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With the capacity to cook 2,000 meals per day,
with half its energy drawn from a giant mirrored solar dish embedded in
the roof, the Solar Kitchen lives up to its name. Even at 50 per cent
capacity, producing around 900 meals a day, the 'Kitchen' has reshaped
the way Aurovilians gather and eat, and is an immensely popular place.
400 meals in the Kitchen
Almost every weekday, the Kitchen sees on average
300 Aurovilians and guests queue up to eat a cosmopolitan buffet. On
Thursday 'Idli-dosa day sees the ever-popular idli - a traditional south
Indian flying saucer-shaped steamed rice dumpling - and dosai, a kind of
savoury pancake, with two chutneys, peanut-coconut and tomato and 'sambar'
or 'sambal'. The exact pronunciation lying somewhere in between, the
word refers generally to a family of seasoned flavoursome vegetable
sauces found throughout south Indian cuisine.
The menu on all other days offers either
traditional Indian dining - rice and a few choices of sambal/r or
continental cuisine - often pasta followed by a choice of salad. Final
condiments include curd (yoghurt), bananas, pickled lemon or green mango
and a drink. Drinks range from plain filtered water to hot hibiscus tea.
130 meals in outlying communities
Besides the 300 or so who come to eat in it, the
Kitchen also feeds around 130 people in outlying communities. These
remote diners supply the Kitchen with a 'tiffin', a collection of
interlocking cylindrical stainless steel containers designed to carry
many different dishes simultaneously, which they collect and take home
filled with food.
475 meals in schools and services
The kitchen delivers a further 475 meals to
Auroville's various schools and service centres, including the main
grocery and domestic 'shop' Pour Tous. After 50 Solar Kitchen staff have
also eaten, the average number of meals served daily by the Kitchen
rises to roughly 900.
The Kitchen asks anyone intending to eat there to
book in advance. It's possible to arrive unannounced without a booking,
but you have to wait until 1 pm. After that un-booked diners are
welcome.
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