and-style\/o84im8\/article71153534.ece\/alternates\/FREE_1200\/Antara%20Rai%20Chaudhary.JPG\" "\\"Now,")
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\n Special arrangement\n <\/p>\nPros and cons<\/h4>\n
![\"\u201cFor](\"https:\/\/th-i.thgim.com\/public\/life-and-style\/vo2ggw\/article71153536.ece\/alternates\/FREE_1200\/Aditi%20Surie2.jpg\" "\\"\u201cFor")
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\n Special arrangement\n <\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/th-i.thgim.com\/public\/incoming\/44dxi9\/article71084065.ece\/alternates\/SQUARE_80\/Food_Deadline_Fresh_Tomato_Sauce.JPEG-0b49c.jpg\")
<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n![\"R.V.](\"https:\/\/th-i.thgim.com\/public\/life-and-style\/6ispha\/article71153540.ece\/alternates\/FREE_1200\/_DSC6905.JPG\" "\\"R.V.")
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\n Siddhant Thakur\n <\/p>\nTraining \u2018smart\u2019<\/b><\/h5>\n
![\"Cooks](\"https:\/\/th-i.thgim.com\/public\/life-and-style\/9cj72y\/article71153546.ece\/alternates\/FREE_1200\/Jinn%20cooks.png\" "\\"Cooks")
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\n Special arrangement\n <\/p>\nThe everyday creator<\/h4>\n
Who they follow<\/b><\/h5>\n
![\"Shubhra](\"https:\/\/th-i.thgim.com\/public\/life-and-style\/brqp3q\/article71153567.ece\/alternates\/FREE_1200\/Shubhra%20Chatterji.jpeg\" "\\"Shubhra")
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\n Special arrangement\n <\/p>\n![\"Chatterji\u2019s](\"https:\/\/th-i.thgim.com\/public\/life-and-style\/63fbry\/article71153565.ece\/alternates\/FREE_1200\/Shubhra%20Chatterjis%20cook%20Nazia.jpeg\" "\\"Chatterji\u2019s")
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\n Special arrangement\n <\/p>\n